Heart of the Infiltrators
by MordinofSolus
Summary: Senran Kagura x Male Insert - Amidst a turn in the modern era, a young man is forcibly contracted to cure twenty shinobi of a mental ailment known as distortion, caused by the corrupted blood of Yōma. As time goes on, the long hidden societies of the world are forced to come out into the public spotlight when they are pitted against one another. Bi-Weekly - Next Chapter: 10/16/2020
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 1: Arrival (Redux)

"**Shinobi..."**

"**The elite agents of Japan who carried out their missions, both honorable and nefarious, within shadows. All of them were trained and specialized in the art of weapons, old and new, with the strength of each individual rivaling that of over a thousand common soldiers."**

"**For the better part of a millennium, their tactics and weapons were the pinnacle of advanced warfare. Beyond that, their variety of skills outclassed any military in the world by training by what was most intuitive to an individual."**

"**But modern technology and society advanced exponentially, far faster than any centuries old organization could ever anticipate."**

"**As the distance between countries and people dissipated, the shadows began to recede in the face of new technologies' blinding light. There was a belief that the use of shinobi, good and evil, would be redundant within a few decades' time."**

"**Even more distressing for the shinobi leadership, as news of the world's happenings spread, the moral lines and codes that defined good and evil began to blur. Factions split apart and fell to disorder as the next generation's culture combated the cemented ways of the old."**

"**Still, the way of the shinobi lived on. Despite how far the world had come, they endured and would dutifully remain on standby as the next generation of warriors trained to fight amongst and against each other. Just as it always had been."**

"**But a long-guarded secret was rapidly growing in scale and its dangers would be profound."**

"**As the blood of Yōma drenched the earth, its corruption slipped into the minds and hearts of the shinobi who carried on living. Without even being aware of it, the shinobi would become ticking timebombs who would submit over an unpredictable period of time."**

"**Their emotions became distorted and prone to extremes through the power of corruption and their consciousness would slip. Eventually, the person they once were would be gone, replaced by a husk who would never realize they were victimized in the first place. If nothing were to be done, certainly the way of the shinobi would have died out early into the twentieth century, when war was rampant and Yōma were widespread across the battlefield."**

"**But this was when two groups of individuals stepped into their secret world… Infiltrators and Dignitaries."**

"**With the tools of modern day and supernatural ability, both of these groups had long kept the Yōma's influence from growing beyond control."**

"**Though the two groups' philosophies and means differed, leading to a longstanding blood feud between the two which carried on from parents to children, their skills and presence have long been acknowledged by the shinobi higherups and all of their factions… though not for the better."**

"**The dignitaries, an organization bent on utilizing the corruption and bending it to instill order into the minds of shinobi, relied on a forceful ritual which altered the very fiber of an individual's mind and personality. Such an act was regarded as a heinous and hypocritical crime that warranted death."**

"**The infiltrators, a group lacking formal structure, relied on rogue elements and mystically personal rituals that expelled the corruption in its entirety. But, due to both aimless paranoia and acts that justified wariness, they were condemned as a lingering threat and hunted from cell to cell."**

"**Still, despite such poor reputations, their work continued."**

"**Nearly eighty years after the first confirmed report of an infiltrator having apparently rejuvenated the mind of a young shinobi, a young man was forced to leave the place he called home in order to fulfill a deal."**

"**The letter that identified him by name and status as an infiltrator came from an influential shinobi. In exchange for his services, he would be granted safety and not be revealed to the shinobi underground. Beyond all of that, he would also be granted a pardon and freedom from the life he detested."**

"**In order to fulfill his end of the bargain, the young man was given a single series of tasks…"**

"**He was to prevent the growing corruption within those who were beloved and close to the influential shinobi. A task that would be extremely difficult for even the best among the infiltrators."**

"**Still, even when suffering the consequences of a spiteful choice, the young man pressed on."**

_This tale follows __**your**__ stand-in._

_For convenience, he shall be referred to as the __**young man**__, but know that he carries __**your name**__ at heart._

_Your stand-in's physical details, while left as ambiguous as possible, __**may not follow with complete accuracy**__._

_This tale is one of both __**romance and action**__. Neither one is rushed and each bit is made as meaningful as possible. This also means that the romance and action you seek will be __**slow, almost painfully at times, to come**__._

_There will be moments that may be explicit for readers who are under the age of eighteen. These __**will include moments both disturbing and sexual in nature**__. Be advised that the nature of this fiction is __**intended for adults above the age of eighteen only**__._

_If you would both enjoy and look forward to the tale described above, then please __**take your place inside the shoes of the young man**__._

**April 4 – "The first steps of a journey are either the least or most passionate."**

Almost spitting out a mouthful of food, Homura lifted her head in alarm and asked, "Everyone at Gessen is actually attacking Hebijo!?"

Sitting across the table within her grandfather's restaurant, Asuka meekly nodded her head before she swallowed her last bite and let out a depressed sigh. She was going to take another bite of her futomaki roll but then, when considering the circumstances at hand, dropped it onto her plate. After a moment, she crossed her arms and leaned onto the table to murmur, "All over some insult too…"

"If you could call it that," remarked Homura as she dug back in, feeling both confused and agitated, "Miyabi and her were just going into their usual 'good versus evil' banter… however meanspirited it got at times…" After a moment, she slammed her food back onto the plate and gave the table a thump with her knee, "To call a royale over it? That's stupid."

Leaning onto her hand, Asuka stated, "I called Yozakura earlier to try and see what was happening and if she could talk Yumi out of it," before straightening herself and shaking her head, "but… apparently they're already marching to Hebijo right now and there's no going back." The brunette let out a depressed sigh and murmured, "It's kind of sad too. I mean, tomorrow is Yozakura's birthday and they'll probably be all sore from the fighting…"

Homura grumbled something incoherent and then asked, "Well, as tempted as I am to go over there and straighten everything out… I say it'll be fine, so long as they don't wind up killing each other."

"They seemed pretty serious about it though," said Asuka, her voice cracking slightly with nervousness, "Shouldn't we call everyone else and try to intervene?"

"Don't get me wrong," said Homura as she raised and waggled a finger, "we could go over there and hand everyone their asses on a silver platter," before she shrugged and said, "But that means they'll just fight another day and they likely won't talk with us about it then… plus, I'm eating."

"Homura-," whined Asuka, balling up her fists waving them in the air.

"Don't 'Homura~' me," sneered the tanned girl, "Why should I have to cut off my meal because two ladies are throwing hissy fits at one another?"

Standing down quickly in the face of her friend's frustration, Asuka let out a displeased groan before calmly stating, "You know that, if we went there, it'd turn into a fight… right?"

"Yeah," grumbled Homura, "One that'd we'd quickly win and be over with. Why?"

Asuka gave a shrug, "I dunno," before turning her eyes away, "I just can't recall the last time you turned down a fight, spar or no."

"I'm hungry right now and you offered me food," returned Homura, "Now, are we going to be spending our whole time talking about this?"

Even when her friend was acting out of character, Asuka still surrendered and shook her head, "No, no…! Ah… Hibari… got a new video game…"

"There, new topic found. Tell me about it," ordered Homura.

Listening in on the conversation from the counter, Hanzō stared without any visible intent on being a snoop. Yet, in the back of his mind, he was thinking about the arising circumstances and wondered if anything could be done before Yumi and Miyabi's fight brought drastic consequences. In addition to that, he was also silently remarking to himself about the slight changes in Asuka and Homura's behavior, with one being quicker to submit while the other maintained a more self-centered persona.

For the night, nothing would be able to put Hanzō's mind at ease. Even when considering the solution that he and his wife, Sayuri, had put into place, he was still nervous and barely keeping himself from being fretful. But, considering the choices that were made which led to that point, he knew it would be a foolish thing to call off any action. No, he just had to pray for the best and hope that the solution wouldn't get hit by a car on the way to his destination.

At around the same time of day, a young man was staring blankly as several different vehicles rolled by in front of him on the busy city street in front of the train station, backed up by a jam at the next intersection. The boy, having not been in an urban environment for several years, took a breath and made a small noise of discontent, "Mm…" before giving his head a shake, hoisting a duffle bag over his shoulder, and then turning to walk down the sidewalk. While there were several taxi options available in front of the station, he opted to instead seek one out on a side street that wouldn't be as gridlocked. Plus, even if he was wrong on his assumption that there were other options available, he wanted to stretch his legs after the lengthy journey from the place he called home.

Just as the young man turned the street corner, he accidentally bumped his shoulder into a passerby and immediately turned around to state in a straight tone, "My mistake. Sorry." The stranger he bumped into nodded and turned to walk away after patting at their pockets. Reaching up to his face, the young man found that he'd also accidentally knocked his brimmed glasses loose. He stepped off to the side and pulled them off to turn them over, debating with himself on whether or not he should tuck them safely away or continue to wear them as always. It wasn't as though they were needed at all, when it came to walking around casually at least, and it would keep the risk down from any further accidents. Yet, the spectacles were an essential tool for the times to come… plus he liked them. So, if only to keep himself happy, he put them back on and kept walking his way.

After all, in the back of his mind, the young man was already throwing a silent rage fit against the world and he felt that comfort and familiarity weren't too much to ask for. He walked in a simple manner, ignoring the honking cars and the rhythmic sounds of everyone's footsteps. At the same time, the young man was also seeing the faces of arrogant fools and hearing their taunting words in the back of his head.

"He's our brother. It's our duty to help when he's in trouble."

"You know I'm owed this."

The young man let out a frustrated groan as he turned onto a side street and eyed around for a taxi. Much to his pleasant surprise, his prediction came true in the form of a short and wide man crushing a cigarette and muttering silently as he was moving toward a parked yellow cab. Acting quickly before anyone else could get the same idea, the young man called, "Are you working?"

Doing his best to throw away the disgruntled sneer he had, the cabbie put on his best professional smile and said in a voice with forceful courtesy, "Yessir. Just got off break." He pointed his thumb, "Get in and use the computer in the back to pick your destination."

Having never heard of a taxi using computers in such a way, the young man's internal frustration fell away to curiosity as he walked toward the vehicle. He gave the cabbie a pleasant nod, threw his duffle bag inside, hopped into the backseat, and found that there was a small computer situated between the driver and front passenger's seat, true to the man's word. Clicking his tongue with interest, the young man pulled out his phone to find the address of his new residence and then tapped it into the computer. The young man was also surprised to see that the computer was also outfitted to take cash, with the flashing green light and all. After getting resituated, the cabbie called back, "Alright. GPS says about twenty to thirty minutes. We'll get you there."

The young man meant to offer some kind of thanks to his driver but, when he saw that he had a text notification, only offered a meek grunt. After a few taps, he opened the message and read, "I'll be waiting outside. Try not to take too long," followed by a smiley face with a wink.

The young man's most immediate instinct was to text back, "Piss off," but, knowing that diplomacy called for a degree of professionalism, instead sent, "I'll be there soon. Cab driver said it will be about half an hour," while feeling like a pushover.

Deciding to not feel sorry for himself, the young man opted to concoct some kind of plan as he watched the city buildings fly by. He wouldn't have much unpacking to do and, ideally, the residence he'd be staying at wouldn't be needing much cleaning beyond a simple washing of the bedsheets. After that, there'd be plenty of time in the day to meet with his contacts and learn the current lay of the land. If nothing else, he could potentially get straight to work and try to achieve the task he was given as soon as possible… Yet, when the young man considered the idea of rapidly trying to finish everything off, he knew it would be impossible.

For a single case of what he was dealing with, there was an absolute two day minimum: one day to set up his opponent, if he was extremely quick and flawless in doing so, and another to act on the attack. Beyond that, there was also other questions. Did his target have a residence and security, were they generally a closed or combative person, and did they have others looking out for them? All of that could lengthen his job by several weeks, depending on how careful he wanted to be. Throw in the fact that he had not one, not two, but a whopping total of twenty cases to deal with… No, the young man would be going through his painstaking trial for months.

Taking his mind off the straining details and giving his forehead a rub from the slight stress headache that he was developing, the boy turned his attention outside of the taxi window to try and enjoy the scenery. The sight that was beheld was a small group of college students aimlessly playing their instruments on the corner of an intersection. One of them, in particular, proceeded to get extremely obnoxious and even approached random people as they were walking while swinging around his hip and the guitar that he was playing, almost striking a poor child in the head as he did so. Then, just as the student began to headbang his long shoulder-length hair around and about, he accidentally plunged the guitar head into the stomach of an approaching police officer. Unfortunately for the young man, the taxi began to drive through the intersection just as all of the college students froze in the face of the officer's furious glare. Yet, despite the fact that he didn't get to see how it ended, the boy was still pleased by the amusing sight and settled comfortably into his seat.

After that, there were no further incidents along the journey. The city buildings passed by through the young man's view of the windows and they gradually began to shrink in size. In minutes' time, he was riding through a small suburb where the large billboards were traded out for pleasant signs on the front of local businesses. There were a few compact but comfortable looking apartment buildings, some off-brand grocery stores and produce stalls, all along with several restaurants and food trucks that beheld a great variety of dishes that had the young man salivating. The only thing that put a damper on his mood was the rough shape that his savings were in.

Without warning, the taxi cab came to a sudden halt and the driver quickly stated, "We have arrived. Please choose your payment method on the computer." After collecting himself from his daydreams, the young man tapped his finger against the screen, produced cash from his wallet, and inserted it into the machine. Wondering if he'd be getting his change back, he eyed the devices warily as they hummed and processed the transaction before straightening himself in surprise at it spat out some coins into a cup and printed out his receipt. Thus, the boy stepped from the vehicle with his bag and the driver offered a wave of courtesy before driving off. Gracious for the quick journey, the young man found himself eager to turn and see his residence for the first time.

The pleased look on his face quickly fell away as he was greeted by the sight of a two-floor apartment building that was in dire need of a cleanup. Beyond the ugly appearance of the unclean brick and rusting railings along the stairs to the second floor, there was debris strewn about everywhere. A few large tires that the boy could fit himself into were leaning against the far wall, wooden planks were broken and strewn about, and he was almost positive that there were rusted nails lying in wait to infect him with life-threatening infections.

Just as the young man wondered about what had caused such a decay in the location, he was surprised by a woman's voice from behind, "Welcome to your home away from home." With only a slight jump and low noise from his throat, the young man turned around and found a busty woman with long dark brown hair staring him down with a showy smile on her face. While he was still processing her greeting, she pulled out a smoking pipe from one of her pockets and asked, "It's nice to be meeting you in person."

The young man stared with an unreadable look before nodding his head, "You're the shinobi I'm meeting?"

Raising a finger to her lips, the woman quickly said, "Landlady is the term that I prefer when we're out in public." After making sure that they were alone she then nodded her head, "Otherwise, yes. I am the person you're looking for," before taking a drag of her pipe, blowing smoke into the air, and waving a hand, "Come. Your room is this way."

The young man followed silently, trying to put his mind off on how the two came into contact in the first place. Then, after putting his focus back onto the state of the apartment building, he then asked, "A bit of cleaning would be in order, don't you think?"

"In order to fit the budget that your grandfather recommended, I had to make some exceptions when choosing your residence," explained the woman in a nonchalant tone, "I actually had to take some money from your parents to afford the place in full… but we got it and it's your home for the time being."

"You still couldn't have done a bit of cleaning?" remarked the young man as a bit of heat found its way into his tone.

"I just barely got the deed to it a couple of weeks ago," came the woman's defensive voice with a bit of evident irritation to the way she hunched her head down as she walked, "Throw in the fact that I've been busy keeping a bunch of girls from killing each other…" before she paused and stated in a more straightforward voice as she began to ascend the stairs to the second floor balconies, "I haven't had time."

"I see," said the young man as he turned his head to the buildings around the apartment, which were all much more warm and cozy-looking. In the meantime, he mindlessly trailed behind the woman until she came to a sudden stop. Barely keeping himself from bumping into her, the boy jumped back and watched as she sheepishly gestured to the door and offered a key. Suspicious of what awaited on the inside, the young man took it with narrowed eyes and unlocked his way into the residence. Upon stepping inside, his expression remained unchanged as he looked at all of the dusty surroundings with the occasional bit of debris and trash. It was a single room with a dirty futon on one side and a fridge on the other. There was a single door next to the entrance that led into the bathroom, a place the young man was deeply afraid of investigating. With his look remaining unchanged, he turned back to Jasmine and waved both of his arms into the room in a way that silently conveyed the words, "What is this…!?"

In response, Jasmine simply turned away to take another drag from her pipe, awkwardly blew out the smoke, and said, "Well, it's about noon… so I'll be… doing my secret shinobi-, landlady business somewhere else… I, you know, have to arrange for your stove and stuff to be installed tomorrow so…" before giving an upbeat wave, "Cleaning supplies should be in the corner right of the door," and turned away to retreat.

With narrowed eyes that did little justice to the frustration that he was penning up inside, the young man took an awkward step into the apartment and dropped his bag to the floor and proceeded to rummage through it for the three essentials that he would need for the next few hours that would follow. A few seconds after, he'd donned a cleaning hat and mask along with a small speaker system. He approached the counter on the side and plugged the device into an outlet, slightly wincing in anticipation of sparks as he did so. Then, once he was sure that nothing would catch fire, he pulled out his phone and connected it onto the speaker's port. While the two devices were connecting, he approached the cleaning supplies in the corner and quickly found a box of latex gloves. After a crack of his knuckles, he pulled a pair on and grabbed a duster. Once the phone was ready, he approached the speaker again with bold and empowered steps as he braced to meet the grand task before him in battle.

After pushing a few buttons, smooth jazz began to play and the young man swiveled his body back and forth in rhythm as he proceeded to dust the ceiling. He brushed across the corners of the counter and hummed idly along, trying to take his mind off of all the issues that were plaguing him at that moment. Soon, he moved his way over to the single window on the far end of the room and went through its corners as he mumbled a gibberish to the singer's words, "I'm-a shaysiffer… Mm Poe's massermm… Something about changing minds… Hu-nada-nadi-da… Duh-nah…"

Some time passed and the ceiling no longer had the detestable black spots of dust across its surface. After silently thanking the heavens for the fact that there wasn't any sign of mold, the young man turned his attention to the bathroom and wondered if it would need the same treatment. Much to his pleasant surprise, it required only a slight bit of scrubbing and would be in passable shape. Thus, after producing a cleaning spray from the supplies, the young man was about to strut into the bathroom before the playlist he selected found a German polka tune. So, rather than the smooth and powerful approach that he was initially planning, the boy instead did a cheery shuffle through the room. As he sprayed and wiped across all of the surrounding surfaces with an abrasive sponge, he couldn't help but keep his legs from constantly bouncing along with the accordion's quickening tempo. Eventually, the tune would also carry him across the rest of the walls of the apartment as he switched between cleaning products. Even if the young man found nothing of interest in cleaning by itself, the music eventually allowed him to have a bit of fun.

In due time the tunes switched over to a series of Hispanic pop songs and the mindless joy really began. Even though he didn't really have time to translate the words in his head, the boy still thoroughly enjoyed singing along with great intensity as he pulled up his futon and proceeded to beat the dust off of it next to the window. With a click of his ankles and wrists, he practically threw the futon back toward its end of the room and then walked with wiggling hips as he made his way over to the broom and dust pan to clean all of the remaining residue.

Once he was finished, the playlist turned into an American metal band and the boy was rapidly bobbing his body up and down with the beat, repeatedly needing to readjust his glasses, as he tried to calmly replace each light bulb and checked every outlet across the apartment. After he was done with that, he simply began to give the area a final run down by collecting all of the remaining trash into tight black bags, still jerking up and down on his knees to the rhythm. He inspected the floor and noted that he would need to give it a mopping at some point to remove a few suspicious stains, though that could wait for a different day. Otherwise, everything seemed to be in place. Thus, seeking to reward himself, the young man proceeded to rapidly conga in rhythm with the still intense music on his way to the duffle bag in the corner.

It was only when he saw that the woman had entered the room at some point that he froze like a deer in headlights and stared with wide eyes. The expression on her face was unreadable at first before she snorted and turned away, "I didn't mean to interrupt your one-man powwow. Don't mind me."

Sucking in the corners of his mouth, the young man quickly asked, "How long were you there?"

"Long enough," came the snarky reply before the woman clapped her hands, "You can get back to it in a moment. I just thought I'd give you a few relevant addresses." The young man remained silent as she pulled a small card out from a pocket. When it was offered to him, he slowly and cautiously took it and raised it to his eyes. As he read through, the woman explained, "It's a listing of the three academies that some of the girls attend. The bottom line is the directions to get to a cave where the other five are." When the young man gave a grunt of acknowledgement, the woman was unsure of what else to say. Though they hadn't spoken in person before, there was still plenty of reason for the boy to hate her. So, with the intention of keeping the mood light, she decided to comment in a nonchalant voice, "Well, I'm gracious that you came to help when you did. Take a few days, get some R and R… then, you know, feel free to start saving lives whenever you have time."

Not taking anything that she said lightly, the young man turned his eyes up to her and glared. There was plenty of things that had brought him immense anger that day, from his family to the fact that he would be living in an apartment which had a very definite cleanliness problem. But, in that one moment, he was absolute furious that she could take something so dangerously serious to him and try to make light of it. Never mind the lack of relaxation that he'd be having for as long as he was in the city, the young man had never once chosen to take part in helping anyone. To him, the woman's words were like a tone-deaf warden earnestly thanking a prisoner for being in jail for the time being while holding a gun to their head.

In the heat of a sudden idea popping into his head, the young man grumbled, "Would you get out? I have to change."

One of the woman's brows went up, "Oh? Are you getting ready for bed? The sun still hasn't completely set."

Realizing that he'd been cleaning the apartment for several hours at that point, the young man huffed indignantly and said more aggressively, "And I'm going for a walk! Get out!"

Not one to be ordered around easily, the woman was about to shoot words right back at the boy before stopping herself. After remembering his circumstances and figuring that he was just blowing off steam, she raised her hands into the air, "Alright, alright…" before turning away, "I'll see you off once you're outside," and walking out the door.

Still frustrated by her demeanor, the young man forced a breath of air into himself before grumbling and cursing quietly. For a few seconds, his fists shook and his teeth grinded together. Then he paused and tried to take a breath. Suddenly, without further warning, he viciously kicked his foot at the wall with a yell, leaving behind a slight dent. When that didn't alleviate his anger, he clenched his teeth even more and let out a choked scream of rage from his mouth until he was completely out of breath. Once it was all vented out of him, he crouched down to the floor and wheezed in some air. Then, without much thought, he proceeded to undress himself and walked toward his duffle bag for a new change of clothes.

By the time the boy emerged from the apartment, he was dressed in tight-fitting pants and a shirt that mostly clung onto his chest, both of which were black in color. Wrapped around his neck was a simple scarf that was set to fold and cover his face, save for the eyes. Upon finding the woman right outside the door, smoking on her pipe with a relaxed expression, he quickly told her, "I'm going for my walk. Don't wait up for me."

Not thinking about why the boy was dressed in such a way at first, she began to reply, "Alright, have a good-," before her expression fell away and she asked, "Hold up, hold up. Where are you going dressed like that?"

Keeping his face turned away, the young man began to walk past her toward the stares, "I don't need to explain my fashion sense to you," as he straightened his glasses.

He was stopped when the woman gripped his shoulder and asked, "Oi, I gave you those addresses as a gesture of good faith. Don't even think about trying to do whatever you're planning to do."

After a moment of consideration, the boy pulled away and loudly stated, "I am taking a walk and seeing the sights!" before putting up a finger, "At most, I'll go and find my entrance and exit routes! Your concern is appreciated but unneeded!"

The woman very badly wanted to try and talk the boy down. But, when remembering her husband's urging to be patient with the boy's unavoidable anger, she ultimately decided to offer some trust and released him. Once the young man began to walk away, she called after him, "Just don't be stupid."

In response, he only bit his teeth together to try calm himself from the perceived jab as he disappeared down the stairs. In the meantime, the woman went back to smoking her pipe and began to contemplate the situation at hand. Yet, in the end, the result was the same as the many previous times she'd done so: as long as the girls were treated, she didn't care what would happen.

By the time the sun had finally set over the horizon, the young man found himself very near one of the addresses the woman had given him. He'd already seen the other two, those being the Hanzō and Gessen Academies, online but he knew absolutely nothing about the one which was buried a short way into a forest near the city's border. Where the other two had classes that were available to the average citizen, the latter was strictly meant to be a fortress for training shinobi.

Gazing at a small opening between the trees just outside the forest, the young man considered the prospect of actively investigating possible entrances and exits for any further actions down the road. He was already cooled off and wasn't lingering too much on the woman's words by that point anyway… Yet, there was still a frustrated part within him.

**In the dark fog,**

**Long-reached shadows,**

**Of morals gray,**

**Found themselves lost…**

By the logic that was nagging his head, he was looking at what would probably be the most difficult academy to deal with and, ergo, the one that would most likely kill him. While the angel on his shoulder told him to do what good that could be done with the other academies before embarking on such a journey, the devil was demanding decisive action that would throw caution to the wind. Being more pragmatic at heart, the young man considered the situation for a short few seconds before already coming to a choice. He nodded to himself and began to trek into the forest, unsure of what he was really planning to do.

**Then, like a violin,**

**Blessed by a meager swan,**

**A gentle voice sang out,**

**And pled for their freedoms.**

In the young man's mind, it would absolutely suck to put in so much effort only to be killed at the most difficult location. After all, aside from being dead, it would mean that the shinobi who had blackmailed him into coming would mostly get their way. When remembering his circumstances and how close he was to avoiding it all, the young man let out a frustrated growl and took off into a run. He did not think for a single moment that it would be fair for the two bastards that brought him there to get most of what they wanted while he was killed and, most likely, left to rot in a shallow grave.

**The foundation trembled,**

**Secrets unleashed,**

**Yōma…**

The young man's thoughts were cut off when he ran around a tree and almost ran straight into an old-fashioned wall and gate, seeming like structures out of the Meiji period. Though he stopped himself and took a moment to get a few breaths in, he then also took quick notice to the massive hole in the wall that was about ten meters from the entrance. After a few more huffs, he cautiously approached and balked at the small portion of destruction. Then, stepping over a few pieces of rubble, he peeked through and noted all of the signs of fighting. From a few unconscious girls dressed in shinobi garb to all of the debris of uprooted lantern posts and shingles from the surrounding buildings.

Seeing a small opportunity to be taken, the young man considered the circumstances. Whatever was going on was still likely to be an ongoing distraction that could be used to keep attention off himself. He could go in, mentally map the place out, and then get out. It would be a simple effort with a high reward, requiring only a bit of due caution in case of unexpected reinforcements and such. If the young man were even bolder, he could even take the opportunity to issue a provocation, a very necessary step in his plan for helping all of the girls.

Without much more due thought or wariness, the young man stepped in further and began to walk along the several paths of Hebijo Academy. As if to affirm dedication to his action, he lifted the scarf around his neck to cover his face and gave both ends of it a tug of resolve.

**An unaware mankind,**

**Sacrificial fighters,**

**A force of enslavement,**

**Hypocrites of freewill,**

**With beasts of arrogance!**

**An unaware mankind,**

**Sacrificial fighters,**

**A force of enslavement,**

**Hypocrites of freewill,**

**With beasts of arrogance!**

**Though the storm fought,**

**Slamming him with wave after wave,**

**The swan charged on,**

**Seeking out his obscurity,**

**As fear found life,**

**And he was forced to confront it.**

**But there's no lonesome night,**

**For shadows blessed their aid,**

**Both as trusty comrades,**

**And as soothing lovers,**

**Due to their loyal hearts,**

**Steeled more as they found dreams!**

**Thunder and lightning still raged on,**

**The swan was pulled to the ocean!**

**The creatures hunted and roamed close,**

**Playing a game,**

**Which carried their ancestral wrongs,**

**With malintent,**

**Knowing the choice of right and wrong,**

**But unable.**

**The weight of the world crashed,**

**And the swan could not hold,**

**As he was pulled further!**

**The ocean had no love,**

**And killed without remorse,**

**As all light lost its sound…!**

**Though he could cry and plead for help,**

**The world would not reverse his death…**

**Were it not for their thumping hearts…**

**They who stood with pure intention,**

**With dedicated fists to their chests…**

**The swan would have died long before,**

**Never to know the love they had,**

**For he who saved more than their lives.**

**The swan's head broke water,**

**And fought to find its shore,**

**Against restrictive waves,**

**For his right to live life…!**

**Upon finding the coast,**

**He stood up with his flock!**

**Their suffering was not in vain,**

**And their prize was found in the end.**

**The peace within,**

**Finding one's self,**

**Inside dear friends,**

**And those beloved,**

**Strengthens resolve,**

**In hard hours.**

**The world is always cruel,**

**And many feel hopeless.**

**But confidants fend pain,**

**Relieving beaten souls.**

**Where there's adversity,**

**There is triumphant hope.**

**In the swan's every action…**

**Their ****Heart of the Infiltrators.**


	2. Chapter 2: Provocation

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 2: Provocation

Shards of ice blew through the air as Miyabi drove her blade forward at Yumi, who dodged right under in a nick of time. While the white-haired girl swung her blade downward, Yumi's bladed fan whirled around to Miyabi's stomach and forced the girl to jump back. For a moment, the two of them stood off from one another before Shiki came flying past her adopted sister's shoulder and circled her scythe around for a deadly blow before Imu deflected her. While Miyabi rounded her comrade after Yumi again, the bo-wielding member of Hebijo swerved an electrified blow into Shiki's stomach before attempting to dodge Yozakura's sneak attack from behind. Though Imu managed to scale over the girl's unexpected leap, a gauntlet managed to clip her on the side and sent her flying toward her sister on the other side of the gym.

Breaking off from her fight with Minori, who'd dizzied herself out after a series of reckless spin-attacks, Murasaki caught her older sister before flinging a gyrating shuriken in her hair to fend off Shiki and Yozakura. While she was successful at maintaining a defense against the two of them while Imu picked herself up, Minori recovered and darted forward with her bucket reeled back. Acting quick, Imu raised her bo and blocked a couple of strikes from the younger girl before the sound of gunshots sent the two back as wood blew up from the floor.

Loading another bullet into her rifle while she gritted her teeth, Ryōbi called, "Push back the two on Murasaki!" before she aimed and prepared to fire at Minori again, only to find a tall shadow diving in from overhead. On looking up, Ryōbi found Murakumo swinging her cleaver around to try and land a deadly slice on the girl. Were it not for Ryōna averting her attention from Shiki and Yozakura to fire her pistols at Murakumo, her sister would have been done for.

Through all of the fighting, one thing was made clear: the participants of the second consecutive Shinobi Battle Royale were fighting for keeps and aiming to kill. While Gessen was keeping up the staunch offense against Hebijo academy, the opposing girls responded in kind with an ironclad defense. So, it had been for several hours since before the sun had set over the horizon and both teams were heaving from the hefty weight of exhaustion.

After breaking up from another bout with Yumi, Miyabi let her sword rest at her side for a moment as beads of sweat rolled down her face. Giving her opponent a grimace, the yellow-eyed girl called, "Give up for today. You're not going to win."

Shaking her head with a solid and unflinching look on her face, Yumi declared loudly, "For as long as we walk the Earth, we'll be enemies until death. We'll settle the matter tonight."

Sparing a glance to the wooden platform and pole in the middle of the room, proudly flying the Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy flag at the top, Miyabi repulsively spit onto the floor before daring, "I'll kill you and get this over with, then," before charging forward and locking her blade against Yumi's fan once again, reinitiating their duel.

Meanwhile, off to the side, Minori was attempting to land a blow on Murasaki before the purple-haired girl blew her bucket into the air with a successful parry while Imu drove her bo forward. After taking a blow of electricity to her chest, the smallest of the Gessen elite was thrown back into the gym's wall with a moan of pain. Picking herself up, she was about to charge back into the fray before a door at the side of the gym slid open and a young man took a peek before nonchalantly strutting in.

**Please take your seat~ at roulette's game table.**

While the rest of the girls were busy dealing with one another, Minori's jaw fell a bit in confusion when the boy turned to her and offered her a gentle wave with a mischievous smile spread across his face. After catching a glimpse of his hands holding the other four platforms' flags, she very nearly yelled out before he suddenly dashed off straight into the middle of the room.

For a moment longer, the girls kept fighting until they gradually slowed to a stop as every eye turned to the disruption. As they processed his offending presence, he leapt up and scaled the platform before rapidly ascending the pole to collect the fifth and final flag. Once it was safely secured in his hand, he perched himself on the top of the pole and looked down at the ten surrounding shinobi below.

**Eyes best be straight~, you're playing for high stakes.**

Having ceased her duel with an absolutely bewildered look, Miyabi turned to Yumi before asking, "Is he… one of Gessen's?"

Immediately, Yumi shook her head with a matching look, "No…" After taking a moment to try and compose herself from the young man's appearance, she called up to him, "You there!" to which he waggled his fingers, "return those flags and tell us which school you come from!"

Pressing his feet against the pole, the young man proceeded to slide down to them before launching himself over Murasaki's head and making a beeline for the curtains on the gym stage. Hoping to stop him then and there, Ryōbi raised her rifle and tried to put a bullet in his back only for him to jump and slide to his knees as the bullet sailed overhead before propelling himself back up to his feet to leap onto the stage. Just as rapidly as he climbed the pole, he scampered up the curtain as fast as a squirrel in a tree while the girls surrounded him like a pack of wolves.

**Don't chip the ice~, keep your mouth off the wine.**

Taking a glance at the young man's apparel and noting his lack of both a weapon and notable ninja arts, Imu spoke straight to Miyabi, "Take a look. He's no shinobi."

Nearly everyone in the room did a doubletake before looking back up at him while he continued to wear the same mischievous smile on his face. While there were mutters and questions about his presence and how he could see them despite their shinobi barriers, Miyabi coldly declared, "We can't let him escape. Capture or kill him."

**The game's not rigged~, but you will meet your match.**

As Ryōbi and Ryōna raised their weapons to fire while everyone else spread out, opting to finish the job quick, the young man quickly spun his body to tangle himself in the curtain and fell downward. Though the twins tried to anticipate his path, they'd lost him in the cloth before he landed with a hard thump against the wooden floor. Strutting out onto the stage while the two reloaded, the young man spread his arms and raised them into the air, as though to present himself.

**Choose red or black, they are your safest bet!**

All eyes remained on him as he threw his hands to his sides to take on an aggressive stance, biting his teeth together as he kept on smiling. He eyed and identified each of the girls and their weapons and matched them to what he'd been told. With a breath, he flattened his palms and his eyes fell to the door from which he came.

**He's going jackpot green!?**

The young man threw the flags into the air before he leapt forward and off the stage to make a run for the hallway outside the gym.

**High risk but money's right!**

Quickly, the girls descended onto him. The first to swing was Imu and Murasaki, though he managed to bring one of his hands to Imu's in order to safely shove away her bo before diving over Murasaki's shuriken and proceeded to charge straight toward Minori.

**Face off, dance off!**

She reeled her bucket with a spin and let out a laugh, "Down, down you go!" before driving it forward to strike him only to be successfully dodged. Before she could counterattack or catch herself, the young man grabbed her by the arm and spun her until he caught one of her legs with his foot to trip her and bring her to the ground with a gentle thump.

**Get off, run off, none lost!**

While Minori tried to pick herself up, the young man turned tail to run before ducking under a swipe from Shiki, infuriated by the disarming of her adopted sister. Though she laid a few attacks after him, he either jumped, skid, or dived out of her way each time until they reached the hallway. While Yumi and Miyabi ordered the other girls to split up and flank the young man's escape, Shiki pursued after him and rounded the corner into the hall only to have him jump from the corner to grab her scythe and lock the two in a standstill.

**Head down, straight down!**

As the blonde continued to struggle against him, beginning to gain the upper hand and overpower him, she haughtily taunted, "You're totally done, perv-o," before pulling back on the scythe's shaft to bring the blade straight into the young man. Unexpected to her, however, was him hefting himself up onto the top of her weapon before his weight forced Shiki to drop it to the ground, effectively leaving her without a weapon. The young man simply smiled at the blonde for a moment before turning to leave, not anticipating her sudden punch to his gut.

**Take down, lay down, still bound!**

After bending over to pick her scythe from the ground, Shiki raised it into the air to swing it down and kill him. Recovering from her punch quickly, the young man kicked his foot up into the pole of the oncoming weapon to bounce it upward and stand himself up. Before he could run away or Shiki could do anything else, Yozakura appeared and tackled him from the direction he was heading before delivering a second punch to his stomach, blowing the air out of him as he bit back the pain.

**Fall low, real low!**

He was almost effectively pinned until he began to rile up in his struggling against Yozakura's arms. Though the girl was significantly stronger than him, she was forced to adjust her grip after he wriggled an arm loose. Using that moment, he dragged himself a bit backwards toward Shiki while freeing up one of his legs. When Yozakura threw herself forward to pin his arm again, he used her momentum plus a heavy push from his leg to hurl her over him and straight into Shiki, leaving both of them on the floor while the young man brought himself to his feet and continued on his way.

**Talk low, prowl low, void blows!**

While the two shinobi picked themselves up and resumed the pursuit, the young man managed to rush around a corner within the hallway before he stopped in his tracks and faced off against Murakumo and her two wolves, Kotarō and Kagerō. Feeling his jaw tighten and eyes narrow with anxiousness, the young man raised his arms against the three as he heard the two girls behind him and saw Ryōna keeping guard just behind his three new challengers.

**Keep moving, keep fighting, keep climbing up!**

Thrusting her cleaver forward, Murakumo ordered her companions to charge the young man before adopting a defensive stance. Eying the flight of stairs just behind where Murakumo was standing, the young man bent his knees as the white and black wolves simultaneously lurched forward. Once they were within arms reach with their jaws wide open, he bounced backward and patiently awaited the exact moment when the white wolf, Kotarō, completed its airborne arc and landed to the ground before he reached forward and riskily grabbed the dog by the flesh on the back of its neck.

Though he managed to successfully pull and slide the canine behind him across the wooden floor to bring a sudden halt to Shiki and Yozakura's advance, the black wolf, Kagerō, managed to sink its teeth into one of the young man's arms and bring him to the ground. Though pained, he knew he only had a few seconds before either the shinobi or the other wolf came back to finish him. Bringing his freehand up to squeeze the dog's throat, the young man managed to wrap his legs and also pinched its abdomen. Eventually, as it burned through its energy and air, the black wolf was forced to release him before it was thrown off.

**Don't step off, don't drag down, don't fall low! RUN~!**

Ignoring his bleeding arm, the young man surged toward Murakumo as he watched her swing her cleaver while reeling back to stab her spear forward. Bringing himself to a stop to let the momentum of the cleaver throw it by, the young man used his hands to pat the coming spear away before grabbing hold of it to try and wrench it free of the taller girl. Unfortunately for him, her strength dwarfed his own. Quickly, she pulled her spear out of his reach before kicking him back against the wall and proceeded to press the shaft against his throat. Being quickly choked out, the young man began to wildly flail his arms to try and break free. Luck took his side when one of his hands happened to bump straight into the underside of Murakumo's mask, making her squeak in surprise before dropping her weapons to secure it.

Using the provided opportunity, he was about to run up the stairs before he spotted Ryōbi aiming her rifle straight down at him. With a devilish grin, she muttered, "Down, boy," before firing, missing his head by a centimeter and blowing the ground up with a huge puff of debris. Knowing the wolves were on his tail along with Shiki and Yozakura while Ryōna was readying her pistols from the blockaded end of the hallway, the young man took a gamble and bolted up the stairs while the older twin was reloading.

Though he got there just in time before she could properly take aim at him, she managed to fire the rifle one more time while his hand was on the barrel and wrestling the gun away. The resulting burn left him open for her to stab the axe on the butt of her rifle at him, forcing him to jump back and nearly tumble down the stairs as Ryōna came to the first step. With a sleight of hands, the young man grabbed hold of the railing and Ryōbi's sleeve before tugging her back into her oncoming sister. Hearing the painful thud of the two on the landing and the moans of the younger twin, the young man clenched his teeth before uttering a, "Sorry," and taking off in a run, his cocky smile long gone.

**Look where you stand, the spin's finally done!**

Coming up the doors to the second-floor hallway, the young man felt his face fall when he found the doors to be locked or barred from the other side as the sounds of barking dogs and agitated yells ascended the stairs behind him. Though he was on the verge of panic, the young man spotted a window which led to Hebijo's shingled roof and instinctively leapt onto the window sill before kicking the glass a few times to break out of the building. Just as his exit was made, the white and black wolf rounded the top of the stairs and leapt after the young man onto the roof, tackling him down while trying to bite into his throat. Using the slope and the shingles to his advantage, the young man managed to roll the dogs off of both him and the roof toward the ground below. Looking over, he saw that the two made a clean landing and were huffing in frustration at having lost their kill.

**Want to know where the ball stopped…?**

Not having a moment to catch his breath when his pursuers climbed through the window after him, he was about to make another run for it until he heard a loud yell from the highest point on the roof, "STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

Looking up in surprise to see Yumi flanked by Imu and Murasaki, the young man felt his jaw drop in a mix of frustration and exhaustion. With a few heavy breaths and a bleeding arm, he slowly slid his feet along the edge of the roof with his arms in the air, keeping a close eye on the girls who were advancing on him from the window. Glancing over the ledge, the young man found that there was a bit of a shingled awning over the first story windows before looking back to Yumi with careful eyes. The girl in question pointed her fan at him before coldly demanding, "Surrender. We're taking you into custody."

Letting out a sigh, the young man readopted his mischievous smirk before brazenly stating, "I'm a little tired, honestly. I think I'd rather just head straight home."

Her eyebrows glowered as she seemed to give the silent order for the eight other girls to attack. Before any of them could take action, the young man took a step off the roof and allowed himself to fall back as he attempted to grab hold of the shingled awning. Though he had a grip at first, his wounded arm gave out and left all of his weight and momentum to one hand, which gave up after the fact. Landing hard on his back and shoulder, the young man let out a groan and muttered frustrated mumbles under his breath before standing and facing toward the main gate, where he found Miyabi waiting. For a moment, he simply stared with a deflated look before she drew her katana and made to charge straight at him with a look of fury on her face.

**RED ALERT!**

Ducking under and diving away from a series of stabs and slices, the young man quickly dashed along the side of the building with Miyabi in tow. As the other shinobi leapt from the roof to the ground and the wolves began to bark in anticipation, the young man felt one final grand burst of energy take him as he sprinted from the side of the building out onto the athletic field bordering the woods. If he made it over the fence and into cover, he would be home free. Casting a few more glances and a smile back at his pursuers, he continued to dodge all of Miyabi's strikes as he continued on his merry way.

**Wherever you run, wherever you hide…!**

Spotting a tree growing on the inside of the fence, the young man spotted his bridge to freedom before turning around and grabbing hold of Miyabi's oncoming fist in an attempt to send her to the ground. But, as he wrestled her a moment, he found her strength to par Murakumo's before he managed to dodge away from her katana as he turned around to continue running at top speed to the tree.

**You're in dealer's debt, trapped in devil's grip…!**

On reaching the tree, the group of shinobi behind the young man and Miyabi had nearly closed the distance between them before the former managed to vault upwards into the tree and climbed up the trunk. Running along the branches as Ryōbi and Ryōna unloaded their weapons after him, he spotted one sturdy branch that extended close enough to the fence for him to make his leap to freedom.

**There's no tree or fence to which you can leap!**

Once the volley of bullets ended, the young man took his chance and ran along the branch until he made a majestic dive from the tree to the fence, just grabbing hold of the top bar. Preparing to haul himself over while the shinobi yelled out from the ground and clambered into the tree after him, the young man took one look back at them and arrogantly called, "Later," before turning to climb over the fence, only to find that Imu had managed to leap up to the top and was staring down at him with an enraged look in her eyes.

**Look up in fear and realize…**

Unsure of what else he could do in that moment, the young man simply tightened his face into a nervous and dumb smile at her glare. Without a bit of hesitation, Imu pulled her leg back before delivering a fierce kick into the underside of his jaw and sent him flying back into the dirt with a crash. Though the girls surrounded him and proceeded to pin him, they deemed it needless when they saw his eyes flutter for a moment before he seemed to fall to unconsciousness.

**You're dead…**


	3. Chapter 3: Correction (Miyabi)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 3: Correction (Miyabi)

Once it became apparent that the young man was unconscious, most of the shinobi surrounding his form breathed a sigh of relief. As Miyabi held her katana at her side, she bent down and proceeded to pull down the scarf that had been covering the lower half of his face. She got a good look at his features before looking to everyone around her, "Anyone recognize him?"

There was a quick shake of heads from all of the girls before Yumi suggested, "We should bind him and report to a teacher. Rin would want to know"

"No need," Miyabi said before standing and raising her blade, "I'll finish it here."

Immediately, Shiki raised a hand and stuttered out from Yumi's side, "Woah, chill! Chill! We don't even know who he is."

Most of Gessen seemed to take her side almost reflexively as Minori's fervently shook her head and was on the verge of tears while Yozakura opened her mouth to say something, only to have Yumi place a calm and seemingly indifferent hand on her shoulder. Even Ryōbi piped up from behind her leader, "We aren't going to find any information on him if he's dead, you know."

Keeping her eyes cold and calculated, Yumi gestured to the young man, "If you do not wish to handle him properly, we'll gladly take him into Gessen's custody."

In response to the dissension, Miyabi loudly boomed, "He dies!" While a few shinobi took a step back at her frustrated outburst, she took a breath and calmed herself before stating, "All of you know that he must be dangerous. He's effectively and deliberately broken onto school grounds and managed to spot us despite our shinobi barriers. When we pursued, he managed to effectively keep us at bay only until we managed to overwhelm him. In extension of all that, the honor of Hebijo has been violated by his actions. I don't see any reason why we should be lenient with someone who was clearly asking for death."

Yumi held out a palm to object, "If we want to know and understand why he's done what he has, then we'll need him alive. If you're so insulted, you can carry out your sentence once we've learned what we can."

Gripping her blade tightly at her side, Miyabi stomped toward Yumi and looked down to her before growling, "He's a walking insult to Hebijo and myself. He dies. You want to learn from him? Dissect his corpse!" and shoved the kimono clad girl back as she raised her sword to strike the stranger. She barked at everyone standing close, "Step back!" In the face of her escalating anger, everyone by the young man's side abided her order with unsure looks. Bending her arm back, Miyabi drove the blade downward toward the young man's peaceful face.

But, before contact could be made, his eyes opened with a gleam and a devilish grin spread across his face. Acting quick, he rolled to the side and narrowly avoided her downward blow, before he pulled his body up and launched himself into the air with his arms. As Miyabi rerouted her blade to try and slice him during his leap, his hand whirled around and took hold of her sword arm before swinging his body underneath. While she kept her balance as the momentum pulled her down, his body dangled around her and twisted to blow his weight straight into her back while he snaked a hand under her free arm. Miyabi barely managed to stay on her feet in spite of the blow to her back as the young man brought his freehand to her forehead before his face fell serious.

"You're distorted," he groaned as he tried to maintain his hold on her sword arm and head, "I'll fix it, though… Here and now!"

By the time Imu had recovered from her shock and proceeded to rip the young man off of her best friend's back, it'd already been to late. Miyabi's eyes went blank for a moment when his fingers left her head before they twisted ugly with rage. Immediately after, a violent burst of red light and wind blew through the air, forcing the surrounding shinobi to step back from whatever was happening to the girl. As Imu's expression switched to concern, the young man easily pulled free while she tried to approach and help Miyabi. Bringing his watch to his face, the young man read the word 'Vibrant' on the digital panel before pondering for a moment. When he seemed to settle on an idea, he clicked his watch and shouted, "Patience!" before watching the letters reshape to the spoken word.

Miyabi screeched into the air as the red aura around her seemed to die along with the wind, before her yellow eyes and enraged features settled on the young man. When her target was set, she proceeded to stomp straight toward him as the shinobi all regained their footing only to hold their breaths in anticipation for what was to come. Still, the young man simply brought his scarf back up before raising his arms combatively into the air. Seeing as he was prepared to fight, Miyabi looked around to her comrades and nastily ordered, "KILL HIM! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? KILL HIM!

Though Yumi and her team hesitated, Ryōbi and Ryōna nodded and readied their weapons. Anticipating the counterattack, the young man reached down to his watch before producing a pinky-sized capsule with a notable chink. Throwing the object into the air, the young man dived for the ground while covering his eyes and ears before a series of blinding flashes proceeded to detonate in the air while producing earsplitting explosions. As a result, almost all of the shinobi proceeded to stumble and fall to the ground while covering their faces in mixes of strain and shock.

Still, despite most of her allies being on the ground and having her senses overwhelmed, Miyabi kept herself up before proceeding to madly swipe and stab her weapon at where she last saw the young man. Seeing as her movements were extremely unpredictable at that point, the young man retreated away from the crowd while goading her, "Over here! This way!" so that she didn't wind up catching someone else in the crossfire.

Once her ears began to recover and she managed to place where he was yelling from, she bent her knee and kicked herself forward while twisting her other leg around to deliver a merciless kick straight into his throat. The resulting blow threw him into the ground and gasping for breath before rolling out of her blade's way again, only to be elbowed in the stomach before he could pick himself up. Though Miyabi used the opportunity to restrain him and bent her arm to try and stab her katana into him, one of his legs were still carelessly left loose and managed to settle a foot on her stomach before successfully prying himself away. As the blade drove down at him, the young man raised his already bleeding arm and managed to line it parallel to the katana's path before pushing it away, only suffering another cut. Though Miyabi continued to wrestle him, he managed to chop his flattened hand into the inside of her elbow and made her reflexively drop the weapon before getting thrown to the ground again.

In response to being disarmed, Miyabi let out a cry of rage before unleashing a series of punches to the side of the young man' head. Once he managed to successfully guard a few strikes, she stood to pull him up only to hook him in the jaw and blow him back into the ground. Though sore, he managed to stand himself up before Miyabi put all of her force into one final punch that sent him flying through the air and landing hard onto his back.

Briefly losing clarity in his vision, the young man brought a hand to his head as he watched Miyabi's advancing form. His saving grace was found when the two of them heard Imu shouting, "Miyabi! I'll be there…!" while still trying to recover from the young man's flashbangs.

Turning to face her still blinded comrade, Miyabi sneered before roaring back, "Oh, keep yourself back there! You'll just make yourself a nuisance! A pain in my side!" In response to the stabbing words, Imu stopped in her tracks with a look of shock. While everyone else proceeded to pick themselves up, unsure of whether or not they'd heard the unbefitting words leave Miyabi's mouth, the yellow-eyed girl continued, "You're a pest! A curse that cost me my mother on that damned mountain… Do you remember that!? She's dead because you wanted to play like a real shinobi! She could be here with me today, I could show her all I've become, and I could see that proud look in her eye, but she's fucking dead!"

Tears were steadily rolling down Imu's cheek as her vision began to return, showing her the contempt and hatred that was reflecting in the eyes of the woman that she'd been so loyal to. She raised a shaky hand toward her best friend and quietly pleaded, "Miyabi…"

With a scoff, the girl growled, "Go to hell, you worthless wretch!"

To that, Imu's face fell and a hand went up to cover her mouth before she fell to her knees. She hiccupped a few sobs as the rest of the girls glanced over and fully took in all that was happening. As a few vocal objections were raised at Miyabi's cruel words, she waved them off before turning to retrieve her katana and faced back to the young man. Much to her surprise, he'd leapt up from his resting position and was a moment away from her face with his arms raised again. Though she attempted to throw a punch his way, he ducked his head underneath as his arms wrapped and locked around her neck and extended arm. As she began to struggle against the lock, he hooked their ankles together and pulled her straight into the ground with him. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she was effectively pinned with him attempting to bring and hold one of his hands to her forehead again. In frustration, she began to roar and wail into the air while trying to reach over with her other arm to peel him off.

She struggled and wriggled in his grip but he finally made contact with her forehead, he uttered, "That's enough," and she finally froze where she was. Her eyes, fully aware, watched and glared at him furiously as he offered, "I think you've unearthed a bit more than you'd like. I'm sorry for that. But I'll fix it…"

With no other words said while the shinobi began to quickly advance on him, he cupped her cheek and gently brought his forehead to hers.

To Miyabi, the world shifted all around her before the ground and sky seemed to shift into an enclosed space. In the blink of an eye, she was back in Hebijo academy, practicing in the training room with her arms throwing eager punches at a wooden dummy. Realizing where she was and what she was doing, Miyabi quickly lowered her hands and looked down to find she was in her training uniform. On wiping a hand across her head and doubting all that had just happened, a voice softly called from behind her, "Take a moment," to which she turned around and found herself facing the young man.

Not daring to give him another opportunity to act, she proceeded to deliver a punch into him that threw his body against the wall. Remembering the nasty things she'd roared at Imu outside, Miyabi cried "HOW DARE YOU!?" before rushing forward and proceeded to punch him again and again, "What did you make me say!? What's your game in all of this!? WHO ARE YOU!?"

As though he hadn't been harmed at all, the young man calmly said, "I'll wait until you're calm before I explain."

Unlike his previous state, he had no cuts or bruises and carried no injury from the punches she had just delivered to him. With a groan that evolved into a growl, she threw him aside and demanded, "Tell me where we are."

Raising his palm to try and calm her down, the young man simply stated, "There's a bit to discuss if you want a straight answer," before he brought himself into a seated position by the wall.

She looked as though she was going to kill him for a moment but, seeing as any punch that she threw would be useless, she begrudgingly complied and stood in front of his resting form, "Let's discuss it then."

Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, the young man stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "We are in a place that you find the comfort in."

Harshly, Miyabi mumbled, "So what? Why are we suddenly here!?"

He locked eyes with her and answered, "We are in your mind."

She bent down and smacked him across the face before pulling him up by the throat, though he looked unfazed, "Don't… test me. How did we get here?"

He answered again, "I've brought us here so that I could fix your head."

She loudly demanded again, "Speak frankly! How did we get here?"

His eyes narrowed a moment but his tone remained gentle, "In more detailed terms, I've brought my cognition into your mind. At the moment, you're suffering from an ailment that is referred to as distortion. I've since successfully removed rage from your cognitive functions and have brought you here, a place where you'd find great comfort."

Miyabi stared blankly at him before closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to make sense of what he'd just said. She thought for a moment before opening her hands and releasing him, "I'll indulge you. We're in my mind or… cognition… or something. You said I'm distorted? What is that?"

With a shrug, the young man replied, "The best way to put it is that an aspect of your personality got twisted and screwed up. It's okay now, though. I fixed it."

She remembered his words before they appeared in the training room, when he laid his hand to her forehead for the second time. She seemed to relax a bit before the words she'd hurled at Imu sank in again. As her face fell, she mumbled to the young man, "Why did I say… everything that I said out there?"

With a brief aversion of his eyes, he looked back at her and empathetically said, "In order to fix the distortion, I had to bring out your rage all onto the surface. Somewhere in your mind, that's what you were internally thinking-"

Immediately, her head shot up to stare at him before she boomed, "That's a lie! Imu has been my best friend for years! My childhood friend! Everywhere I went, she followed. Every time I needed help, she was there! Every step of the way, every crack in the road behind me, she was there and she stood by me at my best and worst!"

He stared up at her, calm as a flowing stream and patient as a sage, "Indeed, she is your best friend then."

She threateningly waved her fist at him, "So, why did I say those things!?"

With a thoughtful look and wandering eyes, he offered, "In all of us, every human being who walks this earth, there is a side of us that we aren't proud of. That same side spews seemingly random and terrible things, such as when someone is surrounded by their friends and thinks about how much they hate them when, in reality, they couldn't be closer. Or when a young mother is holding her first child after birth and wonders what would happen if she chucked it out a window when, in truth, she couldn't be any happier to be a mother to the child she has nurtured through nine months of labor. That voice is a part of me too. It's also part of you. And that part is what spoke for you."

Miyabi stared at him incredulously before stepping back with a hand in her hair. She thought for a moment and stared at him blankly, "So, those were just random thoughts? They had no real meaning, right?"

To her dismay, he shook his head and stated, "Those things certainly don't reflect who we truly are or how we feel… But they are still a part of us and reflect our darker halves. In the mind of that someone surrounded by their friends, they may think of every little inconvenience caused by their companions' presence and allow that resentment to build up inside of them. That young mother may find herself afraid of parenthood and its prospects or frustrated by the baby's cry and may internally loathe it," he paused for a moment with consideration before continuing, "As for you… I don't know what you or Imu have been through but there must have been some moments where she's caused you frustration."

There was no hint of deception in his face or words. Unsure of how to bear what she was hearing, Miyabi let her head fall into one of her hands. With a guilty look on his face, the young man continued, "I'm sorry that those thoughts came out. I thought correcting your distortion would go a bit smoother after that flashbang… Obviously, I was wrong."

Miyabi released her head from her hands and looked at him with weary eyes. He looked back at her patiently and awaited her next question. After an uncomfortable silence, she spoke frankly, "So what now?"

To that question, he stood up from his seated position and craned his head up toward the taller girl. With a breath, he extended his hand to her, "Now, I need you to accept back your rage."

Miyabi stared at him with a quirked brow before asking, "Isn't that what caused this whole mess? Isn't it distorted or… something?" 

He looked at her, his expression gentle but otherwise unreadable, "I brought this rage all out of you before so that I could collect it and starve out the corruption on this aspect of your personality. Now that it's gone, it will be safe to take back.

With a quick shake of her head, Miyabi crossed her arms, "No. I said those horrible things because of it, right? I don't see a reason to take it back."

"All that you said out there was because of me," the young man said as his face fell a bit, "Yes, rage is what made you say those things out there, but you have other aspects of your personality that keep it in check. You'll be perfectly back to normal, the same way you were before the distortion settled in."

Shaking her head with a bit more determination, Miyabi stated, "There won't be any damage if I don't take it back, will there? I won't take it. Especially if it means I'd be thinking those horrible things about Imu."

Heaving a breath and running a hand through his hair, the young man brought a hand to his chin. After some thought, he offered, "No one likes that feeling of uncontrollable anger. But it's still a part of you. If there's no rage that forces you to call out vexing circumstances, where will you find respite? Without rage, you'd progress through life while letting all of that frustration build within you. Rarely would you vent it to someone, even more rarely would you vent what you'd be more ashamed to talk about. Do you really wish to carry that weight?

At that question, Miyabi felt her conviction falter for a moment before the young man placed a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes looked down on him unsurely before he smiled up a bit, "And remember… it doesn't define who you are. Your conscious choices in the face of outside forces and internal feelings is what makes you. And if you feel ugly because of some uncontrollable thought popping into your head, know that your friends love you for you. They're there through your ups and downs because you've been there for them."

Sliding his hand from Miyabi's shoulder to her hand, the young man raised his free palm for her to accept. Though there was significant hesitation that held her back for a moment, the girl ultimately took his hand and let in the rage that was once within her. She was surprised to find that she didn't feel any different from before and looked down on the young man with confused eyes, "It worked?" With a gentle smile, he nodded and moved to release himself before finding that Miyabi was still clinging onto his hand.

A brief look of confusion crossed his face when he looked back up at her. When she didn't say anything while her face was lost in thought, he asked, "Are you… okay?"

With a pondering look and wandering eyes, Miyabi turned back to him before asking, "Could you tell me who you are? Your name?"

With a soft snort through his nose, the young man looked up reluctantly before answering, "I'm you and your friends' enemy right now, so I can't tell you."

As her look twisted into shock, she found the environment around her was dissipating into light before she felt herself getting hauled back into the real world. As grateful as Miyabi was to be cleared of the distortion, his last statement hurt. From all that he had said, he'd been nothing less than a help to her. Hopefully, she would talk with him in-depth again or, if nothing else, find out some sort of information on who he was. Perhaps, she'd even find a way to show her 'enemy' gratitude.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of rage bringing tranquility to a clouded heart, you have saved a young woman from a fate of senseless abuse and attack.**

**For this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has endured through physical and mental punishment in order to save her. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the seeds of a love to come will blossom.**


	4. Chapter 4: Withdraw

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 4: Withdraw

Though Miyabi's eyes were open and she was entirely aware of her surroundings on the athletic field, she had a horribly dizzying feeling in her head and stomach that told her something wasn't right. Amidst her internal struggle, she heard Imu's voice softly speak from above her, "She's awake…" before Miyabi looked up to the surrounding shinobi, comrades and enemies all worried for her present state.

The white-haired girl raised her head from Imu's knees with a wobble that made her look as intoxicated as a morning drinker. Though, she tried to keep her head steady for a moment, she found it far too heavy on one side and pulled to the opposite only to have the same problem. After a few times, she heard Yozakura call, "Everyone, give her some air."

Eventually, Miyabi's eyes found the unmoving body of the young man. As she tried to straighten herself again, she lurched forward to the boy's body before promptly reeling her head back and whirling it down to headbutt him hard in the dome. Right then and there, she regained full control of herself and brought her hands to her head while groaning in pain from the self-inflicted blow. When she looked up, she found the young man convulsing and wildly shaking before he turned himself over onto his stomach and proceeded to heave and cough until a disgustingly large glob of saliva blew out of his mouth. With a mumble and a few pained moans, he simply laid silent while Murakumo's two wolves stood guard over him.

A part of Miyabi wanted to check on him, though her thoughts were interrupted when she turned to find Imu kneeling next to her and asking, "Are you okay?" Though her voice was solid, there was a terribly sorrowful look in her puffy red eyes.

"I'm sorry," blurted Miyabi before she reached up and wrapped her arms around the girl's neck, "In a way that no one in this world can possibly fathom, I am so sorry."

Letting the shock pass through her for a moment, Imu cradled her exhausted leader, "It's as I promised in the past. I will always follow you."

As the surrounding shinobi were taking in the soft sight, the young man looked up from where he laid before dragging his arm across the ground so that his watch was under his mouth. After he uttered a few words, his eyes settled on the two canines who were growling right by his head. Keeping himself calm, he offered open palms to the two. At first, the wolves snapped at his fingers until he receded his hands. But, after a few tries, the white wolf, Kotarō sniffed his hand before licking it, seemingly satisfied with his smell and attitude.

Spotting his interaction with the wolves, Murakumo called in her deep voice, "Oi!" as the young man scratched behind the dog's ears, all while the black wolf, Kagerō, was sniffing his other hand and seemed to wish for a petting. Again, Murakumo called at the young man, "Oi! Leave them alone." With a quick grunt, the young man stopped only for the two wolves to begin nuzzling their noses into his arms until he shrugged and began to pet them again.

Baffled at the taller girl's side, Shiki noted, "I've never seen them do that before…"

With her own short grunt, Murakumo crossed her arms in brief disapproval before conceding the round, though she still kept an eye on the young man to make sure he didn't harm her pups. Once everyone was sure that Miyabi was fine, doublechecking the newly attained bump on her head, all eyes and ears turned with mixes of curiosity and distrust to the young man. Amidst his session of dog petting, Yumi approached him with an unreadable expression before calmly asking, "All of this… In the school and here… What was all of that?"

Keeping his attention on entertaining the dogs, the young man muttered under his breath, "Ah, you know. Got some exercise, built up some grit…" before averting his eyes under her critical gaze, "hocked up a blob because my exit was cut off…"

Her face steadily twisted in frustration as she swatted her fan against the back of his head, "Quit acting so snide. You detected us despite the shinobi barriers and made yourself known to us only to run away. Then you… did whatever you did to Miyabi. Pardon me if you consider my request rude, but I believe an explanation is in order."

With a nod, the young man uttered, "I suppose it would be in order," and proceeded to maintain his silence in defiance, opting to scratch Kagerō's hindleg while the dog panted happily.

Still in Imu's hold, Miyabi slightly turned her head until she could see him again. "Hey," came her solid but cautious voice, "All that… just a bit ago. Did that all really happen?"

She remembered it all far too thoroughly for it to possibly have been some sort of hallucination or dream. To the relief of her sanity, he nodded to her but did not say a word. Her eyes fell to the watch on his arm as he continued to pleasantly rub and scratch the two dogs. Something about the device seemed so odd, especially since the rest of his attire seemed simple and tightfitting, perfect for a stealth operation. Then she spotted the word 'deceptive' on the watch's face and felt her eyes narrow in suspicion.

Pulling herself from Imu's hold, Miyabi treaded over to the young man and looked down at his slouching form. Unsure of what to say, she simply pointed down at his watch and waited expectantly for an answer. As everyone else craned their heads in to listen to what he had to say about the device and the word on it, he flashed a toothy smirk before suddenly twisting his head toward the school building, "I could use some backup over here! Now!"

Immediately, everyone twisted their heads to the school in fear that he had reinforcements on the way only to find the area completely deserted. While their eyes were averted in that one brief moment, the young man offered gentle pats to the wolves' heads before darting up to his feet and making a run for the tree he had tried to scale earlier. Quickly realizing the horrifyingly simple trick that they'd fallen for, Miyabi heard his footsteps and turned around to dive after him. Though her fingertips brushed against the back of his legs, he'd successfully gotten his head start as everyone else, including the wolves, also made to pursue.

He clicked his watch and shouted, "Vibrant!" into it before he felt the surge of energy rush through him again. Using the initial momentum, he bit down the pain in his bloody arm and ascended the tree before running straight along its branches for the fence, ducking his head under a couple of Ryōbi and Ryōna's bullets before leaping over the fence with a flaunty call, "Later!"

Though everyone was frustrated at the fact that he'd so easily gotten into the woods on the other side of the fence, Yumi was by far the most furious with her breaths practically steaming with rage. Seething through her teeth, the girl cried, "Everyone! Pursue and capture him!" before she and the rest of Gessen scaled over the fence to give chase. Though Miyabi nearly gave the order to do the same, her exhausted body gave out and fell back into Imu's arms.

At the sight of her weakened leader, Ryōbi simply stated, "We're getting you to the infirmary. Tell us what all happened once you've gotten a hold of yourself."

Miyabi knew that there was no point to arguing. With a final glance toward the fence and straining her ear to listen for Gessen's shouts after their target, she allowed herself to be hauled off by her team back to Hebijo academy.

Meanwhile, darting between the trees and out onto the suburbs, the young man knew that his time was going to run out if the girls behind him didn't lose his scent. Making for one of the alleys that ran behind a line of houses, the young man continued to run as his pursuers broke through the line of trees and out onto the streets with their wolves eagerly howling into the air. Fearing that they'd caught sight of him, he lowered his head in a sprint before double-timing it through the passageway, sliding to his knees to round a garage corner as the girls arrived at the alley entrance. Finding a pile of wooden debris, some garbage cans, and a fence, the young man quickly concocted a plan.

Not wasting any time, he grabbed hold of a few broken pallets and shelves and shoved them onto their sides, knocking over the trashcan all the while. He unwrapped his scarf from around his neck while intentionally screaming out, "Shit!" and flapped it so that it rested on the top of the fence, pulling it a bit against one of the points so that it tore a little. By the time the girls had came around the corner of the garage, he'd already dived into the trashcan and buried himself into a couple of the bags to let the rancid smell cover his scent.

When the girls saw the ruckus and the torn scarf atop the wooden fence, they assumed he had a faulty jump before hauling themselves over and giving chase to where they believed he'd ran, though the dogs were visibly unsure about where they were heading. Even when their footsteps had been gone for a minute, the young man opted to remain in the foul-smelling bin until he was comfortable with exiting. Their yells were still audible in the distance but they'd certainly kept going despite the lack of a proper lead. Puffing a breath of relief out of his nose, the young man thought himself victorious.

From there, he continued to carefully sneak through the alleyways in the suburbs, not allowing himself to walk out too much in the open. Every now and then, he glanced down to his bleeding arm and realized he'd have to get it treated quickly. He decided that, once he'd reached a more urbanized area, he'd head into a convenience store and use their bathroom to clean himself up. While pondering his next step, he realized that his rear-end was pained and sore before a thought occurred to him. Quickly, he reached into his pocket only to find that his glasses were very broken. Though the frames were mostly intact, if a little bent, the lenses were completely unsalvageable. With a huff of frustration, tinged with worry as he would not be able to sight active shinobi barriers, he continued on his way.

After a bit more time, he finally spotted a convenience store and trekked out in the open. While passing wary glances to his left and right, front and back, up and down, the young man skirted himself to the glass door while watching for any signs of traps or ambushes. Once he popped the door open and managed to slink inside, he thought himself in the clear.

The kind old man behind the counter was already dealing with another customer, a girl in a gray school uniform with brown hair tied into two pigtails. For a moment, the young man thought nothing of it until something clicked in his head. Taking notice of him when the entrance bell rang, the girl turned around to see who'd come in behind before offering a surprised grin. Putting together quickly that the girl, Minori, had reverted from her shinobi form to head into the store in order to buy the pile of sweets she'd piled up on the counter, the young man simplly stared on as his face fell in a mix of horror and frustration.

Quickly after taking notice of him, Minori turned to the old man and sweetly said, "Sorry, I won't be buying anything. Time to play!"

The young man's eyes shot open and he darted out the door in a shoot sprint for his life while the old man heartfully waved goodbye to the girl as she moved to pursue and went back to minding his business with a murmur, "Young love has grown quite intense these days."

Peering behind him, the young man spotted a flash emitting from Minori's body and realized that she was setting up a shinobi barrier to transform. Sure enough, when her clothes shifted to the cute yellow dress she'd been wearing before, he knew that he was in a terrible position. He rounded off the sidewalk into a nearby park, scaling a staircase into it, and shooting over the benches and decor. When he turned around, she matched his every move with greater speed and a giant smile on her face, which only served to terrify him all the more.

Knowing that even with having set himself to a vibrant state of mind, his body could only take so much abuse in so short a time. Sure enough, as he continued to run for his life, he felt his side twisting in pain and his tired breaths shifting more into sore groans. Outrunning her was no longer an option but, from what he observed before, neither was negotiation. In the end, he only proficiently knew of one option on the table: trickery.

Spotting a nearby public toilet, he gave one final effort to sprint for all that he was worth and ducked inside. The girl, conflicted about the prospect of entering the men's room, stopped just outside before circling around the building. From a vantage point where she could see both the door and windows, she took a seat and gleefully took out her phone to call over the rest of Gessen's elite.

Inside the restroom, the young man acted quick. He clicked and muttered into his watch, "Control," before he felt the effects take place. His already dwindling energy sapped with his vibrancy in an instant and he collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily as his heart punched hard against the inside of his chest. He reached a weary arm up and grabbed the sink to pull himself up. He looked at himself through the mirror and took in his appearance: messy hair dirtied by all of his roughhousing, a bruised and bloody face, his bleeding arm, and various spots of dirt across his clothes.

Knowing his allotted time was drawing near its end, he washed his face and wounds quickly, taking his black long-sleeved shirt off and discarding it into the trash while washing the cut he sustained on his arm. He looked at the white tank top that he wore underneath and noted that it looked relatively clean. As he continued to wash his face, he suddenly yelled in a deep voice that sounded nothing like his own, "Hey! What the hell! What're you doing!?" and began to smooth his hair out before taking his fingers and styling strands together to make it look a bit more punkish. "Crazy bastard!" he boomed as he angled his bangs to stick to and cover the bruises on his forehead, kicking the wall and waste basket to mimic the sound of a scuffle. "What're you doing with that?" he cried as he flushed his nose with water before flaring his nostrils to give them a wider look, all while banging his fist against the glass. "To hell with you! I'm calling the police!" he uttered in a loud growl and sucked his lower lip inside his mouth to give it a smaller appearance. Still moving quick and rapidly, he reached into his pocket to produce the frames of his glasses before poking out the remainder of the glass and pulling them on. On giving a final look to himself in the mirror, he realized that there was poor gentleman standing out from his stall door and looking at the young man as though he'd grown two extra heads. To that, the young man politely whispered, "Sorry to disturb you," and strode out with his expression pulled into a convincing scowl, holding the facial features that he'd adjusted in the mirror. As he walked out, he angled the wound on his arm away from Minori and was forced to simply hope that she wouldn't take notice or would assume it as coincidental.

As he walked from the bathrooms, he spotted the girl skipping up to him in his peripheral vision and kept his eyes forward. He glowered to the ground and began to mutter in the unbefitting voice under his breath, "Crazy piece of human garbage. Bastard of a thousand fathers. See if he acts so confident when the cops pull him out of there crying," and maintained a frustrated march. A few times in the middle of his rant, he heard her attempt to talk over him and get his attention. But he kept his face, eyes, expression, and tone level and did nothing to acknowledge her presence, just as any normal person would while she was still holding up her shinobi barrier. It was an extremely great gamble to convince Minori that he wasn't the same young man as before. Though he'd done what he could to try and change what facial features he could, the general shape of his face remained unchanged.

Much to his extreme relief, after trying to get his attention a few more times with a pout to her lip, Minori pondered on the frustrated words that he was uttering under his breath before the lightbulb went up in her head. Just as he wished, she figured he was just a fellow with a similar face who'd been startled and attacked by the actual young man's in the bathroom. The words rang aloud in his head, "If you hold as firm as iron in denial and give unyielding reason to instill doubt, there's a fair chance that your lie will become the visible truth.

Having finally won the day as he heard Minori call, "Are you almost done in there?" and galloped back to the bathrooms, he maintained his scowling march through the remainder of the urban area, into the suburbs on the other side of the city, and only stopped when he was finally just outside of his apartment. The whole way, he did nothing to call attention while justifying his existence with an assertive march. Along the way, he got a few weird looks from pedestrians but he blew them off without a care in the world.

Slowly and precisely, he took out his key and let himself into his apartment. With one final grand survey of the one room, he ripped the watch from his arm and tossed it at his duffle bag before his energy was officially depleted. Passing one final glance at the time, which read four o'clock in the morning, he threw himself onto his futon and dared to do nothing else. Even as his arm still dribbled a bit of blood onto the sheets, he was content to simply sleep after a hard night's work.


	5. Chapter 5: Recuperate

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 5: Recuperate

After knocking for the third time, Jasmine gave an apologetic look to Kiriya before muttering under her breath about her new tenant. Considering the fact that she had given the young man warning the day before, she'd expected him to at least answer the door quick and promptly, if not make himself scarce from the premises entirely so that they could install the kitchen equipment in peace. She huffed a breath of air and prepared to flat-out blow her fist through the door until she heard the thump of a heavy footstep against the wooden floor. With a calm breath, Jasmine was about to mutter about his tardiness before she noticed the long intervals between each step the young man took. Immediately, the frustration on her face burned away to slight worry.

Eventually, the lock clicked before the door swung open and unveiled the young man in a pitiable state. Between the bruises across his face and the scabbed wound on his arm, he was also still dressed in the same attire as the night before, albeit without his jacket or shirt. As he turned an exhausted eye up to Jasmine, she could see the full stretch of what must have been a completely horrid beating. Before he had the chance to ask her anything, she grabbed him and slid him off to the side of the door, "Don't move from this spot," and exited, passing by Kiriya, "Keep an eye on him."

For a few minutes, the young man simply swayed and idled in the corner while Kiriya stood awkwardly, never having been introduced to the boy. Part of him wanted to take decisive action and question what had all happened to him, just as he would with any of his students. Yet, the only thing he knew about the boy was the fact that he was an infiltrator contracted by a longtime friend. Was it acceptable to discipline the youth of someone else? Would trying to discipline an infiltrator turn out to be dangerous? With the circulation of rumors that surrounded the title, Kiriya did not dare to find out.

Eventually, Jasmine came back into the room with a scroll in her hands before she looked around for a place to seat the young man. With no other place but the futon, she practically dragged him there before ordering him, "Relax and don't move a muscle." Obediently, the young man sat and scarcely breathed while the older woman brought the scroll up to his head. Under her breath, he heard her mutter, "Secret ninja art," before a blue glow emanated from the scroll. Immediately, the sore spots on the side of his head faded and the long scab on the side of his arm slowly cracked and broke as the skin pushed past and healed. In thirty seconds time, the young man was only left with the exhaustion of a poor night's sleep. With wide eyes, he turned to voice his surprise and questions to Jasmine only for his words to catch in his throat.

Across her face, multiple blue-green bruises appeared while she was biting back the pain of having the skin on her arm rip open. At one point, she seemed to have the air blown out of her stomach before heaving for breath. Needless to say, the young man caught on quick that she was sustaining the same wounds that he had taken on the night before. As he moved his mouth to question her about such a feat, she groaned out a breath of air before muttering, "How many punches did you take last night, geez…" and rubbed her temples as a headache set in. She offered him a slight glare, "You know I told you that we were going to install appliances today so that you wouldn't go getting yourself into this kind of trouble, right?"

Still taken aback by the fact that she had taken on his wounds, the young man quietly mumbled, "It wasn't exactly all that planned out."

In response, Jasmine flicked him on the head before painfully grabbing him by the ear, "Anyone with half a brain could tell you how stupid that is, especially when you consider the fact that you were probably outnumbered," and released him with another groan out of her throat. Rubbing her chin as another bruise set in, she asked under her breath, "What were you thinking when you went on the attack like that?"

Averting his eyes and staring shamefully at the floor, the young slowly answered, "I… was scouting before I caught a severe case of the stupid."

Narrowing her eyes, Jasmine sighed, "Evidently, based on these injuries," before hissing in pain and turning to Kiriya, "Could you grab a medical kit? It should be in the storage room downstairs." With a nod, the man dismissed himself with a nod and strode out of the apartment. When they were left alone again, Jasmine quickly jabbed, "You know, I wouldn't be so nice to take on your wounds if you weren't doing something important. Hell, I'm tempted to switch back just so you can feel the full force of those punches again."

Growing irritated with the scorn, the young man gritted his teeth before he reminded himself of what she'd just done for him. Taking a cooling breath, he levelly replied, "If it's any recompense, I managed to clear out the distortion in one of the girls last night. Miyabi, it was."

Reacting first to his tone, Jasmine was about to swear at him before narrowing her eyes, "You've… already cleared out the distortion…?" before exclaiming, "But it's only been twelve hours since I've seen you! Your brother quoted me once that assaults take no less than a day of planning."

In response to the mention of his blood, the young man straightened his back and tightened his lips while his eyes narrowed at the taller woman. Stern and firm in his words, the young man growled, "Don't mention my brother. Either of them."

Ignoring his growing hostility, the woman's face steadily began to glow in excitement while chipping, "Good… Very good! Hoo, you are something else, you know that? I've seen fast movers but you just gave everyone in your line of work a run for their money!" and cheekily grinned, "And you told me that this was your first infiltration~."

His eyes still narrowed in irritation, the young man grumbled, "Because it was my first infiltration. Look, just because-"

He was quickly interrupted, "And just think! You managed to take on Miyabi of all people! Heck, at this rate, you'll have cruised through all of the girls in no time. Maybe even before first exams, eh?"

Throwing a palm into the air to calm her, the young man hollered with a scowl, "Hold up, hold up!" and waited for the woman to calm down. When her excitement fell silent, he continued, "I can assure you that everything from last night was circumstantial. Miyabi's particular ailment of distortion was a typically easy fix when compared to others. My previous quote on how long this will take still stands."

Jasmine's once cheerful expression fell back to her typically stoic state as Kiriya came in with the medical kit. While he urged her to quit moving so he could disinfect her arm, she mumbled quietly, "You're still expecting it to take until the end of summer?"

With a solid nod, the young man explained, "Yes. While there were ten girls from Hebijo and Gessen who were present last night, I've still yet to effectively provoke Hanzō and the renegades. After that, I intend to take things a bit more safely and stick to isolated hit and run attacks. I won't be as careless or emotionally driven as I was last night."

Ignoring the pain of the disinfectant burning away at her wound, Jasmine's sudden bark startled Kiriya, "That's a worst-case scenario, right? I've seen some of the girls and I know their afflictions must have progressed pretty far. They can't wait!"

Offering a sympathetic glance, the young man nodded, "I agree. One of the girls from last night, Yumi… Based off of everything that you described of her, sweet and caring while offering a firm touch… some of her actions last night were just the opposite. She was cold, calculated, and otherwise indifferent. Unless she just doesn't get along well with strangers like myself, she won't have more than a few weeks before the distortion is irreversible…" However, his look turned grim, "But, and I do hate to say it, even if everything goes perfectly right and is carefully done, we'll still be at the end of summer by the time this is all over."

While Kiriya finished bandaging her wound, Jasmine whispered out, "But…" before standing up and gripping the young man's shoulders, "You know what will happen if the distortion fully sets in. You know that the person they once were will be gone and dead, replaced by whatever mold the distortion leaves behind. You know this so… why can't this go any faster!?"

As the woman dug her fingers into the boy's skin, the young man growled out, "The process takes time and care. I told you this beforehand and you accepted it then. Why are you getting so dramatic about it now!?"

Her grip only grew tighter and tighter on his shoulder as she erupted, "Because of the fact that my granddaughter and all of her friends are on the line here!"

Unwilling to be pressed any further, the young man threw his forehead forward and straight into Jasmine's jaw to get her to back off before frustratedly yelling, "Then you blackmailed the wrong infiltrator! You'll want the miracle workers, not the teenager who's never once been in a live fire situation!"

Shoving him back with one hand, Jasmine pointed her finger at him, "I didn't have much of a choice, you brat! You know I was originally after your brother-"

"TO HELL WITH YOU!"

Before things got any more physical than they already had, Kiriya stepped between the two and nudged them away from one another with a stern, "Enough of this! Both of you!"

Still taking heavy breaths into his mouth and out of his nose, the young man turned around and raised his elbow to blow it into the wall before catching himself. Throwing his arm down, he grumbled under his breath, "Forced into this shit and I have to sit back and let her have a go at me? All because that asshole-"

"Give it a rest," Kiriya ordered before turning to Jasmine, "You know you went too far. Considering his place in this mess and the circumstances, I'd figured you'd at least be a little more understanding."

With a heavy breath of her own, she growled, "Those girls, all of them, including the ones you teach, are on the line. Should I sit back and let him dawdle?"

"He gave you a quote," Kiriya barked back, "and based on his activities last night, he aims to meet it. Maybe even outpace it. But he's only human and just one kid."

With a look of consideration passing through her features, Jasmine conceded with a groan as a hand rubbed her head, "You're right… I know you're right… it's just-"

"I know you care," said the man softly before patting her shoulder, "but if you want to help the girls, you need to help him."

With a few nods, the woman turned to the young man and felt a wave of guilt wash through her as he sulked in the corner of the room, his eyes still narrow and guarded when he saw her attention go to him. With some encouraging back pats from Kiriya, Jasmine spoke in a gentler tone, "As he said… I care for the girls… deeply. I want them to be saved as quick as possible. If there's anything I can do to help with that goal, please tell me."

Briefly, the young man glanced up at her before rubbing his chin in thought. After a moment, he asked with the scowl still on his face, "You mentioned a storage room before?"

She responded, "Yes."

"And… do you have tools in there? A workbench too?"

Giving a few more nods, Jasmine affirmed, "I've both. Do you need to use them?"

Sucking in some air and letting it out to cool his temper, the young man lightly bowed his head before speaking in a level tone, "Desperately. Could you show me?"

Meanwhile, back at Hebijo Academy, the elites all stood around their resting leader in the infirmary and explained what had all happened the night before to their teacher, Rin. The woman kept her features set as stone and took in every detail with a nod before blatantly stating, "It sounds to me like you've encountered an infiltrator."

In response to hearing the word, all of the girls furrowed their brows and glanced at one another with evident confusion. Eventually, Ryōbi quipped, "Are we supposed to know what that is?"

Giving a prompt shake of her head, Rin immediately responded, "Not at all. Even among shinobi, there's a debate as to whether they actually exist. Though, since the government has officially acknowledged them and has enacted directives to counteract them, I think anyone who disagrees at this point in time is a fool."

Pondering for a moment before passing a worried glance at Miyabi, Imu slowly asked, "You said the government has measures to 'counteract' them? What exactly are infiltrators?"

Speaking frankly, Rin answered back, "From what's been gathered, they've been deemed a group of decentralized terrorists spanning back toward the beginning of the twentieth century. While their long-term agenda and goals are relatively unknown, they're known to pursue shinobi and attempt to cleanse something that's been referred to as corruption and distortion."

Hearing that the seemingly reasonable and gentle young man from the night before was, by law, a terrorist, Miyabi quickly raised her hand to object before she stopped herself. While everyone else was starring at her in confusion of her wordless outburst, she thought about how little she truly knew about him. Even if they shared a warm moment and she wound up holding his hand for a brief moment, she had no idea about what he stood to gain by doing such a seemingly charitable act. Adding to the bafflement was the fact that he had addressed himself as their enemy.

In the end, she lowered her hand before simply asking in a tired voice, "So… by their words, I was corrupted?"

With a wave of her hand, Rin stated, "That all depends," and asked with curious eyes, "Before and after he took you into that room, how did you feel?"

Lightly straightening her back at Rin's observing eyes, Miyabi thought for a moment before several looks of confusion, wonder, and awe struck her features. Eventually, when she found the words, she slowly explained, "It's… really weird. Before, I felt as I usually did… I felt normal, but… as for after, I just feel… I feel better. Like I'd found something that I had forgotten I'd lost long ago. Just… I feel better… I don't have any other way to describe it."

As Rin moved to acknowledge that Miyabi had, indeed, been corrupted, Ryōna let out a sigh of disappointment before moaning, "So… he doesn't hurt people? At all? Did he at least berate you a little?"

In response to her sister's antics, Ryōbi whirled her hand back before circling her palm straight into Ryōna's rear. As the girl let out a shrill cry of joy at the spanking, the brown-haired twin yapped, "We don't have time for you to get off on your kinks, you damn bimbo-bitch! Save it for another day… useless broad."

While Ryōna pleaded and begged for more insults, to which Ryōbi happily continued, Murasaki clutched her stuffed bear, Bebeby, close to her chest and mumbled, "Ryōna did make a good point, though…" and shook when everyone's eyes fell to her. Spurred on by expectant stares around her, she stated, "By how Miyabi said it… He didn't hurt her. What makes clearing corruption so bad?"

To the observation, Miyabi nodded and leaned her head forward curiously as everyone turned to Rin. With a conflicted breath, she promptly answered, "There's been a lot of questions about the invasiveness of their procedures. Specifically, a lot of people are worried about infiltrators reading further into their mind to attain information or secrets that you'd rather the world never found out. A lot of government leaks in the past have happened, allegedly, due to an infiltrator breaking into a corrupted shinobi's mind and, rather than cleanse their mental state of corruption, used the opportunity to learn critical information. In addition to all of that, a lot of their cleanses may have resulted in severe changes in personality for many others. Frankly, it's no wonder politicians would be so afraid of them."

Immediately, the teenagers remembered the verbal lashing that Miyabi delivered to Imu the night before. With comprehensive nods, most of the girls seemed to accept why the infiltrators were deemed the enemy. The only one who still seemed conflicted was Miyabi, who still felt the same as she did before. Adding the gentle words of self-acceptance that the young man told her, she couldn't fully bring herself to regard him as a hostile force. Setting aside his words, he did not dare to even lay a finger on any of them unless he was wrestling himself out of their grasp or restraining them.

Spotting the conflict on her face, Rin gave a sympathetic glance and moved to say something. However, she seemed to catch her words before steeling herself and uttering, "I think I understand the look on your face… But there's no question. That man from the other night was the enemy…"

With a few moments of thought, Miyabi spoke softly, "I can't speak for the whole of their organization… but I don't think he's a threat. Not after what he did for me."

The room fell silent at her proclamation before Rin tenderly said, "Then that's your thought," before straightening herself and crossing her arms, "Regardless, we need to put a hold on your Shinobi Battle Royale with Gessen. I'm going to contact the other schools and the renegades to organize a meeting. From this day onward, we're acting to capture or kill the infiltrator."

Though there some resolute nods from the girls, Miyabi only grimaced at the thought of having to raise her blade at the young man again. She knew her hesitance was strange, considering she was usually more than eager to take on new opponents and was often indifferent to killing. But how could she dare to punish him with death when all he'd done was help her, all while never daring to raise a finger to harm her. Fighting an otherwise neutral opponent who openly refused to fight back just didn't seem honorable.

But, if she were to remain a loyal servant of Hebijo, she'd have to prepare herself to drive her blade through him. The regret would just have to come after.

At the same time as their discussion, the young man was toiling away within Jasmine's workshop at the apartment building. As he carefully worked small bits and pieces while stripping apart hardware that he'd kept in his duffle bag, Jasmine and Kiriya looked on in slight awe at his ingenuity for smuggling the tools through the city. Before, if anyone looked into his bag, they'd have found a laptop, a game system, and an old radio. If they pressed further and decided to tear the machinery apart, they'd only find the nuts and bolts that kept those things together. Yet, when the young man carefully took them apart and used a mallet to bend a few in place, he was putting together advanced mission equipment.

When he broke open the laptop battery and bent it over to fill a small casing with potassium perchlorate, Jasmine couldn't help but comment, "So… that's a fine collection of weapons that could devastate mankind."

In response, the young man grunted, "They're tools. Shut up a moment," and squinted until the casing was full to the brim in powder. Once he was done, he placed on an aluminum cap and bowed his head, "Sorry, that was-"

Jasmine raised a hand, "You were focusing, it's okay," and twiddled a thumb for a moment before stating, "Listen, I'm sorry for earlier."

"You're not the only one," replied the young man as he attached the capsule to a detonation mechanism, "I'm sorry too. We… both got a bit heated up there and me being… well, you said it best. Me being a brat didn't help any-" he stopped midsentence when he heard a click from the device, "Shit!" and grabbed a metallic bowl to cover the capsule. Not a moment after it was secured over the device, there was a muffled boom. Carefully raising the bowl and observing the scorch mark on the metal table along with the tiny pieces of the capsule, the young man mumbled, "Shouldn't do this while I'm talking."

All the while, Jasmine and Kiriya looked on wide-eyed before the latter asked, "You don't intend to… kill anyone, do you?"

Flinching his head back, the young man exclaimed, "No! How'd you think that-" before looking down to the burned area again and groaning, "Oh," and proceeded to explain, "I'm trying to make a cluster-flashbang, that's all. Nonlethal, unless you fiddle around with the thing's innards. Then you lose a finger… or fingers… screw it, the entire arm."

"Well," Jasmine uttered, "that's… reassuring."

"Oh, blow off," groaned the young man before grabbing a new capsule to fill. Just as the room fell into silence again, he asked curiously, "So, in the shinobi hierarchy or whatever you guys have, where do you fit in?"

"Ah, well," began Kiriya with a scratch to his head, "I'm really just a teacher, so don't expect too much pull from me."

Jasmine, on the other hand, puffed out her chest, "If you're asking for inside details or some weight, I've got you covered."

"I don't need much," mumbled the young man as he capped the capsule again and reached for a new detonation mechanism, "just keep me posted on whether or not… uh, Rin was her name?"

Kiriya nodded, "The teacher at Hebijo, yes."

"Right, Rin," spoke the young man before he proceeded to file down the end of the mechanism to fit in his watch, "Just tell me if she managed to organize the schools and renegades together."

Offering a few nods, Kiriya stated, "Will do, although…"

The young man grunted while attaching ten smaller casings to the side of the capsule, "Keep talking, I'm listening."

Scratching the back of his head, the teacher asked, "Why do you want us to tell the girls you're such a threat? Isn't there a simpler method like introducing you and neglecting the smaller details about infiltrators?"

Once the final bit of the flashbang was in place, the young man set it down and answered, "One of the most important things during a correction is the shinobi's level of trust in the infiltrator. If I casually approach them and do my thing, they may very well let me go through with it… but they'll also be on guard. Unless I want to do some serious damage to their psyche, that is a big, big no-no."

Jasmine tilted her head with interest, "How does that work?"

Rubbing his chin, the young man explained, "The best way to put it is that they either need to completely trust me or completely suspect me. Their mental state is one way or another so that, when they interact with me, their feelings are boiling all in one place. It's a lot easier and cleaner to pull out the distortion that way. If their feelings are conflicted, I could pull apart a lot more than I'd intend or want."

Nodding in understanding for a moment, Jasmine's face twisted into a mocking sneer, "And since you got to Miyabi's distortion cleared out, I imagine you effectively pissed her off?"

With mocking smirk of his own, the young man shot back, "You're the one with the bruises and cut now. You tell me."

Shrugging to concede the verbal bout, Jasmine stated, "Well, I imagine it's easier to frustrate and be an unlikeable dick than to take time earning someone's trust for this procedure."

"That's the way I see it," spoke the young man as plucked apart some wires from a game system, "Quicker too. Turns weeks of teambuilding into days of just getting this crap over with."

Nodding one more time, Jasmine produced her pipe to light it before eying a few items on the table and smartly put it back into her pocket. Stretching her back, she began to walk off, "Well, we'd better get those appliances in place before the day's done. Also, you're cooking me something in exchange for me taking on these bruises for you. Don't disappoint."

Snorting through his nose, the young man waved her off while he continued his work. Though, as he constructed his tools over the following hours, his mind kept turning back to what brought him to Jasmine in the first place. He remembered the original letter that he received and how scared he felt when it identified himself and his immediate family, how he was going to suffer if he didn't do exactly what Jasmine wanted. Speaking to her that day, the young man would never have guessed that she was the one who blackmailed and threatened him. But, then again, desperation made people turn to extremes. Though, a large part of him resented her for it, he also understood why she did as she had done.

With a breath of air, he remembered the heated conversation he had his with his parents and one of his brothers before he left. He remembered his vow to them that, once he'd finished his mission, he'd never see them again. On looking down, the young man found his eyes looking furiously back up at him from a piece of metal before he clutched his fingers around the end of the bench and heaved:

"Press on… I have to press on until this is over. Then I'll be free of this… all of this. My life will be my own and they'll be far behind me. I just have to press on… for just a little longer."


	6. Chapter 6: Casual

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 6: Casual

On the Monday morning of April sixth, a few days after the confrontation at Hebijo academy, the young man drowsily woke up and groaned loudly into his pillow. Though he was tired from the previous couple of nights that brimmed with tool construction and preparation, he would do it all over again if it meant he didn't have to continue with his allotted activities for the day. The anxiety of knowing that the shinobi would be meeting up in a matter of hours was overshadowed by a reality check that struck every youth at some point in their life: he had to got to school, like any self-respecting Japanese citizen. More specifically, and most devastatingly, the young man would have to embark out to the most pompous and snooty private high school in the entire country.

After having taken a shower and combed his hair, the young man donned a bland gray pair of pants and tucked in a white dress shirt. After trying to stretch himself and fight the snug fit, the young man pulled over and buttoned a gray overshirt and pinned the school's diamond patch to his breast. Looking in the mirror, the young man thought he looked like a miserable old brit from the sixties, completed especially by the frameless gray loafers he had to wear. Drearily, the young man blinked at his down casted form before letting out a sigh, picking up his school bag, and popping on his brimmed glasses as he made his way out of the apartment.

Walking down the outdoor staircase, the young man found Jasmine smoking below and cringed at her taunting tone, "Heading off to enjoy yourself?"

Though he nearly voiced his disheartened attitude, the young man instead responded with equal sarcasm, "A new school year, another set of months trying to find a way to associate myself with the individuals around me. Now with the added bonus of trying to save some maidens in despair," he paused for a moment before asking, "Am I moving up in the world or is God trying to tell me something?"

Jasmine closed her eyes with a smirk, "Why not both?" before she peeked out at him with serious eyes, "About that whole maiden thing… what's your next move?"

Setting aside his feelings for the morning, the young man matched her seriousness before answering, "I've got a base idea for the plan. See, I've already provoked Hebijo and Gessen, the latter of whom contains a girl who is in a dire state: Yumi. I'd say that, if the opportunity presents itself, I'd have to go after her and do an immediate correction. But I also need to provoke Hanzō and the renegades, either of whom could have someone in even worst straits. At this point, it's a coin flip between those two options."

Nodding along, Jasmine stated, "We're lucky that they'll be meeting up to discuss their own game plan tonight. Of course, the final plan of attack will be determined by your very own four collaborators."

To her last words, the young man felt his brows heighten before he asked, "Hanzō will be there too? I thought he wasn't a teacher."

To his question, Jasmine swatted her pipe over his head before muttering, "He's not a teacher, but he's my husband and, oh, one of the schools are named after him. His word carries extreme weight with the schools, including Hebijo despite his affiliation as a good shinobi."

Wincing at the sudden flick, the young man rubbed the throbbing area on his forehead before mumbling, "Right." After recovering, he straightened himself and asked, "I didn't realize you two were married. Isn't he… older?"

Flashing sly eyes at him, Jasmine cheekily responded, "And, what, I'm not old enough to be married to him? I've told you that I have a granddaughter."

Throwing a dismissive wave to her, the young man rattled, "Right, right. You're a granny without the wrinkles and I won't judge by appearances again. I better head off," before walking past her and toward the train station.

Before he could get far, however, Jasmine called from behind him, "I want you to do some thinking today. Don't forget that direct engagements, especially in public, will be greatly disadvantageous to you."

His eyes narrowed and turned back to face her, "You're referring to the shinobi barriers, yeah?"

With a nod, a puff of smoke blew from her nostrils before she stated, "You were lucky that your previous engagement was on the school grounds in the off year and at night. No one could see you. Going forward, if you meet them again in public, they'll be hidden but you'll still be in plain sight. You try to fight from there and you'll just be a crazy person swinging his arms around and about in the street."

He nodded, "Believe me, I've kept it in mind and I assure you that I'm taking it into account with any plan I form."

She smirked again, "Good. Keep it in mind, lay low, and be smart in your next move." He nodded and waved to her before strutting off. She puffed her pipe one last time before putting it out and smiling knowingly. Together, the two of them were building a card deck that would be laid on the table soon enough. The only remaining question was how they could rig the game in their favor. Time would tell what sort of plan would come of it.

Yet, for the moment, being a second-year student had to come first for the young man. He rode the train to his stop before walking through the city streets to the school, silently cursing the uncomfortably fitting shirt the whole way. Amidst one of his internal rants, the young man heard music blasting down the street and turned to see a party bus with a band performing on top, screaming loud and clichéd lines of rock and roll, "I'm here to party and damn the world if it stops me!" and such. By the time their obnoxious display had passed around to the other end of the block, the young man barely restrained himself from making a rude gesture with his finger.

Still, the group atop the bus successfully did what the young man was struggling to do: piss off a large crowd of people. After replaying the whole scene in his head, the young man walked on his way to school while fantasizing about absurd scenarios, like singing and dancing through the streets while flipping the bird at surrounding shinobi. Though he'd only officially began his practice as an infiltrator a few days before, he had a strong feeling that would be an efficient way to provoke any group into wanting to kill him. Though, if he were honest, the young man just wanted to stand on top of a moving bus and see how long he could hold his balance, which would be more fun without shinobi trying to skin him alive.

His thought bubble had to be cut short once he finally arrived in front of the high school. The building itself looked stunning with its freshly cleaned, treated, and pearly-looking staircase up to the gates. The gate itself was a set of jet-black bars attached to white walls with the school's diamond insignia on both sides. Beyond that was a pristinely bleached building with numerous windows and columns along the front with a fenced roof at the top. With all of this in mind, the young man felt tempted to track down the person who thought it was a smart idea to use bland gray uniforms for such a grand school. Still, knowing he had bigger fish to fry, he pressed himself into the building along with the crowds of students while they were all led to their designated lines in the entrance ceremony.

In total, there must have been around three hundred students lined up and facing the stage. At the ring of a bell, an obese and slovenly man waddled across the stage with a few beads of sweat rolling down the folds of his neck. Many of the first years and a couple of the transferring second years, such as the young man, stared in a mixture of awe and disgust at the sight of such a man within such a glamorously presented school. As the veteran students of the school either looked at their underclassmen amusedly or at the large man with heavy sighs, the bloated man turned on his microphone and bumbled, "I am Shinohara Tenjin, the principal of what I'm sure you can all agree is a perfect school for the teaching of a coming generation," before he heaved a bit in his breath.

The young man stared onward blankly, hiding his surprised thoughts in the back of his head and attempting to focus on the principal's copy-and-paste speech. But when statements like, "By being accepted in to Wakariyasui Private High School, it's obvious you are the exceptions among the rest of the youth of Japan," and, "Certainly, bright individuals such as yourself will leave a mark in history after your time here," and, "I offer you my greatest salutations," were all mumbled and uttered with little to no enthusiasm, the young man knew that principal wasn't even slightly invested in the students. Solidifying his belief was that the large man kept poking at what was presumably a phone vibrating in his pocket. An evident question among the first years and transfer students was how such an elegant and pristine looking school could have such a dull and unconcerned man at its head.

Regardless, the assembly went by and the significantly more uplifting school song was sung with impressive vocals across the entire room before students were dismissed to their homerooms and introduced to their teachers. In the case of the young man, a tired but stern woman in her early thirties with black hair tied back and a mature figure awaited in his designated room. She announced herself, "I am Osatani Tanaka. I will be your teacher through the duration of this year and the next," she eyed around the room, "Some of you remember me from the previous year and a few of you are new faces," she gestured to the young man, to a tall and bulky student with short black hair who took up most of his seat while scanning the room with critical blue eyes, and to a fretful-looking young lady with a long flowing dark brown hair with bright ocean eyes, a short and thin build, and a bust to almost rival the girls he'd faced off with a few days before. Once the three of them stood, with the bulkier student of the three thumping the floor with every step, Osatani called, "Please, step to the front of the room and introduce yourselves."

While the young man, ever straightforward, simply approached the front, the other two lagged a bit behind him and stood at both his sides before the class. They glanced at one another before he took the initiative. He introduced himself with a light bow before stating his name, hoping he could leave it at that. But the class continued to stare at him with a few students waving for him to keep talking, to which he unsurely said, "I hope it's a good year for all of us." There were a few nods and shrugs but the class was ultimately satisfied with the barebones introduction. Thankfully, despite his preconceptions about the school, he seemed to have been paired with people who seemed more lax than snooty. Still, with Wakariyasui being a school where most flaunty and wealthy families sent their young, conversation was sure to brood entitlement and self-righteousness.

The two students beside the young man looked back and forth at one another when the young man stepped back, each seeming to silently beg the other to take a step forward. Ultimately, the girl won out and the stoic giant stepped forward and introduced himself, "I am Takatsukasa Sugiyama." When the class gave him the same anticipating treatment as the young man, his eyebrows simply fell into a glare as he stated the word, "No."

Ms. Osatani gave a sly roll of her eyes, begging God for him to not be a problem student, as she gestured to the young lady on the other side of the young man. She mumbled with her eyes downward without stepping forward, "I am… Hazuki Sato…" and looked back and forth between the students of the class nervously before nodding and stepping back a step with a red face, her frameless glasses glinting from the light reflecting off of her watering eyes. The class seemed to accept that was the most they were getting out of the new students before the three of them were dismissed to their seats, where the girl took a few breaths and seemed to calm herself.

From there, Ms. Osatani proceeded to run through the seating roster and the names of the rest of the students. Ultimately, the young man was seated dead center within the room of twenty-five students, the middle of the third row of five. As the teacher began to go over the announcements and plans for the year to come, a young man by the name of Kazami Miki with brown hair short at its sides, a thin build, and a subtle liveliness to his movement was sitting diagonally to the back of the young man and let out an audible sigh before beginning to tear off the erasers of his three pencils. When those few moments of entertainment were up, he smiled devilishly before flicking one of them and nailing the young man in the ear. In response, he turned back to face the childish teen, who had innocently averted his eyes away. Immediately, when the young man turned back to face the teacher, another bit of eraser hit the side of his cheek. Again, he turned back and proceeded to drag a thumb across his throat. Such a gesture made a few students snicker and eye the ongoing display. Even Ms. Osatani had stopped and glared at the offending student. When Miki realized he was certainly going to be called out for his antics, he sputtered, "All-in!"

When he flicked the last eraser, the young man quickly ducked his head forward and dodged the projectile before grabbing his own thumb-sized eraser and whirling it to beam the offending man-child in the nose with it. A few students stared, some laughing quietly in amazement, as he glared ferocious daggers at his offender before turning back and breathing calmly, "None of that," to which Miki nodded obediently and rubbed his nose in confusion.

Ms. Osatani merely stared, unsure if she should be amused or prepare to scold the two of them, before sighing and stating, "Consider that your punishment, Mr. Kazami." The named boy stared in bewilderment at the young man a bit longer before shrugging and offering a silent applause.

Class continued uneventfully for the rest of the day, the boy meeting a few new teachers and occasionally hearing a comment about his retaliation from earlier that day. When the final bell rang, he made to immediately head for the exit until he was stopped by his defeated opponent in the hallway, "Hey…"

In response, the young man slowly replied, "Hey."

With a rub of his neck, Miki offered a nervous laugh before offering, "That was… I'll be frank, that was one hell of a throw you had there."

The young man nodded, "I trust it got my message across?"

At that, the man-child laughed merrily before stating, "Your intentions have been conveyed, friend. Well conveyed. Where're you off to?"

"Home."

"Ah, I see… Listen, I realize I was an ass earlier. Was hoping to set things on the right foot between the two of us, treat you to some food." The young man stared suspiciously at Miki's suggestion, wondering if he had a plan to jump him in payback, before the boy continued, "Plus, I don't want to be on your bad side, considering your throw and the fact that a punch from you probably hurts a bit more than average,

His face was absolutely earnest with a nervous grin and unsure eyes. It took a moment of thought before the young man shrugged, realizing his only plan was more planning and preparation, before he asked, "What and where were you thinking?"

At that, the fellow grabbed him by the shoulder and began to pull off toward the exit, happily mouthing off, "The forgiveness of an angel! That's what you have! Or would you rather I call you a saint? Because… you know, angels are often depicted as girls. Here's another question: do angels- sorry, saints. Do saints do battle with erasers? Maybe if you were the saint of judgement- No! What if you're Michael, the angel of war… I think? Regardless, he was a badass who kicked Satan in the dick and cast him out of heaven and such… I got off track. You're the saint of war, trebucheting erasers against the wicked… though, I don't consider myself Satan."

With a befuddled look, the young man simply watched the ranting teen as they made their way past the school gates. There could be no contest that he was a bizarre and otherwise airheaded individual, but at least there was no malice in his grip on the young man or any challenge in his words. If his intentions were ill, the young man would at least be entertained before making a quick getaway.

Passing the train station that he was meant to head home on, the two eventually found themselves in a fast-food restaurant. While Miki chattered away as they waited in line, the young man steadily zoned out boy and picked out his meal of choice. Eventually, while cleaning his glasses because Miki accidentally spit amidst one of his rants, the young man was called forward and looked up to the face of a tanned woman with dark brown hair, whom he recognized to be Homura. While biting back the surprise from appearing on his face, he slowly placed his and Miki's order and watched as she zipped through the kitchen to gather their meals. In record time, she handed them their food and thanked them for their patronage. After putting his glasses back on while Miki payed, the young man tensely nodded his silent thanks and left with friend to go sit down.

As the young man was quietly eating, passing an occasional eye of caution toward the shinobi, Miki took the time to ogle the young woman before he asked with a mouthful of fries, "Get a load of that rack?"

"I noticed."

Bits of food flew out from Miki's mouth onto the table and occasionally pelted the young man's forearms, "Dude, the things I would love to do with her. Lots of things. Of course, it would be her pick of things because, you know, her body, her right. Unless she started to get freaky- do you she'd be freaky? Maybe not S and M kind of freaky, no. I've met this other chick once, beautiful and elegant. But, dude… She was crazy~. Treated everything, her seductive voice and the waggle of her hips, like it was an everyday thing. Don't get me wrong, it turned me on but eventually, the guy down there gets the gist of it and doesn't get as excited anymore. Then she utters something about it being time for punishment. Like, Dude! I just wanted to book an appointment for a haircut, man. What the hell am I supposed do when I hear that? So, I just got out of there; nope, nope, nope… Where was I? Oh, tan girl, big tits, freaky activities. Anyways, doesn't she seem like the type who'd pull some other kind of freaky? Like, rather than whip you, she throws you on your back while bending your legs, not hers, and proceeds to-"

"How about you chew your food there, champ?"

Silent and dimly embarrassed, Miki simply nodded, "Sure," before finishing his meal and moving to more pleasant and casual conversations that wouldn't likely result in him getting pummeled by a woman who looked like she could easily crack both their necks with little effort. Eventually, the two of them went their separate ways with the babbly youth yelling back to him as he walked off, "Show me how you practice your eraser tossing sometime, eh?"

In the mind of the young man, Miki came off as friendly enough, if a bit annoying at times. Still, he was treated to food and met with good intentioned conversation, so the boy couldn't be all bad. The young man would just need to prepare duct tape in case he started mouthing off about attractive women. Especially those who could string the two up by their own innards. Feeling a chill run up his spine, the young man continued on his way home while trying to put off his face-to-face encounter with a shinobi behind him.

Roughly an hour later, Homura finished her shift at the fast-food joint and collected her pay before heading off to her hideout in the woods. The whole way, she was unsurely thinking about the meeting that the renegades were invited to. It would only be a matter of hours before she was face-to-face with all of the familiar faces she'd so happily gotten to know. But she couldn't quell her anxiety on the fact that such a meeting, prompted by Rin and joined by three other veteran shinobi, must have meant something grim.

Fortunately, Homura had received some news from Asuka, all while relishing in her sweet voice, and was told that there was some sort of incident that occurred in the middle of a fight at Hebijo academy. Considering that no one had died, it couldn't have been a Yōma. Which only begged the question: what could put a stop to a fight between the two schools who swore themselves as enemies? Thinking ahead for the safety of her squad, she figured she'd order another round of intense training before they went off to the meeting. Even if they'd recently been put off from her way of keeping them moving and motivated, she had to make sure they were prepared for whatever threat was to come.


	7. Chapter 7: Snare

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 7: Snare

After a sardine-packed train ride and a short walk, the young man arrived to his apartment only to be greeted to the surprising sight of Jasmine waiting anxiously for him at his door. After fully ascending the stairs, the young man called out to her, "Hey," and watched as she was flung out of thought. When she began to approach him, he asked, "What happened? You've got your shinobi meet in a couple of hours, right?"

"Where've you been?" she exclaimed quietly with a frustrated look in her eye.

Keeping himself cool and calm, the young man simply answered, "I went out to eat."

Briefly bringing a hand up to her temple, Jasmine seethed through her teeth, "When you tell me that you plan to come home immediately after school, I expect it to be immediately."

At this point, the young man had narrowed his eyes in irritation before coldly stating, "If you needed me for something, you could've called and I would've been over immediately. You didn't call me, I was hungry, I went out to eat," and relaxed himself against the railing opposite of his door as he stared up to Jasmine's eyes.

The woman in question met his critical gaze for a bit before ultimately conceding, "You're right, I'm sorry. To be honest, I didn't need you until about fifteen minutes ago."

With a nod, the young man calmly asked, "What's all happened?"

"Walk with me," she ordered, "we need to get to my husband and son-in-law's restaurant."

Though he moved to follow after her, the young man quirked a brow, "Can I presume that's where the meet is happening?" When she nodded, he continued, "So why are you bringing me there?"

"We'll talk on the way," Jasmine affirmed, "Let's go or we'll risk being seen by any early arrivals."

Taking a breath and shrugging, the young man quickly followed to match her quick pace. The two powerwalked down the stairs, through the small apartment parking lot, and down the sidewalk, all while the tense look on Jasmine's face grew more and more grim. Eventually, they came across a sharp-looking black car that looked like a cutout from an American spy film. Letting out a whistle, the young man proclaimed in a hushed voice, "See, if I knew you had this, I'd be having you chauffeur me to school. Tell any snobs there to shove it; the out-of-city bumpkin's got a ride."

After an audible groan from Jasmine, the young man raised his hands apologetically before being ushered into the vehicle's backseat. Once the woman took the wheel and began to drive off, she ordered, "Keep your head down. I don't want to risk you being seen by anyone."

As he complied, the young man groaned, "Classic words to that one weird relative at every family reunion. Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

As she began to maneuver through traffic, Jasmine sighed and uttered, "Originally, Rin and Kiriya had a place in mind for your provocation. A nice quiet area with little eyes from the public in the factory district. We had excuses and everything lined up to divide up the teams and send anyone who hasn't yet been provoked there."

"Factory districts are nice," the young man said levelly, "lots of structures and pipes to maneuver around. But, based on your wording, that's no longer an option."

"It isn't" she growled, "a group of nitwits have apparently been renting factory space just adjacent to the original site we've planned out. There are enough windows so that they'd get a clear view of what's going on."

After a failed attempt to shrug while he was still slouched deep into the seat, the young man waved a hand, "So? Let them see. I'll cover my face and the girls have shinobi barriers. They'll call the police and I'll be gone before anything else goes awry."

Without blinking, Jasmine uttered, "No. They won't be calling the police. In fact, they're more likely to join the fight."

After a second of thought and a confused look, the young man swore under his breath before mumbling, "They're dignitaries… that's what you're saying?"

With a hard nod, Jasmine face glowered, "Yeah. Rin and Kiriya scouted them, thinking they were workers or a weird church renting the space. Instead, they found a lot of guns and a lot of tools, with the latter having a great resemblance to some of the stuff I've seen you working with."

Resting his face in his hands to think for a few moments, the young man declared, "Factory district, all of it, is completely out of the question then."

"I know," Jasmine mumbled, "but the problem is that there isn't anywhere else. The public academies host cram school for the normal students and Miyabi's father, the acting principal of Hebijo, has taken measures to bolster security after your break-in. The closest thing we could find was a red-light district of sorts but can you think of any one good reason to suspect an infiltrator would be there? At least with the factory district, it was suspicious enough by default. But the hotels in that area have pretty standard traffic-"

The young man cut her off, "Hey, hey. You're panicking. You're a super shinobi, yeah? Take a breath."

With an incomprehensible growl that brought up the hairs on the back of the young man's neck, Jasmine barked, "Not panicking. Ranting. I'm pissed right now because we've got no way to lure the girls to a location without drawing suspicion to all of the adults. If Hanzō, Rin, Kiriya, and myself are suspected to be working with you, the girls will go to the higherups in the government and then we'll be in a grand ole mess- son of a bitch!"

At hearing the sudden curse, the young man peeked his head up and spotted a long line of traffic blocking their way. When he began to listen closely, he heard the same stock rock music that he had heard that morning and cursed aloud, "Oh, these dickheads again," and spied out the window as the car rolled along at a snail's pace. Sure enough, once they'd traversed some distance and the music got louder, the same party bus from that morning was stopped in the middle of the street and blasting cringey and clichéd lines of rock and roll. As they rolled along the unmoving van's desperate call for attention, the young man uttered, "Five minutes writing in a basement and they think a few rhymes have struck them gold and stardom… I'd renounce my status as a pacifist if it meant I could punch them."

Feeling herself pick up a bit from the distraction, Jasmine asked, "What, you'd sacrifice a fierce discipline for one punch?"

"You're right," the young man uttered, "I'd drop a turd in their hat and smack them with it."

"Now you're getting somewhere."

After a few moments of silence, he mumbled again, "No, too light. I'd take some laxatives beforehand. That'd even the score."

With a laugh, Jasmine called, "Get yourself down. If a shinobi sees you then we'll have more to worry about," and thought for a moment before offering with a smile, "Still, the way they've got you riled up, you should be taking notes. Best way to make yourself someone's enemy is to piss them off, I say."

Settling back into his seat, the young man mumbled, "See, I had the same thought this morning. A party bus and a walking middle finger. That's how it's done."

Jasmine began "I like you're thought-" but immediately stopped to whoop when she saw flashing lights, "Oh~! The law has finally caught up to them!"

The young man peered over the backseat and, sure enough, there were a group of officers and vehicles directing traffic around the bus as they tried to usher down the punks on top, who kept trying to play to defend their bid to fame. Turning his head away so that he could slouch down in the seat again, the young man snorted, "Justice is awesome."

Effectively having the stress sapped out of them, the two of them rode for a while longer. Once the larger buildings began to descend into much more humble-looking houses and stores, it wasn't long until Jasmine parked the car and stated, "We're stopped. I'll take a look around. If the coast is clear, I'll open your door and you're to follow right behind me into the restaurant."

The young man asked, "No one should be in there yet, right?"

With an unsure face, the woman muttered, "I wouldn't think so. The only risk would be Asuka and her team, and they should be training for another… fifteen minutes, I'd say. After that, I'm not sure how long it would take them to get here."

With that, Jasmine exited the vehicle and did some peeking around to ensure their safety before popping the door open and pulling the young man up and out. Once the door slammed closed, she darted down the sidewalk with him in tow. The thought that a group of shinobi were right around the corner remained at the back of the young man's mind as he continued to kick himself forward. The unsureness to his step only grew when he realized he had no idea how far they were going. After rounding the first corner of the block and doing a bit more running, the young man was tempted to ask before Jasmine popped open the door to a sushi restaurant, peeked in, and muttered, "Go!"

Rounding into the doorway, the young man was greeted to the sight of a large and muscly old fellow, Hanzō, behind a counter dressed in an old-fashioned wardrobe. Behind him, a thin man with hazel eyes looked over curiously, wondering about the sudden commotion at the front of the shop. When the young man felt Jasmine's hand usher him forward, he took a few unsure steps before the old man called, "Ha ha~! So, here's our knight in shining armor!"

The thin man asked quietly, "Father, who's this?"

Casting his imposing gaze downward, Hanzō waved his hand dismissively and said, "Just a tenant of Sayuri's who's doing us a few favors. Grab him an unagi, newcomers love that."

Giving a curious shrug, the man complied with a wave to Jasmine, "Hello, Mother," and proceeded off to the back.

Once he was out of earshot, the young man quietly asked, "Why's your son here?"

"Son-in-law," Hanzō corrected with a smirk, "and don't worry. He'll be gone and we'll have time to prepare soon enough. Go on and take a seat."

Taking a breath to calm his nerves, the young man calmly sat himself to his knees on one of the tatami mats beside a table and eyed around the humble establishment. It was traditional and had few decorations that made it remarkable, but the place still gave him a homey feel. In no time at all, the man from before popped out of the kitchen and came around the counter to place the broiled eel on the table before he carefully raised a measuring spoon and splashed on sweet sauce. With a courteous bow, the man retreated back into the kitchen with a slightly proud smile.

Despite his relatively filled stomach, the young man was not one to deny earnest hospitality. After snapping the chopsticks on his plate, he grabbed one of the unagi bites and placed it into his mouth. Once the rich flavor zapped across his tongue, the young man let out an audible groan of pleasure. As he was still chewing, he muttered, "That's good. Very good."

With an approving noise of his own, Hanzō said, "Even if he was once a lawyerly man, Asuka's father has certainly grown into a fine chef."

The young man stopped short of taking another bite at the mention of the shinobi. After a few thoughts passed across his face, he couldn't help but ask, "Is he… aware of my role here?"

Relief passed through him when Jasmine shook her head, "Of course not, he's no shinobi. He loves his wife and his daughter, but knows better than to involve himself into their affairs. He's also very reserved. I wouldn't expect him to mention you in a remarkable manner to Asuka any time soon."

With a bob of his head, the young man placed another mouthful of eel into his mouth before muttering comically, "That'd be a hell of scene. 'Hey, Asuka. How're the dorms? By the way, I saw this guy for five seconds. You should meet him,' and then she sees me, realizes it's the same horse ass who's been causing a ruckus for the last few days. Thanks, Dad!"

After a short round of laughs, the young man finished his plate and set it aside before asking, "So… why am I here?"

Patting his large hands against the countertop, Hanzō explained, "Well, you probably already know our predicament. We need a new plan. Try as we might, none of us can think of another quiet spot where you'd be able to get the jump on the girls. At least, not one where they'd be split up over a large enough area for you to only provoke Asuka and Homura's Squads. At this point too, there's definitely no spot where we'd be able to bundle that with correcting Yumi."

Nodding a few times, the young man said, "As far as information goes, the latter is important. Never mind her words and actions, the look in her eye was… cloudy."

Making a deep hum with his throat, Hanzō asked, "Do you have any plans off the top of your head?"

Immediately shaking his head, the young man declared, "Nothing smart and nothing careful."

At that, Jasmine stated, "We figured it'd be that way. That's why we brought you here," before proceeding to move around to the back of the counter and thumping her foot along the floor, muttering to her husband, "Where is it again?"

The large man stepped beside her and thumped the floor with a mutter before crouching down and lifting up an unmarked trapdoor. On turning to the perplexed young man, he explained, "Years ago, we had the underside of the restaurant hollowed for the sake of spying and recording some… particular words from higherup shinobi. You should be able to fit in and place yourself under the meeting."

With a switch going off in his head, the young man asked to clarify, "You want me to hide underneath you guys during this whole thing?" When they nodded, his face fell, "So… never mind the fact that these elites could probably hear me breathing, even with the wood solidly between us… why is that necessary?"

Walking back around the counter to pull him toward the trapdoor, Jasmine stated, "We need a plan of attack tonight. If we think of anything on the spot, we'll speak and argue for it, provided that it won't be drawing suspicion onto us. If we fail to provide a proper plan of attack or defense against you, that's suspicious. But, if we provide a plan that obviously puts the shinobi out in the open, that's damning. We'll wing it as best we can, but listen in and see if you can't formulate something. You're the best expert on infiltrating that we've got. If someone's to spot an opening weakness in what the girls have to say or suggest, it'd be you."

Though he resisted firmly against the thought of being tucked under the floor, Jasmine's grip on his shoulders remained as iron as she continued to pull him toward the trapdoor. Once he was over the opening, the two adults proceeded to usher the young man in with ungentle pushes to his back, all while he was questioning, "Well, what do I do if I think of a plan?"

Hanzō replied as he pushed the young man's head further in, "If you think of something, give your local landlady here a text. She'll have her phone on vibrate and check every now and then. From there, she'll do the suggesting and we'll just have to wing it from there. Your only job is to think of a barebone plan and crosscheck it with their words to make sure it's not too suspicious. Hell, maybe even make those words argue for the plan."

Once the door was settled over the young man's head, he proceeded to grumble before pulling himself through the dirt underneath the restaurant to the underside of the seating area, where he hoped he was most able to listen in on the conversation to come. Once he settled in, he silenced his phone, dimmed the brightness, and left it on so that he wouldn't need to click the power button and make any noise. Though he was racking his head, then and there, for a careful plan that would be as safe as possible, most of his focus went to controlling his breathing so that it was as soft, slow, and quiet as possible.

After half an hour of preparation on Hanzō and Jasmine's end, the two of them eventually managed to set enough tatami mats throughout the dining room to fit twenty-four shinobi into the small space, occasionally knocking on the floor to check and see if the young man was alright and could hear them clearly enough. Shortly after, the heads began to stream in. First Asuka and her team took their usual seats and ordered futomaki rolls as they waited. Shortly after, Homura and her renegades popped in and sat themselves at an adjacent table. Finally, coming in back-to-back with enough tension to be cut with a knife, Yumi and Miyabi walked in at the helm of their individual teams and took their seats on the opposite sides of one another, the memory of their postponed Shinobi Battle Royale fresh in mind.

While there were some confused looks as to why Sayuri had switched over to her Jasmine form, she ultimately dismissed all questions with the simple answer, "If Hanzō leers at me as compared to you, I'll be the target of his touchy hands. Keeps him faithful and I don't need to spare the effort to beat him over the head."

The old man conceded with a lively glint in his eyes, "I never do get sick of seeing you in that form, dear."

Amidst the banter, Rin loudly tapped her finger against one of the tables before sternly saying, "There is a matter of some importance that we need to address."

From her side, Imu uttered, "The infiltrator."

Upon hearing the word, many heads in the room tilted in confusion before Asuka asked, "Infiltrator… do you mean a renegade shinobi has been spying on us?"

Shaking her head, Ryōbi answered frankly, "No. According to Rin, an infiltrator is a member of some sort of shinobi-targeting terrorist group."

Lowering her head in seriousness, Imu further explained, "They're capable of doing something to our heads, claiming that it's to cleanse corruption or something. Regardless, their goal is to hunt us and our shinobi barriers won't stop them."

From the Hanzō Academy and renegade shinobi, there was an audible hitch in their breaths before they stared incredulously to their seniors. When Kiriya and Hanzō both nodded, Ikaruga questioned, "How is that possible… They're not shinobi, right? The barriers are supposed to pull us into an alternate space and keep us out of sight entirely… How can they do that?"

Making a noise with her throat, Jasmine slowly said, "I'm not sure if anyone outside of their group has a definite answer. But, from what I know, their physical presence alone keeps shinobi grounded in the real world, albeit we'll still be out of the sight of civilians. As for how they're able to see us… apparently, they were reported using a sort of telescopic lens in the sixties. It allowed them to actually catch the energy signatures of the barrier… though, that doesn't explain how they're able to see us with their naked eye…"

Keeping an indifferent look on her face, Yumi thought aloud, "Based on what we managed to figure out from Minori, when she stupidly let him escape," everyone winced at the choice in words, "he did have glasses on his person…"

Miyabi interrupted her, "He also had a watch that he spoke into. I read the word 'deceptive' on there."

Butting back in, Yumi stated, "But, we know nothing about it. I had some thoughts on-"

Not willing to back down, Miyabi locked her eyes onto the girl before loudly jabbing, "I had a thought on how he could've built-"

Before a second passed, Jasmine clocked them both on the head with her smoking pipe before growling to the two girls while they rubbed their heads, "No arguing here. We're trying to keep ourselves together on this."

"I agree," came Haruka's slow and seductive voice before throwing a finger into the air, "Shall we go over what we know?"

There was a round of nods before everyone ducked their heads to think before Minori cheerily proclaimed, "He's a fast runner!"

Yumi nodded, "He's a fast acrobat in general. While we managed to outpace him, he's quick to round corners, polished in close combat, and appears able to make split-second decisions."

"Scary…" Murasaki mumbled before clinging onto Bebeby. When the room looked to her, she hid her face into her stuffed bear before a muffled, "He leapt from the roof when he was cornered…"

Homura hummed, "Ballsy."

"He also had a bright light!" Ryōna cheered before locking her hands together in ecstasy, "We were blind, my ears were ringing so loud and painfully~… It was so wonderful~!"

When the blonde began to drool, Ryōbi made an annoyed face before pinching the back of Ryōna's knee, making the girl erupt with a pleased screech before falling into her chair. The brown-haired twin threatened, "Quit embarrassing us, or I and everyone else here will not respond to anything you do for the next week."

At the thought of not being insulted, Ryōna fell into an immediate quiet with a nervous look on her face. Meanwhile, Miyabi continued to sit in thought before noting, "It should be known that… at least, this infiltrator in particular is not much of a physical fighter. Aside from shoving us aside to escape our grasp a few times, he didn't raise a fist to us. The only deliberate contact he made was when he did that… whatever thing he did and brought his finger to my forehead."

Hanzō asked, "Did anything happen as a result of the ritual?"

As they were talking, Jasmine felt her phone vibrate and peaked at it with an apology to everyone present. Silently, she read the young man's text, "Get them to stop talking. I can't be sympathetic or even slightly beneficial. I'm their enemy. Make sure they know that!"

Before Miyabi could elaborate on her still conflicted feelings on the matter, Jasmine loudly proclaimed, "Sorry, got a text from my contact in the government," as she put her phone away, "they're still investigating where he might be."

With surprised looks from around the room, Hibari was the first to ask, "The government's investigating him?"

With a sure nod, Jasmine stated, "Of course. I'd also bet that a few corporations tied to Hebijo will be looking for him to. For all of the things an infiltrator is capable of, it's best if he's captured as quick as possible." While Miyabi's face fell a bit, her opportunity to speak yanked away, Jasmine received another text from the young man. She apologized quietly and turned to her phone for a moment. Before the conversation could continue, she turned to Miyabi, "You said you had an idea on how something was built earlier?"

Raising her head, Miyabi quickly answered, "His tools, yes. I had a few ideas on where he could've gotten the material."

Despite knowing for fact that the young man's tools were constructed from outside the city, Jasmine ordered, "Let's hear it."

Rubbing her knuckles in thought, the yellow-eyed girl proceeded to explain, "Well, we know that he uses a digital watch, a high-end one at that. Presuming he constructs his tools from scavenged items, would it be possible that he gathers his tools from an assortment of other high-end stores? And, if that's the case, would it be possible to hold a sting operation until he could be identified?"

Yozakura asked, "Why would he construct his tools from scavenged items?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Miyabi answered, "In a spy novel I read, the secret agent was sent in to infiltrate a fortress without any weapons so as not to leave even a single trace. Everything he used was improvised on site. In order to protect the rest of his group, I just wonder if the infiltrator would do the same."

Again, Jasmine's phone vibrated and she let out a showy curse, "Shit, sorry. I've told the agent what we're doing. I don't know why he's being so disruptive," before she pulled up another message and read with eyes that gradually widened.

"Go with it! Tell them you'll arrange a sting! Trust me on this! DO IT!"

At her surprised look, Yagyū quietly asked, "What is it?"

Doing her best to keep her mouth from tightening with worry, Jasmine smiled and stated, "We're in luck, that's what. I asked for some resources from my contact earlier and he said it would be unlikely that they'd be able to provide me with anything. Now, I've been granted a small team for scouting."

With a celebratory couple of claps to her hands, Katsuragi cheered, "Finally, some good news!"

Doing her best to remain as level as possible, Jasmine eventually turned to Miyabi, "You're sure that watch was pretty high-end?"

Straightening her back, the girl replied, "Very much so."

Ready to use the girl's misconception against her, the older shinobi stated, "Then I'll be doing some work through the next week or so. I'll use my resources to watch some stores in the city center and we'll concoct a plan from there."

Hanzō clapped his hands, "Then let's put this whole affair on hold. For now, let's eat the worry away!"

There was a round of quiet cheers as sushi and futomaki rolls were distributed at jaw dropping speed and the uncomfortable air began to drop. Still, a part of Jasmine still felt the goosebumps growing on her arms as the young man continued to text away and iron out his plans to her. Before she could get a word in, he'd follow up one insane gamble with another. Considering that a group of twenty elite shinobi were preparing to rain down on him, to bring him in dead or alive, it was amazing his process of thought could be so brazen. Overall, his plan was best summarized in his final message to her:

"There's no place where we can be careful and quiet while efficiently fixing the distortion. But we've got options if we're willing to go loud and reckless. That's exactly what every part of this plan is. It's all one big gamble that puts everything on the line. But, if this works, we'll have everyone effectively provoked and I may even have a chance to go at Yumi. Trust me with this. Go big or go home."


	8. Chapter 8: Incite

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 8: Incite

Six days after the meeting, the sound of metal bumping up and down filled the dark space that the young man was enclosed in. Outside, he could hear the sound of cars passing by while he tried to focus on tightening the harness across his body and limbs. If he tightened it too much in one spot, he could prevent proper blood flow through his body; if the harness was too lax, he could very well break every bone in his body with all that he had planned. To make sure there was just the right amount of pressure, the young man pulled at the straps while checking the position and security of the metallic locks he had in place.

After one final and satisfying click, the young man picked up his phone and dialed for Jasmine. Immediately after picking, the woman asked, "Are you about ready back there?"

After checking the watch on his wrist, the young man answered, "Ready as ever. Are all systems synced up?"

"I'd like to iterate again," came Jasmine's exasperated voice, "that shouldn't be much of a priority to you."

Huffing through his nose, he answered back, "If I'm going to die, I'd like to make sure I'm doing it stylishly and awesomely. It's bad enough that I probably won't have a volley salute nor a group of fighter jets flying over my funeral."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll be there to remind you how stupid you were."

"What, having someone there to attend my funeral? I'd be ecstatic from wherever I'd be."

From the other end of the line, there was a nervous sigh before Jasmine stated, "Once this begins and you're out there… remember that this is a matter of do or die. Don't be stupid."

On hearing those last three words, the young man was reminded of his conference with her and the other three adults once he explained his plan to them. While Rin and Kiriya shared looks of disbelief, Hanzō stared stoically from behind his restaurant counter as Jasmine screeched those last three words in the young man's face. After recovering from the earsplitting noise and praying that the recently departed girls didn't hear her, he replied levelly, "If you were expecting a smartly layered plan based off the Art of War, I'd say you're the idiot here."

To that remark, the woman balled up a fist and drew it back to punch him before stopping herself. Letting the look of murder slip off her face, she took a breath and put on a scornful smile, "Okay… I'll let you enlighten me. How in the blazing hell do you think this plan is going to work?"

The young man gazed at her, "The goal is to provoke them, incite anger and make them believe that I am the enemy. Remember what we talked about earlier? Party bus and walking middle finger?" before breaking his eyes off her and looking to everyone else, "We've got both in this plan. The only real gamble is whether or not I'm willing to take a chance to have a go at Yumi. Depending on how the girls are coordinated, I'll still only have a few minutes before I'm completely surrounded."

Kiriya noted, "We could buy you more time if we feed false information to the rest of the girls to keep them scattered."

Her eyeballs nearly bulging out of her skull, Jasmine turned to him and sputtered, "Are you seriously entertaining this?"

Though Rin had a perplexed look on her face, she shrugged and relaxed beside Kiriya, "To be fair, we don't have anything else."

Throwing and shaking her hands in the air, Jasmine cried, "By having the girls scattered around town, we have the basis for a thousand different plans. With what he's got, he'll just give get himself killed and reveal shinobi-kind to the world."

"To be fair," her husband raised a finger before smiling, "the girls would be protected by the shinobi barriers."

With a defeated look, the woman simply slumped over and rested her face in her hands, "What is wrong with you people?"

Seeing Jasmine in her worried state, the young man approached and warily placed a hand on her shoulder. She almost instinctively slapped him away before spotting the earnest look in his eye. Taking in a small breath, he said in a quiet voice, "It's like I said… I know this is loud, reckless, and it's all stupid. But, if we aim to catch all the girls in one great provocation, it needs to be done in a way that leaves them no other reservations. I am the enemy. I have to be the enemy. If it's all hearsay, there could be doubts and I could accidentally hurt someone during the correction process."

"What about you?" Jasmine asked, "They're going to do their utmost to cut you up, especially if you're going out of your way to piss them off. Never mind the public spotting you getting sliced up by seemingly invisible entities, what happens if you die? Who's going to save the girls then?"

Gripping hard with the hand on her shoulder, the young man nodded his head and stated, "You need to trust me. I may just be an impatient teen seeking to get this all over and done with and, yes, this is only my second real engagement. There are a lot of risks… But I need you to trust me.

For a long time, Jasmine just stood there with his hand gripping her shoulder. With what she'd been told of the plan, a lot could go wrong. In fact, a lot would go wrong. Aside from its beginning and end, most of it was just improvisation. But, after taking a long and hard look at his unblinking face, she lowered her head in defeat before muttering, "I'll arrange it… all of it."

The young man gave a light bow before saying, "Thank you."

Before he could turn to address the rest of the group with the plan's inner details, Jasmine took hold of his arm and pulled him to look at her. Her hardened expression fell away to soft desperation before she uttered, "I'm trusting you with everything… everything, do you understand? My granddaughter, her friends, the many deeds that they could accomplish in life as shinobi… Nothing they are or ever will be is going to happen if you fail. They're the brightest shinobi of this generation," she stopped and remained silent for a moment. Eventually, she released her grip on him before stating, "If you can promise me that you will save them… You'll have my support and trust. All of it. I will never question you again if you promise to save them all."

A large bump brought the young man out of the memory before he answered back to Jasmine over the phone, "While I can't help but be a little stupid, I'll promise do my utmost."

A breath emitted from the other end of the line before he heard, "I suppose that's the best I'll get. Prep up and get ready. We'll be off the highway in a couple of minutes." When the young man went to hang up, Jasmine mumbled, "Oh, forgot to mention: yes, the systems are synced."

Letting out a nervous laugh, the young man stated, "Wonderful. I've reviewed the girls' positions so I should be fine from here. Make sure you and Hanzō drive safe out there and we'll be celebrating victory in couple of hours."

"Sounds good. Leave your phone in the back and everything should be good from here."

Meanwhile, the girls of Hebijo were overlooking a plaza from atop a train station. While Ryōbi kept scanning the area with her rifle, hoping to identify the young man somewhere within the crowd, she kept muttering and cursing under her breath, "Suspicious character… my ass. All I see are a bunch snoots."

Keeping out of sight behind her, Miyabi kept reviewing the message that Jasmine sent. According to her, a young man in the same clothes as their target was spotted hopping around and making scene. Though the girl had no doubt that he'd go out of his way to call attention to himself, based on how they'd met, there was something off-putting about Jasmine's directions. She claimed to have set up the remainder of the girls to surround the area from various points to keep him boxed in. But, considering Hebijo's ranged specialists and the other academies' more melee-oriented fighters, shouldn't it have been the other way around? She didn't want to complain, seeing as she'd be able to face the young man one-on-one again, but it still felt weird. With a sigh, Miyabi wondered if Jasmine was simply putting more faith into her, Imu, and Murasaki's close-range fighting over everyone else.

When Imu gave her a look, Miyabi shrugged and glanced at her sword. When everything was over, she would thank Jasmine for the compliment and mourn having to kill the young man. In the meantime, she had to keep her focus and scan the area.

A little way off, there was the sound of a semi honking its horn while doing its best to weave through highway traffic. Covering his ears before he shook his head and muttered under his breath, the young man uttered a soft prayer for himself. Picking up two devices that he had set aside, he calmly secured them to his arms with a click from the metal bits of his harness. After looking them both over and giving a shake to see if they were secure, he raised them to test on the side of his enclosed space. Once he triggered the mechanism, there was the sound of thin metal grinding followed by a ding emitting from the wall, all while his arm felt a heavy kickback. Still, the mechanisms worked and the harness was doing its job in spreading out the pressure.

As the highway that the semi was on passed over a street, Yomi was carefully searching through piles of junk and cardboard houses. According to a message from Rin, the young man was chased off by Jasmine's scouts and took up a defensive position in the underpass. The renegades were to search for him while everyone else had taken up position to keep him boxed in. While the blonde cheerfully remarked that it was fitting for the renegades to be the tearing through the makeshift homeless shelters for him, Mirai let out an enraged cry after some putrid-smelling sludge spilled onto her camisole. Though Yomi was about to help wipe the girl off, Hikage passed a glance at Mirai and at a rain-bucket before promptly drenching the poor girl with a swift splash.

As Haruka produced a towel from the cleavage of her sweater to dry the shivering girl off, Yomi couldn't help but notice that Homura had disappeared off somewhere. Perhaps, based on her growing harshness to the rest of the renegades, that was better for everyone else's mental state. Still, Yomi worried that her leader could be ambushed while off on her own and redoubled her efforts to keep searching through the piles as a loud truck honked aggressively on the overpass above them.

Grinding her teeth from behind the steering wheel, Jasmine cursed at the driver in front of her while restraining herself from smashing the dashboard in a fit of road rage. Needing a distraction, she produced her phone and rung up her husband while madly tapping her finger in a fit of impatience. Once he answered, she asked, "Wherever you are, you may want to slow your progress," before honking her horn again, "I'm only now about to get off the highway and into the plaza. I'm not sure if I'll be on time." As he replied to her with a laugh, she gazed at the wire extending from the truck's stereo to outside the window.

Surveying a shopping center from atop an awning, Yumi had kept her shinobi barrier activated while everyone else scanned along the ground. In the back of her mind, she kept rereading the message that Hanzō had sent her, commenting that her experience with the young man made her ideal for directly striking at him while everyone else held the border. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how Jasmine's scouts had apparently lost track of the young man despite catching him while his guard was down. Setting her jaw to be firm, Yumi continued to scan along the streets, unaware that Hanzō was driving a large truck in circles just a block down.

After taking what must have been his thirtieth left turn, the old man laughed at his wife before jovially replying, "Perhaps I'll take the big rig next time, considering my name is on the paperwork." Once he heard the growl of frustration that he was all to familiar with, he cleared his throat and answered her previous suggestion, "I'm already in position but I've found a way to keep myself nearby. Don't worry." Once she uttered another low growl at him, he smiled smugly at his phone and had a feeling that he was going to die that night. But, when he spotted most of Hanzō Academy's elite wandering off from where Kiriya directed them, he forgot all of his other worries. Making sure to lean himself down a bit to keep out of sight while driving, he uttered, "Found a problem."

As the young man tightened the scarf over his face and prepared to open up the back doors, he heard four knocks toward the front of the cargo bed. Knowing that was the signal that there were girls breaking off from their designated positions, the young man bumped a fist to the side of the cab and proceeded to open the backdoor. There was no other time that they could go through with the plan, thus he wouldn't back down. After clicking his watch and uttering in a low voice, "Flamboyance," he felt the joyful energy surge through him. In a few seconds time, the plan was about to begin.

Wandering into the city center, Homura continued to follow her instincts until she found the answer to her question. Standing atop one of the building's awning was a transformed Yumi, surveying the area and not in the position that she was designated to be in according to Rin's message. Taking a few thunderous steps to confront the girl, she was stopped by the surprising sight of Asuka sitting on a bench while munching on tamagoyaki from a small bento. On meeting Homura's gaze, the shorter girl gave a sheepish smile and a waved, "Hullo."

Narrowing her eyes with a hint of irritation, Homura asked, "What are you doing?"

Glancing down to her bento, there was a pause before Asuka replied, "Eating a delicious meal because I skipped lunch?"

"Why are you doing that in the middle of a mission?"

There was another pause, "…I skipped lunch."

Covering her face with her hands, Homura was about to cuss at the girl like never before until her eyes found the adorable look on her face. On taking in her hazel eyes and her pinchable cheeks, the tanned girl felt a blush rush through her face before waving a hand, "Scoot over."

Once Asuka complied and Homura took her seat, the former offered the box over, "Want some?" Feeling the familiar rumble in her stomach, Homura took one of the sweet egg rolls and plopped it in her mouth. Once the sweet taste surged through, she greedily took two more and ate them too. The sight of it brought a laugh out of Asuka before she continued to eat.

Passing a look at the girl, Homura swallowed and asked, "Where's the rest of your team?"

With a mouthful of egg, Asuka replied, "Checking out why Yumi transformed in the plaza. I scouted ahead, thinking she may have encountered the guy we're after. Once I realized she was just doing that to keep out of sight, I decided to wait for everyone else."

Holding her chin in one of her hands, Homura mumbled, "Is it just me or does this whole plan seem a little janky or… just out of order?"

Bringing a finger up to her lips, Asuka began, "You know, when I think about it-"

Suddenly, she was interrupted by the sound of an orchestra of violins blaring from a semi-truck passing through the street beside them. On turning around while covering their ears, they spotted the young man gleefully clambering out of the cargo hold and onto the roof. Stationed up there was multiple stereos and speakers with wires stretching down to the driver's cabin. As the violins continued to screech out and grab the attention of everyone in the plaza, Asuka and Homura looked to one another before the former tossed the empty bento box into a trashcan and proceeded to transform.

Meanwhile, the young man was throwing his arms into the air and scanned his eyes through the plaza until he found Yumi watching with a baffled look in her eyes. Once the orchestra of violins was joined on cue with a bass and the tapping of cymbals, he promptly threw up a middle finger at her and uttered from under his scarf, "Come and get me."


	9. Chapter 9: Spotlight

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 9: Spotlight

As the Hebijo team continued to scour the train station for any sign of the young man, Miyabi got a sudden call from Shiki. After passing a curious glances to everyone else, she answered and immediately asked, "Did the target show-" only to stop when the ensemble of violins blasted through the other end of the phone.

"Get to the plaza! A, S, A, and P!" cried Shiki from the other end before she hung up.

Still mildly bewildered, the white-haired girl simply stared down at her phone before Ryōbi called over, "What the shit was that? I could hear that music from here."

When Miyabi shrugged, Imu pointed out, "More importantly, what is Shiki doing at the plaza? According to Jasmine, Gessen Academy is supposed be stationed a bit further north to keep him boxed in."

Drawing her katana with its metal sheen ringing through the air, their leader declared, "We'll discuss that later. For now, there's something urgent going on in the plaza and we're wasting time here. Let's go!" before transforming and leaping off. Her team followed suit with their own transformations before making after her toward the plaza, with Murasaki briefly sniffing into the air and letting out a tired whimper.

Meanwhile, back in the plaza, the young man stood atop the semi-truck as it continued to weave its way through traffic before eventually coming to a slow as it came toward an intersection. Lowering the finger that he used to offend Yumi, the young man straightened himself and his scarf as the bass and cymbals continued to build up alongside the violins. All the while, Gessen's leader stared on incredulously before her face burned red and twisted into a horrifying sneer that was unbefitting of the calm and collected girl. While her teammates disappeared into the crowds to transform throughout the plaza, she boomed after the young man, "There's no chance in Hell you're getting away!"

As Asuka and Homura continued to sprint after the bus, they caught wind of Yumi's declaration. Cringing for a moment, the former asked, "Is it just me or has Yumi not been much… like herself?"

Glowering, Homura yelled back, "Are you really going to ask that when we have more important things on hand?"

Recoiling a bit from the jab, Asuka briefly lowered her eyes before locking them onto the young man. Based off of his grandiose appearance and the scarf, plus the middle finger that he directed at Yumi, she believed it was fair to effectively declare him as their target. Upon realizing that the semi was coming to a stop at a traffic light, Asuka used the opportunity to leap ahead onto a bus stop awning before jumping to the trailer. Once she landed, she faced down the young man as he turned his attention to her. Though she couldn't see his face, the rise in his cheeks told her that he was heartily smiling.

At that moment, as Homura took her place beside her, the music came to a slow before a single violin and keyboard began to jazz away along with prerecorded lyrics. Worst yet for all of the present and oncoming shinobi, each line and phrase in the song was enthusiastically recorded using the young man's voice.

"**You see me? I'm not a love you need! I'm here to purge terrible quirks."**

Before the duo of confronting shinobi could get close, the young man kicked a leg up before spinning and leaping back onto his other foot to offer a showy salute. As he continued to coordinate his limbs with the joining violins, Asuka and Homura exchanged addled glances before taking another few cautious steps forward.

"**But you press on! O, you're just so tough, indeed! But I think you're hiding you're fears."**

While craning her head back, afraid that the young man was a full-blown nutcase about to explode at any moment, Asuka reached a hand forward to grasp his shoulder while he was walking in place before he flung his arm up and spun it down, leaving her taken aback. On seeing her friend jump in surprise, Homura sighed and took a few strong strides before reeling her fist back to punch him straight in the gut. Acting quick, the young man collapsed to his knees and rolled himself back over to the edge of the semi as Homura's arm flew overhead, leaving her with a dubious glare. All the while, multiple pedestrians were pointing up to the act with mixed expressions of people cheering on the dance, crossing their arms in disapproval, or honking their horns at the traffic-stopping semi.

While the two shinobi remained internally grateful to their shinobi barriers for hiding them from the attention, the violins sawed an evil hiss while all of the other instruments fell low and sinister. As Yumi and the rest of Gessen joined them on the trailer, the young man flung a hand into the air.

"**That's pointless!**"

Jumping a bit from the surprising shift in tone, Minori stated, "He's a lot scarier than I remember…" as she closed her eyes and shuddered. Fortunately, she didn't catch the resulting glare from Yumi.

"**Whatever else could it be?"**

Lowering her brow as she drew her bladed fan, the ice queen simply stated, "He's just a lunatic," all while the young man was rolling around his limbs in sync with the rises and falls of the violins' tempo. Not wasting a moment, she waved a hand and ordered her team to close the distance while he remained at the edge of the semi.

"**Can't make the distinction!?"**

After arriving at the red light, the semi came to a full stop and the young man passed a glance at the surrounding environment before jerking his head forward with feverish excitement.

"**I'll just have to make you see."**

Leaping ahead of the rest of her team, Shiki swung the pole of her scythe for the young man's stomach, hoping not to gore him and send the surrounding crowd into a panic. In spite of her effort, the young man swatted the shaft away before darting around and leaping up to dangle on the traffic light. While onlookers let out an audible gasp of surprise to the brazen act, he clambered up the pole and stood on its narrow surface before the slow and taunting lyrics came.

"**Come catch me…"**

By this point, the rest of Hanzō Academy's elite and the other renegades had arrived on the surrounding sidewalk while Hebijo was still catching up. Before Gessen could continue their pursuit of the young man, Homura vaulted over the girls and landed onto the pole before drawing her six katanas, declaring, "All I have to do is push you down from here. You'll die and no one will suspect anything. Give it up! Now!"

Her apparent response was the music coming to a brief stop before the violins resurged again at maximum volume, all while keyboards, drums, and woodwinds continued to support the enthusiastic jazz. The young man bowed his head before throwing a fist into the air and singing along with his recorded voice:

"**Don't you see that we're out here!?"**

While the music continued to buildup, he continued to switch from dance move to dance move. One moment, he was moonrunning in place while throwing his arms in the air; the next, he was bending and twisting his body and limbs in ways that didn't seem feasible.

"**We're treading seas of cold fire!"**

Glancing down to the driver's cab, Yumi ordered Shiki and Yozakura, "Get down there and find out who's operating this thing," before leaping up to the pole in order to flank the young man's other side before warily approaching. Across all of their minds, the suspicion that the young man had another surprise up his sleeve was extremely prevalent.

"**Ignoring the heart's need, dire! Relent to the mind of a sage!"**

After the high note that followed, Homura decided that she wouldn't take the insult any longer and swung her blades straight for the young man, to which he ducked under the first strike and jumped away as the second swipe came around. Nearly bouncing himself into Yumi, the young man jolted himself up and slapped away her forearm as it brought down her fan. Coordinating themselves quick, Yumi used her free hand to latch onto his scarf as Homura prepared to drive her blades forward. Bending his hamstrings to the limit, the young man bent his body around to throw his leg up to kick the tips of the oncoming blades before pulling himself free of Yumi's grasp, though his scarf had come fairly loose.

As the music continued to resound through multiple climbs and sudden falls, the lights turned green and the semi-truck began to move. Though the young man's face hadn't been revealed to the crowd around him, it came into full view of the shinobi's eyes. Seeking to recover control of the situation quick, he dived down to the moving semi-truck's trailer, narrowly dodging under a few swipes of blades and punches while slinking between the bodies. After sliding underneath Murakumo's cleaver, he launched himself into the air with spin before landing and spiraling his body atop his toes.

"**Can't you see freedom's at risk here!?"**

While the young man continued to spin with his leg kicked out, all while rewrapping his scarf, he could hear the sound of Shiki and Yozakura scuffling with the driver's door. Once they managed to break the lock and pull it open, they tried to charge into the vehicle while Jasmine was quickly wrapping a massive scarf around her face and hair. Before they could get a good look at any of her features, her fists promptly clobbered them out of the cab and sent them rolling across the street and onto the sidewalk.

"**Stand tall, break walls, you'll be free!"**

Spotting her adopted sisters flying from the cab as she landed back onto the semi with Homura at her side, Yumi called down to the Hanzō elite, the renegades, and to the newly arrived Hebijo, "Keep at the truck's flanks! He won't have a way to escape!" before darting ahead and ducking under his kicked-out leg. As his back was spun to her, she sliced her fan forward to cut his throat as Murakumo flew overhead and drove her spear downward. Rapidly darting his eyes around to take it all in, the young man allowed Yumi's fan to cut forward into his scarf and cheek as he dropped the emergency breaks on his spin and dove away from Murakumo's spear. Knowing his scarf would come undone, the young man rolled off the side of truck while the crowd let out a yell.

"**Break your binds on the devil's lease! Hold to me; we'll break this cage!"**

During the young man's descent to the streets, he bent his fingers down to the bottom of his palms and let them click a hidden mechanism. Immediately, two wires shot out through his sleeves with the sound of thin metal grinding hard against the launcher. The anchors on the ends of the wires dug into two buildings opposite of one another, pulling the young man high into the air before one of them came undone and flung him toward the remaining anchor's roof. While Yumi and the surrounding pedestrians looked on in awe of his wild card, Homura leapt after him and managed to grab hold of a fire escape's railing. On pulling herself up with Hanzō and Hebijo's elite close behind, she darted up after her target before arriving on the roof whilst huffing deep breaths.

Waiting for her, the young man was shuffling back and forth with his arms raised, uttering with a smile as his scarf fell to the ground, "How're you doing?"

Feeling a nerve pulling on the side of her head, Homura growled, "I'll be much better when you quit this game of yours…" and swung her blades at him. Using her reckless anger to his advantage, the young man crumpled his body backward under one slash before launching back up to take hold of the Homura's arm as she went in for a second strike. Though she was much stronger than him, he managed to successfully bring two fingers to her forehead.

"Readied heart up high?" the young man scatted along with the steadily disappearing rhythm of his song, "Don't you worry. I will fix it."

As she threw him off, all of Homura's movement suddenly paused before an indignant look scrunched up her face. Picking himself up from the ground, the young man backed off a bit as a fit of red light flashed from Homura's body while the wind blew hard against him. Just then, nearly all of the shinobi climbed over the roof's ledge, with only Yozakura and Shiki staying behind to intercept the semi-truck's driver. On spotting Homura in her present state, Asuka immediately made to run for her side before Miyabi took hold of her arm.

As the upbeat jazz disappeared around the street corner, the yellow-eyed girl proclaimed, "It's already too late. We need to give her space and let him do his thing."

As the red light from Homura died out, Asuka began to question with alarmed and confused eyes, "What are-"

Quickly, though, she was interrupted by a snarl, "Do any of you plan to actually make this worth my time or what?" When the shorter girl looked to her friend, she found Homura raising her chin to stare down at her from where she was. Before Asuka could question what she meant, the woman proclaimed, "You've brought me out to slay this whelp of a man? He's nothing more than a pest. Do it yourself."

From where he stood, the young man bent down to retrieve his scarf and wrapped it around himself before rolling up his sleeves to reveal the dual metal poles attached to his harness with two thin barbs sticking out the end. When Homura simply stared at him with a bored look on her face, he rose his hands into air combatively in an attempt to goad her into an attack. Still, the girl refused to move from her spot. As Mirai was pulled up the roof's ledge by Yomi, the girl muttered, "Enough of this. I'll just shoot him," and raised her gunbrella.

"You do that, little vex," Homura snarked as she crossed her arms.

Though her gun was about to shoot the unmoving young man, Mirai's face fell a bit before she narrowed her eyes and slowly asked, "What'd you just call me?"

Without blinking, Homura stated, "Little vex. Would you rather I downgrade you to pain-in-my-neck?"

While the smallest member of the renegades trembled with rapidly growing anger, Yomi grabbed her shoulders and called to Homura with incensed eyes, "What's gotten into you?" as Haruka looked on in surprise.

Before anyone else could answer, Imu called out, "Homura's not herself! That guy did to her what he did to Miyabi!" and pointed an accusing finger at him.

While the Hebijo leader slowly nodded to the statement, her eyes fell to the young man as he brought his watch close to the mouth and spoke, "Command," before a familiar glint passed through his eyes. Suddenly, his posture seemed more solid and firm as he took a step forward to his opponent. His face was steeled and unflinching with an air of absolute control while he kept his arms in the air

As everyone turned their focus back to him and prepared to charge, Miyabi immediately ordered, "Hold!" and took in the baffled gazes around her. Across almost all of their faces, there were looks of unsurety and serious consideration. Making sure to keep the unsureness out of her voice, she stated, "Leave him to Homura! We don't know if she'll turn back without him!"

From behind her, Yumi shot a glare into the girl's back before uttering, "She makes a good point… Everyone, keep to the side until he's set her straight. Once they're done, apprehend him!" and proceeded to back off toward the roof's ledge, with her team obediently falling in line behind her. Though their faces remained unsure and concerned, Asuka and the renegades followed suit with all of the remaining shinobi. Satisfied with the outcome, Miyabi remained where she stood while her team gave her a mix of looks ranging from confusion to soft nods.

The perceived abandonment was met with by a loathing look from Homura, who flung a hand into the air and sneered, "Be cowardly traitors then. I'll deal with the whelp and turn my attention to the bunch of you after."

"Lower your arms, Homura!" the young man suddenly boomed as his features remained cold and stoic, "You're no better than the rest of us."

The proclamation of being deemed so low was too much for Homura to handle calmly. In response to the demand, she let out a disdainful cry, "Damn you!" as she drew two of her katanas and hurled them straight at him. Remaining stalwart where he stood, the young man swung his arms so that his grappling devices would bounce away the oncoming blades. As the resulting sparks of the colliding metal blew into the air, Homura launched forward with a bellow, "Kneel and die!"

Firing his grappling hooks toward the side of the building, the young man was pulled from his spot and launched into the air just as she stabbed at him. Trying to anticipate his path, Homura flung another pair of her blades at him as he flew over the side of the roof. Knowing he successfully incited her to carry on the assault, the young man allowed himself to descend until he saw the katanas fly overhead and fall into the alleyway. Firing one of his anchors to swing him up, his feet grazed against the ground before he curbed his velocity to dodge a balcony and fired another wire to launch him into the air above the building.

Looking up to him, Homura drew the final two katanas in anticipation for his inevitable charge as a look of anger flooded her reddening face. Again, the young man used his free grappling device to block the katanas before firing a wire between the girl's knees. Keeping his face solid as he gritted his teeth, the young man fired a wire between the girl's knees before he zipped forward with a yell, all while he reeled his free hand back and balled it into a fist. While he came at her, Homura drove one of her blades forward while swiping the other one around.

Just before the two collided, the young man's wire came loose before he spiraled his body through the air to kick his boot down into her oncoming katana while his body spun over her other arm, effectively dodging the second blade. The full force of his body crashed into her chest and head as the two fell, the young man twisting his arm so that his balled fist would land onto the ground beside Homura. Just as her head was about to split against the hard surface of the roof, the young man's fist caught and cushioned its fall with a painful crack. Biting back the pain of potentially dislocated fingers, the young man proceeded to slide his fist toward her collar to grab hold as he laid his free hand to her forehead. Though she struggled for a second, she froze the moment contact was made.

Taking a breath after having neutralized her, the young man looked over to the onlooking shinobi and commanded, "I'm going to lay my forehead to hers, just like I did with Miyabi. This time, don't move either of us," before proceeding to bend his head forward.

Before he could successfully make contact, he heard Asuka call, "What're you doing?"

Turning his head to give her an irritated look, the young man was about to chide her. But, seeing the worried and teary look in her eye, he found himself sympathetically stating, "I'm going to fix it… That's all."

Stepping forth from the group, Miyabi asked with hitch in her voice, "Speak truthfully…" and found her eyes looking down for a moment before steeling herself and meeting his gaze, "Who are you? Your name, where you've come from… what you are…" She paused before softly annunciating, "I want to know."

For a long moment, the young man just looked at her and shook his head and prepared to dive into Homura's head. He paused for a moment before contact and glanced back over at her, uttering his rehearsed line, "As I said before: I'm your enemy. Don't doubt that for a second. Soon enough, I'll see the shinobi way of life up in flames… If not that, I'll die trying. I am your enemy, do you understand?"

"I don't believe that," came Asuka's soft voice.

The young man's eyes widened in worry before he rose his head and faced the girl. While his words did seem to put some of the girls on guard, just as he wanted, Asuka and Miyabi along with many others just stared at him unsurely. Knowing that the perception of him not being a threat could potentially damage everything he was working toward, the young man growled, "Regardless of whether you believe it or not, I am. You'll see it too. May the fires of Hell envelop and scorch me if I lie. I am your enemy!"

Not allowing another moment for them to potentially argue, the young man drove his forehead forward into Homura's while cupping her cheek just as Asuka and Miyabi were about to further question him. In that moment, the world around him swiveled apart as he fell into her mind. After spending a moment to orient himself in the ethereal space, he began to search and found the distorted aspect of her personality. Without a second thought and with complete accuracy, the young man severed it from her and proceeded to materialize a place of comfort where he could meet Homura.


	10. Chapter 10: Human (Homura)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader

Chapter 10: Human (Homura)

The young man's consciousness set itself to work in materializing a place where he could confront Homura along with the bit of personality that he'd taken. Despite his concentration, he found that the process was moving significantly slower than usual. He sensed something was off out in the real world, like the girls potentially having separated his head from Homura's, but ultimately resolved to first fix the immediate problem at hand. Eventually, with a few words of silent self-encouragement, the young man was able to create a place of comfort.

Once his own body took shape and he was able to let out a sigh of relief, the young man realized quickly that Homura's place of comfort looked much like a classroom. Between the desks that were too small for the both of them and the more decorated podium at the front, he deduced that it must have been a junior high school classroom of sorts. Amidst his observation, he heard a loud bang and turned to find Homura squeezed into one of the tiny desks while she slumped her forehead against its surface. Snorting a bit through his nose at the sight of it, the young man approached her and shook her a bit.

When she shifted, he expected her to attack him in the same way that Miyabi had. Then he thought for a moment and realized that there was no reason for her to be resting or sleeping in the first place, thanks to the fact that physical pain and limitations were exempt in the cognitive world. Shaking her again with a mutter, "You alright?" the young man found that she still refused to move. For a moment, he scratched the back of his head in awkward confusion before slapping himself in the cheek. Calmly, he took a few steps back and addressed her sternly, "Homura, raise your head." Shaking her head while it remained planted into the desk, the girl did not move. In a louder and much more firm voice, the young man ordered, "Homura. Raise your head!"

Keeping her eyes shamefully to the ground, the girl obediently rose while her bangs continued to cover most of her face. Casting a sorry look at her pitiful state, the young man asked her, "Do you know where we are? What this place is?" She offered a slow and unsure nod. Keeping his eyes locked on her, he warmly asked, "Would you mind speaking?"

Immediately after the young man asked that, Homura's head slammed back into the desk as she appeared to kowtow to him with a rapidly shaking head. Sighing at the fact that he had to keep up a firmer persona, the young man ordered, "Homura. Raise your head and speak to me." The girl remained unmoving. Summoning his harshest voice, the young man barked, "Raise your head and speak to me! Now!"

Slowly and steadily, she raised her head and mumbled, "I… shouldn't be speaking…"

In response to the pathetic words, the young man raised his palm and answered, "You only think that because I took something that's important to you." With hints of curiosity, the young man saw Homura's eyes flash between her strands of hair. To answer her silent question, he answered frankly, "Here in me, I've taken your distorted pride. The corruption is starved out and it is safe to take back," and extended his hand to her.

Immediately, Homura kicked herself and the rest of the desk back from his hand. She tried to stand up but promptly found herself stuck and tried to pry free. All the while, the young man lowered his hand and muttered, "Oh geez…" before approaching the panicking girl. When she spotted his approach, she froze and whimpered a moment. Seeing how fretful she was, he stated calmly, "Hold up, I'll get you out of there," and took hold of the desk's front. Homura pulled away toward the side of the desk while the young man held it in place, he occasionally commented, "It's your thighs that are stuck. You need to twist them out."

Eventually, when she ignored his advice and kept on pushing away at the desk, he muttered, "For goodness' sake, let me help," and knelt down while he held the desk with one hand. Ignoring the attractive muscle and thickness to the girl's very visible thighs, he grabbed her calf and ordered, "Lift yourself while twisting your leg to the right." For a few seconds, Homura obeyed and pulled herself up before panicking at her still unmoving state. Again, the young man ordered, "Twist your leg to the right! It's your knee that's lodged in there."

Despite his advice, Homura simply continued to push away at the desk until the desk buckled and the wooden surface tore from the metal frame with a loud crackle and crunch. With her knee no longer being trapped, she slipped out and made for the side of the room while the young man looked on in amazement. Once her back was to the wall, she fell to her knees in a bow to the young man, "Please, Sir… Don't make me speak… I don't deserve it."

Hearing the often headstrong Homura speak like that made the young man flinch before he answered back, "It's not a matter of deserving. You have the ability to speak, therefore you're allowed to speak-"

She looked up before squeaking, "I attacked you!" and promptly threw herself to the ground again. Speaking as her voice muffled into the ground, she continued, "Now I'm at your mercy. Please, Sir, forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me!"

Hearing the girl beg, the young man reeled back uncomfortably before he stammered, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" and paused when the girl fell silent. Looking down at her bowing form, he addressed her firmly, "Don't apologize for what you did out there. I was a threat. You acted to stop me and protect your friends, right?"

Shakily, Homura nodded her head. Before the young man could address her further, she asked quietly, "Whatever you do, could it be quick and painless?"

Catching on to her steadily climbing fear, the young man answered back, "You're not going to be hurt, I can promise you that. I only want to return-"

He was cut off by another squeak before the girl proceeded to whimper, "Please, just be straightforward about it. Be quick and get it out of the way! I beg you, Sir: end the lowly wretch before you quickly!"

Feeling sick just by listening to her self-degrading words, the young man barked, "Enough of that!" before catching and composing himself. He closed his eyes with a breath and opened them again to find the girl tearily looking up at him from between a few wild strands of hair. Keeping his voice level, he proceeded, "I'm only going to return your pride to you. That is all. If my actions outside have caused you this much distress, then I apologize."

Homura continued to look up at him before her eyes fell to the floor. A few thoughts and memories seemed to fly through her mind before she looked up and asked, "Why here? Why here of all places?"

The young man repeated, "Here?" and looked around before asking, "What, the classroom? I thought it would be comfortable for you."

Homura's head proceeded to violently shake as her hands clasped onto her cheeks and dug in painfully. Under her breath, she began to mutter, "Not this place, not this place…"

Straightening his back, the young man asked, "This place… isn't good?" Still, the girl continued to shake and the young man allowed his commanding posture to break before he asked, "Tell me where you'd like to be then. Anywhere you want." Despite his words, the girl continued to quiver and shake until the young man knelt down to her level and grasped her shoulders gently, "Homura, please." When she looked up, she saw the apologetic look and his wide eyes. Despite her previous words and all that had transpired between the two, she couldn't doubt his earnestness in that moment. With his gloomily twisted mouth under remorseful eyes, the young man stated, "I screwed up. Just tell me where you want to be and I can bring you there. Your home? Your friends' place? A favorite restaurant or store? A landmark-"

"Home," she whimpered, "I want to go home right now."

Raising one of his hands from her shoulder to her head, the young man abided her request and proceeded to shift the world around them. The wooden floors twisted into rocks and the desks turned into improvised appliances. The sudden shift confused the infiltrator even more when he took in the stone surroundings and heard the sounds of the forest from the cave's entrance. He was about to turn around and question her living arrangements before he found the warm look on her face. Calm and recomposed, he asked, "This place… is comfortable?"

Flinching a bit when she remembered that he was still there, Homura nodded slightly, "Very… thank you, Sir."

He waved his hand, "Enough with that 'Sir' crap… If I've heard right, you're older than me by a year," and stood in silence. While allowing Homura to get accustomed to the new surroundings, he spoke quietly, "Listen… I'm sorry. I looked into your subconscious to try and find somewhere comfortable." With a hint of worry, the girl turned to him with a reddening face. To quell any concerns, he raised a palm, "Don't worry, I didn't pry on any memories or anything private. All I know, at this point, is that the classroom from before was… once was a place of comfort for you. I don't know what happened there but… I'm sorry. For a place that was once a sanctuary to be turned into such a threatening environment…"

Though she didn't make eye contact with him, he could hear Homura mumble, "It's okay… You didn't know, Sir- uh… infiltrator."

Letting out a soft grunt, the young man stood in thought for a moment. After closing his eyes and heaving a breath, he uttered his name quietly. At that moment, Homura looked up at him with bewildered eyes. She knew that having his name meant hunting him in the future would be much easier. Even more bizarre to her, she knew that he knew those consequences. Seeing the awestruck look in her eye, the young man muttered with a flush on his face, "What?" Though it crossed his mind that introducing his name was extremely dangerous, considering the circumstances, he figured that calming the girl down took priority for the immediate moment. In addition to that, it would have been much more difficult to get the girl to accept back her pride if she continued to distrust him. It was much easier to trust someone when a name was given

Averting her eyes from his gaze, Homura simply muttered, "It's nothing… It's good to know your name, Sir- infiltrat-" and proceeded to stutter out a few incoherent variations of the young man's name.

Letting out a sigh, the young man extended his hand to her slowly. When she craned her head back in horrified anticipation, he reeled his arm back in and quickly offered, "I'm sorry."

Looking at his fingers, she asked him, "You… said earlier that you wanted to give me back my pride? That's what you took from me, right?"

He nodded his head in response, "Yeah. Now that we've got you situated here, could you take it back?" When she looked at his hand unsurely, he replied, "Speaking frankly, you seemed to enjoy yourself a bit more when you weren't fretful of my every move."

Slowly, Homura extended her fingers toward the young man's hand as it gravitated toward her. Much to his chagrin, she only clasped onto the tip of his fingers before squeezing her eyes shut. After a moment of him staring at her with jaded eyes, Homura muttered quietly, "I don't feel any different."

Keeping the tired look on his face, the young man slowly raised his free hand and ordered, "Don't move." Though she shook a bit as his hand took hold of her extended arm, she ultimately complied when he pulled her inward so that their palms connected. In that instance, she felt herself become whole again. Wrenching her hand back as everything came together, she looked up and down from her hand to the young man while a heap of emotions surged through her. Once everything settled in, she let out a yell of frustration and horror before leaping back from him.

Huffing and puffing with a reddening face that further complemented her tanned skin, Homura screeched, "What the hell was I back there!? What did I say!? Why was I-" before letting out another yell. In the heat of her frustration, she began to overturn the furniture and appliances scattered around the cave. Slowly backing away to the wall with widening eyes, the young man simply stared on as Homura went on her rampage. Eventually, after having mentally tired herself out, she collapsed to the floor and muttered incoherently under her breath about the embarrassing display she put on.

Taking a few steps back toward her, the young man asked, "You, uh… all good there, champ?"

When one of her green eyes madly zipped onto him, Homura launched herself at the young man and locked her hands onto his neck. Even though he knew that he was free from physical harm, the young man couldn't help but be terrified by her gritting teeth and flaring nostrils. After a few moments of silence between the two, Homura slowly growled, "You're not going to tell anyone about what you've heard from me today, right?"

Offering a quick and curt nod of his head, the young man answered back, "I'd never tell. Never mind the fact that anyone who knows you would never believe me, I strongly believe in doctor-patient confidentiality. You have my word so… please, calm down."

After one final huff, Homura murmured, "Good…" and released him before looking around to the disheveled living space around her. Taking in the mess, she slowly asked, "This all… won't have an effect on the real place, will it? If so, Yomi and Mirai are going to kill me… for more than what I said out there."

Waving his hand nonchalantly, the young man answered, "Don't worry about either of those things. Yomi and Mirai are aware you weren't entirely yourself and this place is just your cognition."

Letting out a breath of relief, Homura peacefully sighed, "Thank goodness…" before a troubled look took her features. When she turned to the young man's expectant gaze, she uttered, "So… all that out there… that arrogant-talking bitch was really me?"

Giving a reluctant nod, he offered, "To be fair, I take the term 'bring the worst out of someone' literally. It wasn't in your control. Even more embarrassing is the fact that you weren't my intended target." To his last remark, Homura quirked a brow and prompted him to continue. Averting his eyes with evident shame, he stated, "Due to her distortion being significantly worse than yours, I was going after Yumi. That plan went up in flames when you ascended the building first. So… sorry about that."

To that remark, Homura stared at him incredulously. Since the moment the whole fiasco began, between him evading capture at Hebijo, losing Gessen's pursuit, and letting all of them chase him in the plaza, she was positive that they were playing in his hands. Hearing that his plan relied on a gamble of baiting and reaction, she couldn't help but let out a humored snort. After a moment of thinking, she asked him, "You did the same thing to Miyabi, didn't you? In the same way?" He nodded to her with another hint of shame. Homura continued her questioning, "How did she take to having the worst brought out in her? I know she said some harsh things to Imu so… that must have hit hard."

Clicking his tongue once, the young man answered back, "Leaving out the details- sorry, private information- I'd say that she took it in about the same way as you."

"Fair enough," Homura nodded before considering her demeaning words to all of her friends. After a few moments of thought, she muttered, "It's amazing how she took her rage back in after all that she said because of it. Meanwhile, I'm considering the prospect of asking you to take back my pride so that I never behave that way again."

"I'd sooner punch you in the face," the young man stated frankly before raising a palm defensively to Homura's offended look, "and note the fact that I make it an active priority to not punch people in the face. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with it now."

Puffing out her cheeks, the girl murmured, "I figured as much."

Seeing the downcast look on her face, the young man spoke quickly, "Listen, someone who has an excess of pride is a horse ass. There's no denying that. But, worse than the case of someone putting themselves on a pedestal, is a self-degrading person like who you were a couple of minutes ago… putting yourself beneath people's feet or skittering out of their way because you think they're so much better than you-"

"It was embarrassing to say the least," interrupted Homura while she rubbed her forehead.

"It was revolting, that's what it was," the young man said sternly, "In life, each of us are human before anything else. Sure, there are other factors that place some people above others in different hierarchies but, if you take those things away, the people at the top and bottom of those pyramids are human."

With a snort out her nose, Homura snarked, "Until the guy at the top decides to assert his authority and give a kick to the underdogs below."

"That's when it falls to those underdogs to defend their humanity. That's where our pride comes in," explained the young man. Tapping his forehead with his finger, he continued, "It's our pride as human beings that keeps us equals. If we demean and humble ourselves to undeserving horse asses, then it's our own fault that we've lost value."

"Good sir," Homura expressed with a smile, "you sound like you're getting preachy."

With a shrug, the young man closed his eyes nonchalantly as he replied, "All in the job: bust down the door, kick figurative ass, and talk your ear off about how it's okay to be flawed."

"It's amazing that you can declare yourself to be our enemy."

On hearing those words, the young man's eyes snapped open and looked to Homura seriously. After a moment of silence, with the girl's gaze challenging him to explain himself, the young man uttered, "Don't question it. I am your enemy."

"How so?" she asked calmly, "Tell me how you can call yourself that when your actions thus far have only beneficial to us."

Despite her plea, the young man only grimaced before stating, "I'm not able to explain it properly. Just know that I'm your enemy… that none of you can trust me," and turned away from her as the world began to dissipate around her, "Let's head back. I enjoyed our talk, but I'm on a schedule." Homura wanted to reach out and question him more, but her vision was overcome by rays of light before she felt herself fall back into consciousness.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of pride bringing tranquility to a clouded heart, you have saved a young woman from a fate of lonely arrogance.**

**For this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has endured through physical and mental punishment in order to save her. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the seeds of a love to come will blossom.**

As everyone above her stood around and watched her resting form with intense eyes, Homura could hear an argument taking place between Asuka and Yomi.

"We can't trust him enough to follow his orders!" came the latter's voice.

"But who knows what could happen with their heads separated!? What if it was crucial? We need to do as Grandma said!" came the former.

Then Mirai shouted, "Quit bickering! She's awake!"

Homura moved to lift her head but quickly felt sick in doing so. Somewhere, in the back of her head, there was an evident feeling of frustration. While everyone herded around her and bombarded her with questions of concern, the girl threw her hands into the air to clumsily push them aside. Swaying her head around, she looked and found the young man's body laying peacefully. Unable to fully control her body, Homura surged forward and hammered her head down as quick a missile straight for his dome.

The moment the two made contact, the girl flinched back and cursed out about the resulting blow to her own head while the young man crumpled his body up and proceeded to heave and cough. While everyone either looked on incredulously or asked after their friend, Imu looked over at the young man and mumbled to Miyabi, "Doesn't this scene playback a lot like what happened to you?"

Though the yellow-eyed girl intended to remain a silent observer through the remainder of the affair, she nodded back to her second, "Much. Perhaps Jasmine's words hold some merit," and asked to the crowd surrounding Homura, "Is she okay?"

Peering up, Hikage monotonously said, "She's got a bump," and stared quietly for a moment before finishing, "Nothing else," before tending back to the girl.

Seeing as Homura was fine, Miyabi and Imu turned back to the young man only to cringe their heads back when a mixed glob of saliva and vomit flew out of his mouth with one final cough. As he let out a pained moan, Yumi departed from the rest of the girls to kneel beside him and harshly gripped his shoulder, "We're turning you over to our superiors. Please, don't resist."

The young man looked up to glower at her only for his eyes to widen in shock at who was standing off behind Hebijo's elite. Flanked by both Yozakura and Shiki, Jasmine stood off to the side while overlooking the scene. On seeing the young man's face contorting into shock, she shook her head and held up the scarf that she had tried to use to cover her face. After silently cursing himself and his plan, the young man slumped his head while he pulled at his own tattered scarf.

Then he heard the honking of a truck horn and looked up at Jasmine with a desperate look. With a shake of her head, she waved her fingers and gestured for him to continue on without her. Seeing the exchange between the two, Yumi drew her bladed fan and held it close to the young man's neck, "Don't even think about fleeing."

"Lower your weapon!" came Homura's sudden call, surprising the many other girls who were checking her over. From the corner of her eye, Yumi looked over with evident scorn that dared the girl to speak up again. Fortunately, Homura did just that, "He doesn't deserve to die for what's happened."

Yumi fully turned over to her and started, "He'll only die if he tries to run-" before catching the young man's movement in the corner of her eye. Reacting quickly, she swiped her fan for his head. But he had already thrown himself backward and was already turning around, allowing the fan to only cut into his calf. Tripping over as his body locked in pain, the young man was nearly tackled down by a still pursuing Yumi and a few other girls who moved to give her support. Still, he managed to press on long enough to leap over the edge, tighten his scarf again midair, and fire his grappling devices to swing himself above the streets while he looked for the truck.

Hearing the call to pursue overhead, the young man continued to shoot and swing as crowds of people pointed up at him. While he spiraled through the air, he spotted the semi-truck that Jasmine was driving a few blocks down as police cars and news outlets surrounded the scene. Putting off the attention they'd gathered, the young man fired his grappling devices again and spotted his designated truck just a bit ahead, stopped at a red light. Using his wires to soften his fall, he allowed his body to plummet into the truck with a hard slam before pounding his fist against the back window as he groaned in pain.

In the driver's seat, Hanzō nodded and floored it into the intersection, barely evading a few oncoming cars. Spotting the scene playing out, some of the officers by the semi sprinted to their vehicles to pursue as the shinobi leapt across the buildings above them. While the old man maneuvered through the turn and proceeded to speed and weave through the busy streets and between cars, the young man knocked a few times on the back window. Knowing that he likely had urgent news, Hanzō proceeded to shatter the window with his fist before ordering, "Speak to me."

Ignoring the sirens and the girls that were still pursuing them, the young man exclaimed, "They've discovered Jasmine's identity! They've got her up there!"

"She called me about that," the old man explained as he sped through another intersection, "She was afraid that one of the girls must have gotten a look at her when they pulled at her scarf. At that point, we both agreed that going down fighting would be a bad idea."

Gripping the sides of the truck bed, the young man worriedly exclaimed, "What now, then?"

"We stick to the plan," Hanzō called back, "Don't go losing your cool. You, yourself, anticipated that there was a lot of room for error."

"Jasmine was never supposed to get caught!" cried the young man as he gripped his forehead with one of his hands. After letting out a frustrated yell, he cursed, "Such a stupid oversight! Of course, they were going to press after her!"

"You're only human," Hanzō hollered as he continued to accelerate the truck down the streets.

"Alright," the young man answered back while gritting his teeth through another turn, "What should we do when we get out of here?"

Suddenly, Hanzō had to drop the brakes hard when he spotted Yumi and Murakumo flanking up ahead to cut the truck off. In a split-second decision, he opted to follow the road left into an underground tunnel, knowing that he would likely be cut off at the end by law enforcement. To answer the young man's question, he stated, "I'll call you if I can. But the girls will probably assume that I'm involved with Jasmine. By extension, they'll also suspect Rin and Kiriya- Oh, here's your bag," and reached for a backpack in the passenger seats to pass through the window. As the young man pulled out its contents and proceeded to dress himself, Hanzō finished, "To be honest, you're probably going to be on your own from here on. Be on guard and act accordingly!"

With a resolute nod, the young man bellowed, "Whatever happens, good luck!" and fired his grappling devices in the middle of a darkened portion of the tunnel to swing himself over to the sidewalk. While police car flashed its lights and sped on by, the young man's form was illuminated as he walked back to the tunnel's entrance. A few times, he passed by gawking pedestrians who commented on the speeding truck. Once he walked back out into the light, his gray school uniform and badge were dully lit up. From behind the glasses he'd so often worn, he could see the shinobi and their barriers as they sailed by overhead and moved towards the tunnel's other exit.

With a grim look on his face, he could only sigh as he made his way to the train station to ride home. From that point onward, it would only be himself against the rest of the shinobi. It was a hard pill of truth that he had to swallow, even if it made him sick to feel so alone.


	11. Chapter 11: Relentless

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 11: Relentless

Strutting his way into the academy which shared his name, Hanzō failed to remove the amused look on his face when he remembered the complete and utter confusion the police officers must have felt upon their discovery of an empty truck casually rolling out of the traffic tunnel. Even when he saw the furious expressions of all the young shinobi awaiting him inside, his posture was just as cheery and nonchalant as he was on any other day. The only time he felt a bit of falter in his step was when he spotted the betrayed look on Asuka's face. Still, he marched in and greeted them all with a wave, "Sorry to arrive without invitation. Though, after today's developments, I figured you'd want to see me."

While the surrounding shinobi shared looks of anger, hurt, and bewilderment, Yumi remained as stone-cold as ever. Seeing the lack of emotion in such a heated situation for himself, Hanzō could clearly see what the young man referred to when he said that the girl was in an advanced state of distortion. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she crossed her arms, "Can we presume you knew of your wife's treachery?"

Closing his eyes and putting on a cocky smile, the old man simply mimicked her crossed arms and proudly stated, "If I'm being completely honest, I took part in it."

Though she grimaced in the face of his arrogance, Yumi ultimately took a breath and gestured for him to follow her into the academy, figuring that he wouldn't be terribly resistant if he'd revealed himself without having been called. Keeping the cheerful expression on his face, Hanzō followed after her with the remaining girls trailing behind him.

Behind his conceited exterior, he could feel an ever-slight feeling of worry setting in. According to the young man, fixing the girls' conditions would be impossible if they didn't regard him as an enemy. Yet, with all of the adults they ever reported to under suspicion, the girls would likely reach out to an official and involve the government in the affair. Ultimately, that would a be a death sentence for not only Hanzō, Sayuri, Rin, and Kiriya, but also for the young man, lest the former-most managed to convince them otherwise. Doing so without dropping the façade of being the enemy would be incredibly difficult.

Eventually, he was led into the faculty room where all of the other adults awaited by the wall on the farthest side. Rin and Kiriya had soft looks on their faces when their eyes found the girls who'd once so proudly looked up to them. Between the tears that still brimmed in Hibari's eyes while she had her shoulder squeezed by Yagyū, the vexed eyes narrowing from Imu and Ryōbi, and the evident confusion on Hikage and Mirai's faces, the two teachers' hearts bounced up and down from their stomach to their chest. But, standing off to the side of the two, Jasmine simply kept her face frigid while eying Yumi.

The leader of Gessen's elite gestured for Hanzō to take his place beside them, to which he obliged, before she frankly stated, "The four of you have admitted that you've collaborated with the infiltrator. As I'm sure you can imagine, there are some questions we'd like answered."

Quickly and without any remorse in her features, Jasmine answered back, "Ask then."

Before Yumi could question any of them, Asuka stepped past her and asked, "You said he was a terrorist. A shinobi-hunter… Our enemy… So, why are you working with him?"

With a mild look of irritation, Yumi nodded forward before cutting in, "Please answer. Why would you work with our enemy? Someone that you, yourselves, have explained was a threat?"

Rin and Kiriya, taking heed of the young man's words to maintain his stance as an enemy, glanced over to Hanzō and Jasmine with hopeful looks. Fortunately for the two of them, the old man had long since prepared an answer. "We told you he was our enemy because the government tells us he's our enemy."

Yumi made an affirmative noise before coldly offering, "It's safe to assume you don't share that sentiment, all things considered."

Jasmine answered in a matching tone, "Of course not."

Feeling the defiance in the woman's words, Yumi spat back, "So, when it came time for you to abandon your oaths as shinobi, did you actively seek him out or did he cajole you over?"

Peering from behind her, Miyabi called with visible irritation, "Draw back your aggression. There's no getting an answer from them if you're just going to pick fights… especially when they're capable of throwing you out of the ring in under a minute."

Daggers flew out from Yumi's eyes as she peered her head to the girl behind her, "I don't want to hear another word from you. I already know your view on the matter."

"And you've yet to refute it," Miyabi said before facing everyone else, "We need to hear the four of them out. For all we know, there may be a point to what they're doing."

While Asuka and Haruka nodded along with a few others to the proclamation, the latter stated with a serious look, "If we reach an understanding, we may be able to bring in the infiltrator for questioning as well," before a devilish grin spread across her face as she annunciated quietly, "A very~ thorough questioning," and proceeded to pat at some of the chemicals she had stored in her pockets.

Yumi shook her head adamantly before growling, "Considering that the idea was brought out by Miyabi, I think it's a terrible idea."

The yellow-eyed girl glared at her before harshly muttering, "Have you got a problem with me in particular?"

Waving her fan to keep her cool, Yumi fully turned around and faced off against Miyabi, "When you first met him, you intended to kill him. Even I stepped in at one point and told you that you were being far too harsh. Now, after he's done whatever he has to your mind, you're telling me that you want to hear him out, that you want to hear out the people who have actively deceived us."

Miyabi's eyes narrowed, "You fear I'm being controlled then?"

With one final dismissive wave, Yumi set her fan to her side before affirming, "It's either that or you've been seduced by his words."

At first, Miyabi's face reddened a tad before lowering her head to eye the ground intensely. For a moment, Yumi thought her declaration would keep her rival silent before Miyabi announced, "I'll tell you just went on when he entered my mind! He helped me come to terms with a part of myself that I hadn't ever dared to face!" and heaved a few breaths before collecting herself. Once she regained control of her rising frustration, she continued, "I still don't fully understand how he cleans up distortion or whatever it's called… But he helped me accept back something I detested about myself for the longest time: rage. For a long time, I've been bitter and angry with the world. I've held onto grudges I thought I let go so long ago… Then he brought it all out and I lashed out at Imu-"

Her second-in-command stepped forward, "Miyabi, you weren't in control of that. That was all him. You're not responsible-"

"I know that!" Miyabi shouted before pausing to take a breath, offering an apologetic look to Imu. Facing back to Yumi, the leader of Hebijo's elite spoke loud and proud, "He took full responsibility for everything I said. He apologized that my words didn't remain buried. Then he spoke to me and… his words… He made what I thought to be a critical flaw about me- I mean, I knew that rage was a natural thing beforehand but… He made it sound like there was no need to be ashamed of it. Now, it feels like a weight that I hadn't even known was there has finally been removed." Miyabi stepped forward and jabbed her finger into Yumi's chest while she continued to icily stare, "If you mean to tell me that he's some sort of dire threat… I'll call bullshit here and now… He's not our enemy."

While Yumi gritted her teeth in the face of Miyabi's defiance, Hanzō and Jasmine exchanged looks upon hearing the white-haired girl's final declaration. If either of them didn't step in, the young man's plan and provocation would be rendered a failure. Yet, when the old man opened his mouth to speak, he couldn't think of a single explanation that would label the young man an enemy while convincing the girls to not report him to the government. At one point, while he continued to open and close his mouth amidst his conflicting thoughts, Asuka glanced over at him. There were so many questions in her eyes that Hanzō wanted to answer… but, how could he?

During all of Hanzō's thinking, Yumi retorted back to Miyabi, "I'll simply count all of that as him having seduced you then."

It took everything within the Hebijo leader to not draw her katana and demand a fight then and there. While Miyabi didn't know why Yumi had been behaving as she had in the last few weeks, she wasn't about to sit back and be labeled a betrayer. She opted to straighten her back and told Yumi with a sharp edge to her voice, "Then we'll ask Homura about her experience once she's recovered from her exhaustion. She'll tell you the same thing as I have. I'm sure of it."

"I'm sure she will," Yumi growled back, "considering the infiltrator has dabbled with both of your heads."

Just as Miyabi was about to reel back a fist in the face of the girl's stubbornness, Yomi arrived on the scene and called from the rear of the crowd, "Homura's awake…" Silently, the girls blocking her way shifted to let her toward the front. Locking her eyes onto the two shinobi, the blonde stepped forward and stated, "She's still resting upstairs but…"

Yumi narrowed her eyes dismissively, "You should go back to watching her. I'll send Asuka later to relay whatever develops from this…" before turning to Miyabi, "discussion…"

Looking between the two furious shinobi for a few moments, Yomi considered putting off her words before she shook her head with determination, "You'll both want to hear this. Homura has… most of the infiltrator's identity."

Upon those words exiting her mouth, the tension in the room only rose further. While Yumi and Miyabi seemed to take on the looks of wild tigresses who discovered the scent of their prey, Jasmine's cold expression fell away to alarm before she glanced at her husband. While the old man considered the news, Yumi carefully asked, "Specifically… how does she know?" before taking an eager step toward Yomi. Miyabi also followed suit, bumping her shoulder into Gessen's leader.

Taking a step back from the advancing women, Yomi explained with a wide-eyed look, "Well… Homura said she was a bit of a wreck when she was… in her mind. To get some trust out of her, I guess, he… told her his name and, later, mentioned that he was a year younger than her."

Though there was cheerful consideration in Yumi's features, she eventually tossed them away and let out a sigh. After she recomposed herself, she stated with closed eyes, "He probably lied to her. There's no way he'd be so foolish."

"Yomi," came Hanzō's burly voice. Once he had the attention of both her and the rest of the room, he stated the young man's name and asked, "Was that the same name Homura told you?" Much to his relief, the blonde nodded her silent affirmation. With a glint in his eye as Jasmine watched him with evident disbelief, the old man spoke further, "Then allow me to confirm that he was telling the truth. He's a second-year student at Wakariyasui Private-"

"What the hell are you doing!?" Jasmine exclaimed before delivering a solid punch to the side of Hanzō's face. The massive collision made the old man see stars spiraling around his head before he fell to the floor. With the mushroom clouds blowing up in her eyes, Jasmine grabbed Hanzō by the shoulders before violently shaking him, "Don't you dare tell me you're switching sides now!"

Before the old man could be effectively murdered by his wife, Kiriya and Rin stepped in to pull her off. Recovering from the strike to his head, Hanzō gave his neck a crack before raising his hands to calm Jasmine, "Of course not. I'm still with you and him. But look at the state of things now. Our plan to provoke the girls has gone up in flames and is nothing more than a failure, they already have some of his details and will track him eventually, and, most importantly, these girls are likely going to report us to the government for colluding with him. If the government gets involved… if Oda gets involved… Never mind us, that young man will be dead and these girls will be stuck with their distortions."

All of the shinobis in the room felt their ears perk up once they took in Hanzō's last statement. There were a few quiet whispers as everyone fell into a moment of silence. After she considered everything running through her head, Yumi slowly asked, "We're distorted?"

Refraining from smacking his forehead, the old man muttered, "Of course. It's as we said before: infiltrators seek out shinobi to cleanse them of distortion. Why else would he be after all of you?"

Everyone looked around worriedly, their voices drawn to whisper in concern and worry for themselves and one another. Still, in spite of everything that she was told, Yumi kept her chin up high, "That's certainly something to consider… though, at this point, we'd be irresponsible if we didn't involve the government. He's a terrorist and it's only just that he's brought in."

Before anything could go awry, Jasmine immediately suggested with a hint of desperation, "Bring him in yourselves!"

Practically doing a doubletake in the face of her grandmother's uncharacteristic plea, Asuka looked at her incredulously before asking slowly, "You… want us to capture him?"

Offering a fervent nod, Jasmine explained frankly, "It'd be better if you captured him and hear what he has to say for yourselves than for us all to either die or suffer from distortion," before lowering her head shamefully. Part of her couldn't believe she was following Hanzō's lead and, despite knowing it was the best option before them, felt guilty at the prospect of selling out the young man. But, if there was an option which could allow them to retake control of the situation, it had to be taken. Steeling herself, her clear voice came out, "He may be your enemy… but he's no more dangerous to you than the lot of you are to each other. Good shinobi, evil shinobi, renegades… and an infiltrator. He's just another addition to your mix of fighting."

Numerous eyes lit up and there was a sudden spur of approval and debate coming out in whispers. Ikaruga rubbed her chin thoughtfully as Katsuragi muttered to her while scratching her cheek, "If you drop the terrorist label, that may be a pretty good point."

Ryōna let out a quiet whine, "…If he's fighting with us, why wouldn't he hit me then?" while Ryōbi considered the young man's pacifistic stance in fighting with unreadable eyes.

Amidst the chatter, Mirai conflictedly looked between all of the whispering girls before looking up to Hikage, who spoke simply, "He had a nice singing voice."

The only ones who remained silent were the girls of Gessen, who warily kept their eyes on Yumi as the girl began to steadily steam in frustration. Just as the ice queen thought she was regaining her cool, Miyabi told her, "We have a name, an age, and a school. Even if the matter comes down to killing him, you and I both know it makes more sense to hear him out. You, as a good shinobi, should know this sort of righteousness better than me."

Gripping the fan in her hand harshly, Yumi stared at Jasmine in a silent rage before ordering, "You're staying at the academy tonight… Early tomorrow, we'll pursue and capture him. After that, we'll question him ourselves and will conclude a course of action to take. Would you consider that fair?"

Despite feeling like a snake for offering up the young man, Jasmine knew it was just another gamble. If it succeeded, the girls could maintain the perspective that he was the enemy while not reporting him to the government. Certainly, once the dust was settled, the four adults' relationships with the girls may be rendered null and void but, to save them from distortion, that would be the only way. Offering a final nod, Jasmine uttered, "Yes."

The rest of the meeting came to a swift end as Yumi ushered everyone out. Yet, despite feeling as though she were in control of the situation, she could feel the suspicious eyes of Miyabi and Asuka burning into the back of her head. The two girls in question exchanged a glance at one another before coming to a silent understanding and walking off with the respective squads.

Right around that time of night, the young man arrived at his apartment and slammed the door closed. After taking a breath of relief that he finally appeared to be in the clear, he slinked against the wall and slid downward before allowing his head to fall into one of his hands, "Damn…"

Knowing for fact that Jasmine was in the girl's custody and that Hanzō would be joining her was a terribly lonely feeling. Even worse, according to the old man, Rin and Kiriya would also be suspected of interfering with the ambush that had been laid out. From that point onward, it would only be the young man against the shinobi. Though he wouldn't allow himself to fall to panic or sorrow, he had to take a moment for himself to fully recover from the mental blow.

However, before he could properly relax himself, a sore feeling in the back of his leg caught his attention. Upon looking down, he remembered that Yumi managed to nick him with a fan and found that it was a shallow wound upon rolling up his pant leg. He reminded himself that he'd have to thank Homura for her inadvertent distraction if they ever spoke in the future before he let out a sigh and walked to his bathroom to clean and bandage the wound. Upon exiting, he set down his glasses and threw his watch to the floor before falling back into his futon. Regardless of every development through the day, he had to keep his cover and attend school the next morning. If he had to, he'd use the day to make a plan to make it seem as though Jasmine and the others were under some sort of mind control. With an assured smile on his face, the young man moved to set his alarm on his phone.

Then he paused for a moment. He patted at his pocket. The young man's face did not move an inch as he repeatedly patted against both of his sides. Slowly, he stood up and took off his pants so that he could dig more thoroughly. Aside from the wallet he kept in his school uniform, there was nothing else.

Then Jasmine's voice rang in the back of his head, "Leave your phone in the back and everything should be good from here."

Scrunching his face up as a maddened smile spread out, the young man realized that he left it in the semi-truck so that it wouldn't get damaged or stolen by one of the girls during the provocation. After taking a few seconds to hyperventilate, the young man let out an extensive scream that was filled to the brim with all of his frustration and rage. Once he was out of breath, he huffed and puffed a few more times before letting out another shriek as he threw his head into a pillow to muffle his anguished cry. At that point, he could feel himself falling into the madness of the situation. Considering the law's presence around the semi-truck when he last saw it, there was no doubt in the young man's mind that his phone would be in police custody. Though he was careful to properly delete any suspicious texts that he exchanged with Jasmine, the question about why his phone was there in the first place would remain.

At that point, the day's events and his fit exhausted him thoroughly enough that he was quickly rendered out cold through the rest of the night. In his mind's eye, he was having a seizure on his futon one moment only to wake up with half his body leaning above the floor the next.

With a crick in his back and neck, the young man rolled himself up and looked around with evident confusion. He looked up at the clock he had on the wall and realized he was up earlier than his alarm was typically set. Looking out the window, he could see that sunlight was just barely shining above a few buildings within the city. Thoughtlessly, he reached for the nightstand to turn off the alarm on his phone before closing his eyes and grumbling, "Oh… right…"

Grunting his frustration a few more times, he stood up from the bed and prepared a fresh uniform for the day. Even if he was boned beyond belief, he wanted to get his mind off of the matter. Plus, if he was going to face the police who were likely awaiting him at the school's entrance, he'd do so with some dignity. He took a shower, brushed his teeth and hair, shined his glasses, cooked a large breakfast for himself, before offering one final salute to the apartment. As he tried to keep the utter defeat off of his face, the young man commemorated the occasion with a few final words to the apartment, "I've lived here for about a week and a half… and I don't have many fond memories of this place… aside from sleeping… still, thanks for the shelter… Goodbye, apartment number you-have-no-number."

With that, the young man strutted his way to the train station for an early ride to school. Every now and then, he got a look from a few adults who'd comment on how early the time was and how exhausted he looked. Of course, they never said it to his face and only stuck to gossiping to one another with their hands over their mouths. Though the young man wanted to throw caution to the wind and cuss them out for the hell of it, he reminded himself about going down with dignity and opted to bite his tongue instead.

As he straightened his school uniform, one of the morning trains came to a stop and he prepared to step in before stopping in his tracks upon sighting who was waiting for him onboard with his phone in hand. With a hand attempting to cover up the haughty smile on her mouth, Haruka waggled the phone back and forth before gesturing for the young man to come forward. In a knee jerk reaction, the young man felt at his wrist before remembering that he left his watch behind. Under his breath, he cursed, "Shit… shit, shit…"

In an attempt to play his reaction off, he straightened himself and his glasses before boarding the train, though he knew Haruka caught his desperate movements. As the train doors closed behind him and he was forced to look at the girl, the young man braced himself for whatever action she aimed to take. Seeing him as trapped as a child in a playpen, Haruka's smile only grew brighter and brighter before she squeezed past one person to greet him, "My, it's wonderful to meet you here. I believe you forgot this at my place the other night," and offered him back his phone.

Staring at her with narrowed eyes, the young man could hear a few people gossip around him and comment on what good luck he must have had to have been at such a woman's residence. Taking a few deep breaths, the young man turned his back to her and opted to wait the train ride out, knowing for fact that his fall was coming.


	12. Chapter 12: Cornered

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 12: Cornered

Upon seeing the young man turn his back to her, Haruka placed her freehand to her hip and rested the phone under her chin. Taking in her height over the young man with a domineering smile on her face, she tiptoed forward until her breasts were barely a centimeter off from his upper back. Taking in a soft breath, she whispered in her sultry voice, "Won't you take your phone back?"

"I don't know you."

The young man's voice came out quick and solid, though his tense posture told Haruka more than enough that he was fully aware of his position in the situation. Pulling a bit at the collar of her sweater, Haruka revealed a calculated amount of cleavage before speaking again, "Oh~? Have you forgotten all of our… activities~ from yesterday? All the fun that we had?"

Though the young man quickly swirled himself around with a stern look in his eye, his shoulder blew straight into the smiling girl's chest before she extended her arm to pull him inward. As she squished into his side and her breath began to fog his glasses, the young man felt his face begin to burn and itch in embarrassment. But, knowing the situation, he composed himself and prepared to firmly dissociate himself from the girl just as she was slipping his phone into her purse.

"Let me go. I don-" but his voice was cut off when she trailed a gentle finger down the back of his neck with a cheerful hum.

"My~, is that your weak spot? Sorry I couldn't… sate it during our fun yesterday."

As fellow passengers aboard the train took in the overt sexuality she was placing into the scene before them, the young man tried to stifle the shudder that went down the back of his spine before attempting to speak again. But, compared to his firm voice from before, he barely squeaked, "I don't know you…"

Another sharp breath from Haruka's nostril fogged his glasses before her eyes turned dangerous. Narrowing down on him with the same seductive shape, the aggression and malevolence was all laid out in the crooked smile she gave him. Then she uttered, "Then I'll remind you tonight…"

The young man pulled away, but her hand remained firm against the back of his head to keep him in place. Even as the train came to a stop, Haruka made sure that his eyes did not leave hers. If he ever dared to look helplessly at any of the other passengers, she would make a humming noise before scratching a nail against his scalp. Once the doors opened, he pulled again with a weak mutter, "Get off…"

"Do you need to go to school today?" she asked in a singsong voice, "Rather than answering some elderly man's questions, wouldn't you like to answer mine?"

By this point, the young man began to bolster his resistance before attempting to push away again, "I already told you to let me go. I don't know you."

Still, Haruka maintained an unbending grip, "I know I'd like to ask you many things. For example… You know Homura, yes?"

With hints of panic, the young man snarled, "I don't know you or Homura. Let me go."

"It's funny," she said before resting her chin against his forehead, "You said you were a year younger than Homura and someone else told us you were a second-year student…" she rose her head and craned the young man's up to look at her, "So is Homura… or, rather, she was a second-year student. The question: do you know how that is?"

Not reading too much into her mind game of a question, the young man growled dangerously with a hint of finality, "Let me go."

Haruka's eyes practically glowed with anticipation, "It's such a fun tale, really."

"LET ME GO!" the young man boomed before throwing both of his hands forward to shove her away. While Haruka expected the reaction, she expected his hands to push away at her arms or shoulders. Instead, one of his hands blew into one of her breasts while the other jostled her stomach. Feeling the wind taken out of her from the unintentional blow, she crumpled a bit and felt her grip loosen enough for him to pull away into a sprint. Still, despite having lost her prey, Haruka could only pull herself up with a smile before offering a wave to his fleeing form as the train doors closed. She knew she'd see him again before the end of the day.

Running up the steps and rushing to scan his station pass, the young man pushed his way through the crowd before zipping out of the building and onto the sidewalk. Just when he thought he had a moment to take a breath, he spotted Yozakura pointing to him from a bench across the street before rousing Shiki. When he turned his back to rush his way to school, he heard her call, "Oi, wait up. We need to talk for a moment."

The young man mumbled inaudibly, "I don't know you… I don't know you…" and secured his schoolbag before picking up the pace. Again, he heard oncoming calls coming from behind him. He offered silent thanks to his ancestors for the fact that he was no longer trapped on a train and was, instead, surrounded by an early morning crowd. Even if the girls activated their shinobi barriers, anyone would notice a student taking a beating from invisible forces. Unfortunately, it also worked to his disadvantage. Having a crowd all around him meant he wasn't allowed to run off and potentially make a scene that could potentially involve the law, which meant he had to simply endure the shinobis' torment until he could get to school.

Eventually, Yozakura caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder to stop his retreat, "I told you to hold up. Do some listening, would ya- sorry, would you?"

Ignoring the evident frustration which had evidently been building up in the girl as she trailed after him, the young man pulled away and replied simply, "I don't know you."

At first, the blue-haired girl muttered a few flabbergasted words before grumbling, "Don't you play dumb. We know you and you know us."

Scrunching up his face to ward them off, the young man turned back to them and uttered, "I don't know you. Leave me alone," before he kept on walking.

As her adopted sister began to steam at the young man's feign of ignorance, Shiki waved a hand for Yozakura to calm down before trotting beside the young man. While he seemed to put an annoyed look on his face, there was a sense of urgency in his eyes. Thankfully, they'd caught him off guard. Still, it would be a long day if he continued to be as stubborn and resistant as he was. With a small sigh, Shiki asked him, "So, Sayuri pretty much told us everything. You're route, you're school, etcetera, etcetera. In all seriousness, it would be better if you just came along."

The young man looked at her with confused eyes, "I don't know a Sayuri."

At first, Shiki began to spout, "Oh, come on. You know-"

"No, listen," the young man annunciated, "I don't know a Sayuri. You have the wrong guy."

With a bit more oomph to his step, the young man began to speed ahead of Shiki while she thought for a moment. With a click of her fingers and a bit of brightness to her eyes, she called after him, "Sorry, we forgot she likes to be called Jasmine. She's told us everything."

Upon hearing the name, the young man stopped dead in his tracks before looking back with evident distress, his lips fixed in a downward curl as his hands balled into shaking fists. For a moment, Shiki and Yozakura were afraid he'd lash out and strike them. But, with the ferocious look still on his face, the young man turned back around and was about to keep walking. Just as Yozakura was about to call after him, he turned his head to ask, "Just how much do you know? You have my school and my route to and from… What else?"

With a bit of sympathy tinging her face, Yozakura calmly stated the young man's full name, "You're a second-year student, so probably about sixteen or seventeen years old…" Her pupils seemed to dart back and forth nervously upon realizing the shinobi still knew far too little of him. Not wanting to surrender control over the situation, she blabbered, "We also know where you live."

Narrowing his eyes at her, the young man mumbled blankly, "That last one was a lie and the other two things, minus my last name, I gave to Homura." A bit of relief seemed to fill his features before he grimaced, "Still… Jasmine gave my name and school? My route to and from?"

"Just the route, actually," came a deep voice flanking from his other side. Upon turning around, the young man found Miyabi with Imu and Murasaki at both of her sides, "Hanzō was the one who gave your name and school."

With a tightness to his face, the young man quickly caught onto how surrounded he was. Even if he ignored the five shinobi on the ground with him, he had to imagine the remaining girls were either spread-out across his walk to school or were already converging on him. Imu confirmed his theory as she stated, "We've got you circled. Wherever you go from this point onward, we'll already be waiting for you there. Considering the fact that you have no tools to counter us, it would be better if you just surrendered and came with us."

Despite her words, the young man remained silent with a serious expression on his face. After a few moments, he lowered his head to burn a hole into the concrete with his eyes before grunting, "Let me go or kill me. Those are your options for this moment."

In return, Miyabi's eyes remained solid as she grunted right back, "Or we could carry you away. You know that we have the strength to do so, regardless of whether or not you're kicking and screaming."

Spreading his arms out to gesture to the busy sidewalk around them, the young man declared, "Feel free to try it. Even if it's unbecoming of a man to be carried away by some maidens, I'll kick and scream for help. Considering the bulk of the crowd this morning, I'm sure someone will at least call the police." Taking a breath, the young man muttered, "Now, I'm heading off to school. Either kill me now or let me be; do as you will."

After letting out one final huff, he stepped forward to walk between Miyabi and Murasaki. Though, just as he locked eyes with the former to dare her next move, the latter timidly grasped his sleeve. With a bit of a perturbed look on his face, the young man asked, "What?"

In response, Murasaki sniffed loudly in his direction, resulting in the young man uneasily stepping back. Once she'd taken in whatever she smelled, she looked to him and mumbled, "Please… don't resist. You're not a horrible person… so, I'd rather not-"

"I'm your enemy," the young man growled, "I intend nothing but harm to the lot of you." When Murasaki let out a startled squeak, a bit of sympathy washed across his face before he shook it off. He clenched his eyes closed for a moment before rounding his face to the girls around him, "Now then… I'm heading to school… Do as you will."

As he pushed his way out of the circle, Miyabi and her two comrades stepped aside and turned to watch the young man disappear into the crowd. With one final sigh, she turned to Shiki, "Send a text out to everyone else: surround the school and we'll wait for him to come out. It's supposed to rain today so, if need be, we can wait for the crowds to disperse before making our move."

As the blonde pulled out her phone and proceeded to zip her fingers to type out the message, Imu looked up to Miyabi and asked, "You seem down. Everything alright?"

With a snort, Miyabi ruffled the back of her head, "Yeah… it just sucks having to throw threats at him like that. Even if he says so, I don't believe he's our enemy."

Using her finger to push up her glasses, the second-in-command said, "I don't mean to doubt you but I can't really understand why you're so sure. Still, I'll follow your lead."

The conversation trailed off from there and the girls pursued after the young man. Though there were no further attempts to speak or apprehend him on his way to school, he quickly began to notice the many shinobi barriers that were being activated around him. Looking up at their resulting glows with his glasses, the young man took in the sight of numerous shinobi hawking over him from the rooftops. He made sure to offer a glare to each of them before he finally made it to Wakariyasui just as thunder rumbled in the far distance. Fortunately, unlike what he was bracing for that morning, the police were not waiting to question his involvement in the fiasco from the other day. Taking a soft breath after having finally found some relief, the young man went to his homeroom and took his seat before heaving an exhausted sigh. From behind him, he heard a voice chip, "Tired, bro?"

The young man turned around and found Miki staring at him curiously. Without blinking, he responded, "It's Monday."

"True, that's true," Miki mumbled before reaching into his pockets. Before the young man could rest his head for even a moment, Miki pulled up his phone and asked, "Have you seen the news- who am I kidding, of course you've seen the news. Have you gotten a look at some of the videos from that guy online? The one who was dancing on the trucks yesterday? He's gone viral~ and some of the memes that are already popping up on this thing. Mm, top quality. There's one where the video stops, you know when he's building up, then his eyes glow all red and it goes all Kick of the South Sea and-"

"Miki," came the inevitable reply.

Having forgotten about the young man while he was speaking, the boy was surprised to find that his friend's face was twisted with irritation. With a hitch to his breath, Miki asked, "Yeah, partner…?"

Letting a cold edge simmer in his voice, the young man stated, "It's Monday. Please, save your rambling for the end of the day. I'll treat you to something after school in exchange."

With interested eyes, Miki quirked his head before adopting a sly smile, "Cross your heart?"

The young man muttered, "Cross my-?" before groaning, "Cross my heart and I hope I die."

With a bit of silence, his friend commented, "I think you flubbed the second half."

"I know what I said."

With that, the day began to start as normal. Miss Osatani was going over announcements about clubs and other things the young man would not be partaking in, so he just settled for resting his head atop his desk. The previous night's exhaustion was beginning to catch up to him in full force, tempting him to sleep through the rest of the period. But, before he could come to a final decision on the matter, he heard a soft squeak toward the side of the room before feeling two sets of fingers pleasantly caress the hair on the back of his head. Surging upward in alarm once he recognized the sensation, the young man zipped his head around to find Asuka and Hibari with extended hands and embarrassed looks on their faces. Shaking a bit from the sight of it, the young man reminded himself of their shinobi barriers and looked to make sure he didn't startle the student behind him. Weirdly, said student was looking to their side at Sato Hazuki, who was white as a sheet and the apparent source of the audible squeak.

As the young man stared at Sato, who in turn meekly diverted her gaze to the floor, Miss Osatani called over, "Hazuki, is everything alright?"

With a jump and a whiny noise, she tried to answer coherently before simply mumbling, "Bee…"

A few students nearby jumped at the word, exclaiming concerns about allergies and not wanting to get stung. As Miss Osatani tried to settled down the fuss, the young man turned his gaze to the two shinobi standing right beside him. With his eyes practically piercing into them, Hibari turned away with a nervous smile before Asuka whispered, "We wanted to make sure you didn't fall asleep in class," and gave an anxious chuckle. Still, the young man continued to stare up at her. As the racket in the background only grew louder, with one student practically flailing about in her chair in fear of a potential bee, Asuka slowly asked, "So… If possible, would you be able to meet on the roof during lunch? Maybe we could get a bit of insight on each other's goals and come to an understanding?"

In response, the young man continued to glower before turning his gaze away from them. However, as he made to face the front of the room, his eyes found Sato. He had no concern for how pale in fear she was, nor for how she was locked in place and devoid of any movement. Instead, the young man focused on her eyes as they occasionally peeped over at Asuka and Hibari. While one student made to leave the room in dramatic fashion in the background, Sato's eyes flicked to the young man before widening in realization.

At that moment, the two students confirmed one another's awareness of the shinobi.

Once the scene in the classroom had finally finished with a girl being summoned to the office for having stormed out, the young man and Sato went about their days and put one another off. Their most immediate and mutual concern was to keep a wary eye on the invading shinobi, who seemed to go out of their way to make their presence known to the young man. In advanced Japanese Literature, Ikaruga would occasionally peer over his shoulder to read a few passages of Kokoro while he took notes. As he worked away in Classic Mechanic Physics and filled out a study report for the lesson, Minori repeatedly let out confused hums before settling on balancing around in a squeaky chair toward the back of the room until other students took notice, which resulted in a new rumor of the science room being haunted. Amidst hearing about the Catholic crusades of Europe in World History, the young man turned to find Ryōbi listening intently and nodding along with apparent interest only to smugly pinch him when managed to get his mind off of her.

During lunch, the young man opted to ignore Asuka's request and bought himself some bread to eat in the cafeteria. Yet, as he tiredly sunk his teeth in for the first bite, he peered to the window to find Mirai pointing her gunbrella straight at him. Flames emitting from the irritated look on her face, she gestured the weapon toward the stairs around the corner to try and herd him to the roof. In retaliation, the young man finished his bite of bread before circling a finger upon his forehead and dotting the center, daring her to shoot him. Though her finger twitched for the trigger, Mirai ultimately stood down before rushing off in a huff.

By the end of the day, after another swarm of outrageous events, the young man felt himself pale upon hearing the final bell. But, fortunately, he had made plans with Miki to eat out in a public place that would be surrounded by people. Even if Miki was more or less a tag-along sort of person to the young man, there was certainly an appreciation for his presence and distracting demeanor during such a grim situation.

On their way out of school, as thunder roared closeby, Miki was still blabbing away about the incident in homeroom, "To think Ebi would cause such a scene! She may have looks," and he proceeded to whistle, "but, hoo~ boy, her attitude is nuts. And for what? A bee that no one else saw for the rest of the day?" After letting out one final laugh, Miki turned to the young man, "So, your treat and your choice. Where're we going?"

The young man spotted the shinobi watching him from the rooftops before hoisting his schoolbag with a sigh, "You know me, I'm not picky. Have you got a preference?" and watched as a few shinobi leapt down to dispel their barriers and approach. As Miki and him made it to the school gate and descended the stairs, he spotted Hikage and, surprisingly, Homura making a beeline straight for them. While the chatty boy continued to rattle on, the young man ushered for Miki to quicken his pace before attempting to speed walk for the horizon.

When he heard Homura call after them, "Oi, are you just planning to leave two girls hanging?" the young man knew for fact his strategy was dead on arrival.

Miki circled his head to look at the two girls, promptly feeling an arrow pierce his heart when he saw their well-endowed forms, as the young man slowly turned around to face them with a frustrated twitch in his eye. Though he expected that he was going to lose in the long run, he wanted a chance to earn back victory at the very least. If nothing else, he hoped Miki would be capable of mouthing off to two attractive women long enough for the young man to make an escape.

Of all the wishes and prayers, it was the latter that was answered.

"Hello~ and how might we be of service to you two?" came the obnoxious pitches of Miki as he calmed and smoothed his features to come off as cool as possible, throwing up a hand to smooth the hair on the back of his head while the other posed on his hip.

Homura gave an ever-slight cringe before exchanging a look with Hikage's confused expression. After a moment of silence between the two, the latter shrugged and stated, "We were hoping to speak to him," before pointing at the young man, who was caught attempting to steadily tiptoe away from the interaction.

Though Miki's newfound fantasies of harems and sexual depravity were crushed in an instant, he shook it off like a champ and stepped aside for the young man with a thumbs up. Tired from all that he had experienced that day, the young man simply looked at the two girls and grunted. Spotting his bitter mood, Homura took on a frown before stating quickly, "I've been filled in by Yomi and Asuka. We were hoping you'd elaborate your…" she glanced at Miki before turning back, "plans for the future. Could you come with us?"

As the young man pondered an answer, Miki stared at him with complete confusion, "Just what have you been up to?"

"Miki," the young man growled dangerously before turning to eye the boy, "Not a good time."

With a sigh, his friend asked, "Later?"

"Later…"

At that moment, Hikage shot her arm forward to snatch the young man's hand and began to pull him along, "Let's go. Being late isn't good."

Unable to muster the energy to resist, he mumbled to Miki in a serious tone, "Pray for me," before getting dragged along toward the train station as another crack of thunder resounded even nearer than the last.

Having been left on the sidewalk, Miki let out a sigh of slight jealousy before feeling a weak bump to his shoulder. As he turned to move around, a red-faced girl flew past him with an apology and sped head-on into the crowd before disappearing. Giving one final shrug, Miki began to reorganize his dinner plans and pulled up his phone without a care in the world, unaware of how solemn the plea of his friend was.

Meanwhile, the young man was pulled along the sidewalk by his hand while the two girls guiding him rapidly weaved through the crowd as a few drops of rain began to pelt the three of them. By the time they scurried into the train station, they had just barely avoided the sudden downpour that broke up the routine outdoor crowd. Pausing to take in their luck for a moment, Homura let out a triumphant sigh of relief before offering a high-five to Hikage and the young man. Casually, the former gave a quick slap with a blank face before the hand faced the lone male. After staring at the hand of the enthusiastic woman, the young man slowly patted his hand against hers with a suspicious brow, "You're awfully energetic, all things considered."

Homura let out a proud huff before crossing her arms with a smile, "All that bed rest left me with fair bit of zest. Whether it's training or screwing around, I don't care right now so long as I get to burn it," before she briefly paused in thought. Eventually she followed up her statement with a concerned, "By the way, the exhaustion after your… procedure… that's normal, right?"

Nonchalantly, the young man flung up a hand, "Totally normal. Now all you have to do is wait one hundred and seventy-nine more days and your antlers should be fully developed by then."

With a jump, Homura muttered, "Antlers?"

Dropping the easygoing tone to his voice, the young man's face fell back into a scowl before he muttered back, "That was a joke."

The two of them stared at each other, Homura unsure what to say and the young man not wanting to speak anymore. Caught in the middle between the two, Hikage's eyes jumped back and forth before she slowly raised a hand in the air toward the latter, uttering, "High-five."

With a final snort, the young man simply turned to get in line to scan his pass, leaving behind Homura and Hikage in an uncomfortable silence. The two quickly followed after him and scanned their own passes before waiting for the scheduled train that would take them toward Hanzō Academy, where they planned to question him. Occasionally, the young man would look to Homura and see the evident reluctance on her face at the prospect of taking him in. At one point, after venturing yet another gaze at her, he asked, "So. Any plans to kill me?"

Homura shook her head, "Of course not. I certainly wouldn't allow it and neither would a few others."

She was about to continue, hoping to encourage him to cooperate, before she found the young man's face lost in thought. Anger and sorrow seemed to rotate in his features before adopting a calm look. As the train came to a stop in front of them, the young man stated calmly, "Listen. There are two ways this ends. Either I carry out my goal and live or the lot of you stop me and I die."

In rapid response, Homura grabbed his shoulders and began to chide him, "Or we come to an agreement. What's so hard about-" before getting cut off by the sound of a clearing throat. Upon turning around, the two of them found Yumi staring from aboard the train with Murakumo at her side, transformed and hidden by a shinobi barrier with a massive cleaver drawn.

There was one loud crack of thunder that bellowed from outside the station and over the scurrying crowds as the young man locked his eyes on Yumi, seeing all of the distortion that was taking root within her. In turn, she grimaced and ordered, "Come along," before gesturing with her fan for him to board. But, even as Homura and Hikage began to urge him forward, the young man did not move. In the corners of his eyes, he could see all twenty of the shinobi before him, either speaking to him in that moment or spread out in the crowds and in various corners of the station. If he tried to run then and there, defeat was practically guaranteed. Yet, even without a chance to win, he pondered to himself whether giving in would be any better an option. To turn himself over and cooperate meant the groundwork for all of his effort would be turned up as their cognitions no longer recognized him as a true threat. But, to run would be certain death. It was a lose-lose situation.

As he felt all nineteen of the other shinobi squint their eyes and open their ears in anticipation of his next action, the young man straightened his glasses and hoisted his bag as he proclaimed in a growl toward Yumi, "No."


	13. Chapter 13: Resistance

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 13: Resistance

While the surrounding city crowd continued to scamper beside the two, the young man and Yumi continued to glare one another down as everyone else's hands teetered for their weapons. Just next to the two contending forces, Homura stared on with wide eyes in response to the young man's proclamation. The thought that he believed he had room to resist was utterly absurd and suicidal, considering the circumstances. After some silent thought, Yumi sighed, "You must be aware of the fact that you are trapped, yes?"

Keeping eye contact with defiant eyes, the young man gave a resolute nod, "I'm fully aware of it."

The distorted ice queen's eyes fell downward as she muttered to herself, "And still so resistant…" and addressed him again, "Would you prefer I kill you here and now?"

With a quick click of his tongue as thunder shook the building around them, the young man took a thoughtful breath before stating, "Of course not. In fact, if we're taking my preferences into account, I'd rather throw dirt into your eyes and make what would be my third escape from you're grasp."

Before Yumi could scrutinize him further, Homura stepped between the two and brought her hands up to the young man's head before giving him a violent shake as she growled, "But you're not going to, right? That would be stupid, right!? You definitely wouldn't do something that would result in you getting killed instead of just shutting up and coming with us, RIGHT!?"

While passersby warily took in the display and walked around them and onto the train, Murakumo poked Yumi's shoulder to rouse her attention. Once the girl turned over and gave the transformed shinobi a nod, the young man's attention was pulled from the woman shaking him to the sound of scraping metal against the ground. Once Homura released him, he turned back to the other two shinobi only to be greeted by Murakumo raising her cleaver from the ground and bumping its spine against his neck. In a low voice, she breathed out, "Do not resist. That's the only warning you'll get."

Looking between the Oni masked girl and the weapon a thumb's length away from his throat, the young man froze himself before feeling a push from Hikage. As she forcefully ushered him into the train car, she said in her monotonous voice, "It'll be better this way," and offered an unenthusiastic wave once he was in the car, "See you later."

The young man was about to push out but, upon sighting Murakumo sharply turning her head to him, remained in place as he shook in frustration. Yet, upon peeking down the aisle of the train, his face lit up a bit. He closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh before looking up to the girl standing nearly a head over him and muttered, "I'll grab a seat."

Before he could waltz off, Murakumo grabbed him by the shoulder and held him in place just as Homura commented to Yumi, "Don't hurt him."

Closing her eyes with a huff while snobbishly raising her head, Yumi muttered, "So long as he doesn't resist, there won't be a need to worry."

There was a final ring throughout the station, notifying everyone present that the train was about to depart. As people brushed beside her to squeeze onto the packed train, Homura ordered, "If you kill him, then we won't learn anything. Even if he resists, just capture him again or call us and we'll chase him down."

"I'm not putting up with whatever trouble he may cause for us," Yumi declared, "If he causes trouble, then Murakumo and I will do what needs to be done."

Sensing the rising tension between the two, the masked girl released her hold on the young man to push against Homura's shoulder just as she was about to advance on Yumi. Seeing that the attention was effectively off of him, the young man slinked his way deeper into the train as Homura asked, "Is this Yumi I'm speaking to? Defender of righteousness? Declarer that 'cuteness is justice' and all that?"

"One and the same," the addressed girl spat.

Though the terms 'distortion' and 'corruption' in regards to the young man were never elaborated from Hanzō or any of the other adults, Homura put two and two together in that moment. Raising a finger, which was promptly swatted away, the tanned girl mumbled, "You're distorted… I think I understand now just what he's been doing for us…" before she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. But, since she was still in the heat of the moment, she opted to ignore it.

Blowing air out of her nose, Yumi shook her head and stated, "Whether or not you believe Hanzō's story is of no concern at this moment. For now, we just need to keep our enemy under control," just as her own phone began to blow up in vibrations.

The station's automated system announced, "Now departing…"

With a final cross of her arms, Gessen's leader huffed as the train doors proceeded to close. Feeling as though their exchange yielding nothing good for either her or the young man, Homura's face fell onto her forehead as she watched the train begin to take off.

However, at that moment, Murakumo turned back around to check on the young man to find that he had disappeared from their side. Quickly after, both she and Yumi began to frantically look and call through the car for him as the train began to speed off. After Homura witnessed the beginning of their flustered search, she swiveled her body around to check her sides only to find the young man making a beeline for the exit on the far side of the platform. She felt her eye twitch at the realization that he had snuck deeper into the train to get off from another door while the shinobi were at each other's throats. Quickly pulling her phone from her pocket, Homura saw that the onlooking shinobi around the station had already caught onto this fact. Raising her hands up to pull on her hair, she loudly groaned and proceeded to give chase.

Though the young man had a cocky smirk on his face from his simple tactic, he remembered quickly that the shinobi were about to converge on him and that he needed to make an immediate escape. Dropping all manner of courtesy for the surrounding pedestrians, the young man took off in a jog once he spotted Homura powerwalking straight after him. He bumped against some shoulders, bit his tongue when a few people cussed him out for cutting past them, and scanned his station pass on the machine once prompted. After all of those barriers were bypassed, with some transformed shinobi practically side-by-side with him, he took off in a great sprint straight into the crowds. He barreled his way through groups of people, nearly tripped into a group of chatting students, and made several apologies to others that he unwittingly elbowed while shoving his way to the station exit.

As if the heavens above were laughing at the situation, another low rumble shook the building as the young man pushed through one final group of people and made it to the exit. However, even when considering the shinobi on his tail, the young man was hesitant to step outside upon taking in the massive downpour. Just as he let out a groan, he heard Imu's voice ring out from above him and promptly set aside his feelings on the matter.

No sooner than the moment he stepped out the door, the young man felt a sudden electric shock run down his spine along with a blunt strike to the back of his head from Imu's bo. The resulting attack brought the young man collapsing down the stairs in front of the station and straight into a freezing puddle of rainwater. Though he was able to rocket back up to his feet and into a sprint in record time, the young man broke out into pained laughter as the rain slammed down against him, "God! That is cold!" While he cussed and swore away, Imu gave chase with multiple other shinobi flooding out of the train station. Never once did he dare to turn around to face any of them. In that moment, the only thing important to the young man was getting away alive to succeed in his goals another day.

Getting ahead of the rest of her comrades, Katsuragi's long strides carried her forward as she zeroed in on him. With a loud cheer, "Yeah-ha-ha-ha~!" she kicked herself up into the air before revolving her leg down to blow it straight into the young man's back. Her efforts bore fruit as her impact knocked him down with a sharp cry of pain. Fortunately for the young man, he managed to fold up his arms to spring himself into a shoddy somersault as Ikaruga dived over Katsuragi and whirled her sheathed nodachi toward his head. Knowing that he was easily outpaced and outmatched on the sidewalks, the young man made a desperate dive out into the flooded streets as Ikaruga's weapon painfully struck into the side of his arm.

Thankfully, the heavy rain overhead had every car in the streets at a slowdown, though the young man still had to maneuver out of the way of a truck as it slammed on its brakes. Leaping over the vehicle as it passed by, Yomi twirled around her greatsword and drove it down to strike him. Numbed by the cold of the ankle-deep water in the streets, the young man barely scurried out of the way as the blade slammed down and split the asphalt.

Stuck inbetween car lanes as horns bellowed at him, the young man barely kept his cool when he found that Yagyū leapt behind him to pinch him in. He turned himself and bounced his head back and forth to keep an eye on the two shinobi as they slowly pressed to advance on him. In an effort to coerce his surrender, Yomi called as gently as she could muster, "Please stop this. You're only going to get hurt if you try to run any further."

Once the two shinobi were in grappling distance, the young man made the split-second decision to make a run for the other side of the street as a car was about to pass behind him. Though he successfully anticipated the vehicle and attempted to leap over it, his vault was ultimately too low and his hip was clipped by the car's roof. For a moment, he spiraled in the air before landing hard on his elbow with a yell. Still, even as his arm screamed in a staticky pain, he pulled himself up and plotted his route to the opposite sidewalk.

Knowing for fact that the shinobi had likely anticipated his destination, the young man opted to beat them there and jumped back into oncoming traffic. Though his foot was nearly crushed by a semi as it rolled by and a car mirror grazed against his sore hip, the young man managed to get by without further issue as the shinobi skipped over the cars and onto his side of the street with minimal effort. Though any form of escape on the sidewalk was cut off, the young man spotted an alleyway and ran for it as Haruka and Shiki advanced on him.

Surging into the confined space between the buildings, the young man quickly realized his mistake when he saw that the fire escapes above him would give more than enough maneuverability for the shinobi to cut him off. Still, he doubled down on his decision and sprinted for the chain-link fence which split the alleyway. He leapt atop a dumpster as Haruka cheered, "Secret ninja art: Heart Vibration!" and summoned her puppet before gesturing for Shiki to step onto it.

As the young man began to hurdle over the fence from the dumpster, the enlarged form of the puppet charged forward and crashed straight into the chains, ripping the fence from the wall as Shiki leapt after him and swung the shaft of her scythe. He attempted to maneuver around her strike by grabbing hold of the fence's top rail to swing his body out of her reach, but the collapsing fence's unstable form only inadvertently brought his neck straight into her line of attack. Before Shiki could pull back on her strike, the pole lashed him on the throat and sent him falling to ground below gasping for air.

Lightning flashed as the young man crashed onto the collapsed fence headfirst and split open a gaping wound on his forehead from one of the broken chains. As blood began to freely flow down his face, Shiki landed in front of him with wide and apologetic eyes while the puppet disappeared in a puff of smoke behind her. Before she could approach him, she spotted Miyabi, Homura, and Asuka. After exchanging nods with them, she backed off and allowed the three to approach.

When the young man brought one arm forward to pull himself up, Asuka knelt beside him and clasped her hand around his wrist to hold him in place. As the rain continued to pelt down on him and plastered strands of hair against his bleeding forehead, the young man realized quickly that there was no chance of escape. As the cold began to set in and thunder let out one final grand bellow, he began to shiver while Homura and Miyabi also knelt beside him.

Taking in his pitiful state, Miyabi began, "Please… It's over-"

Without warning, the young man roused all of his remaining energy and pulled away from Asuka with the harrowing shriek of a wild animal. As he continued to scream into the air and attempted to fight the three girls off, they piled their arms on and held him down. Even as he was completely and utterly immobile, the young man continued to jerk his head back and forth while yelling with enraged and manic eyes.

While the three team leaders were keeping a firm hold on the young man's attempt to wrestle free, restraining his arms and avoiding his flailing legs, some of the other shinobi looked over the scenario with soft eyes. Even as their enemy, to see him in such a desperate state, especially when he'd yet to exact any form of physical violence on them, twisted their stomachs into knots. Ultimately, while everyone either let their eyes fall to the ground or turned their heads toward the alley's entrance to watch for potential onlookers, Haruka stepped forward and produced a syringe from her coat.

While Homura was growling, "Just calm down!" to the still screaming young man, the elegant renegade's hand swiftly lurched forward and took a firm hold of his head. Even as Haruka warily punctured the needle into the side of his neck, the young man continued to pull and heave himself away. Once the necessary dosage was injected, she set aside the syringe and continued to maintain her hold on him.

For a while, nothing happened. The young man continued to let out screeches akin to a feral animal, tirelessly wrestled to free himself from their grip, and ignored any words to try and calm him. Then the volume of his yells began to fall. His wildly flailing legs gradually ceased their movement and his arms' attempts to pull away became negligible. Before long, all that remained was the young man's quieted voice as it continued to try and cry out before he could only let out heavy breaths. As the last of his energy was sapped from him, the young man's head fell onto the ground as his body could only tremble from the cold rain.

Letting out relieved sighs, the four girls released their hold on him and took in his motionless form. Asuka craned her head over his to get a look at his face and grimaced upon spotting his eyelids. Even as the rest of the young man's body gave in the Haruka's serum, his eyelids still fluttered as he fought to maintain consciousness. But, despite his efforts, they too were made to give in and softly closed.

As thunder rumbled from above, Asuka tiredly stated, "We need to get him warm."

"Leave that to me," came Haruka's voice, carrying an unusual amount of quiet for the girl, as she pulled off her large coat and placed it over the young man. After rolling around his body a few times and tucking the thick Nomex fabric into certain folds, the young man was firmly wrapped and covered.

Homura asked dejectedly, "Do you think he'll make the journey to Hanzō Academy?"

Without waiting for a consensus, Miyabi brought her arms down and heaved the young man onto her shoulder, "If we don't, that'll give Yumi more reason to cut his throat."

Upon hearing the remark, Yozakura tore her gaze away from the alley's entrance with harsh eyes, "She wouldn't do that!"

From the side, Minori and Shiki also nodded along to the assertion, though the latter did avert her eyes to the side. With an irritated snort, Homura asked, "Have you been paying attention to her behavior lately?" and turned her head to lock her eyes on the trio, "As her sisters, you certainly must have noticed."

Joining Shiki, Minori also cast her gaze off to the walls of the alley while Yozakura gestured with her hands, "Of course, I've noticed. But this is still Yumi we're talking about! Now that we have him bound and restrained, this guy's no threat. She'll have no reason to harm him."

Both her and Homura glared at one another for a moment before the latter uttered, "Think carefully about what Hanzō said," before calling out to the rest of the girls, "All of you think about it! Infiltrators seek out shinobi to clear up distortion and corruption, right? And just think of every interaction you've had with Yumi. Never mind this last week-and-a-half, look at the last month and, I dare you, look me in the eye and tell me that she's been just fine."

A few eyes seemed to widen with sudden realization while a few others nodded along, having already connected the dots in silence beforehand. Still, Yozakura seemed to remain adamant in her position until she received a tap on the shoulder from behind. Upon turning around, she found her two adopted sisters staring her down with guilty faces. Slowly, Shiki dared to say, "Yumi… really hasn't been herself…"

Looking to Minori for confirmation, Yozakura received a slow and ashamed nod before her eyes fell to the ground. From behind her, Miyabi called, "It was the same thing for Homura and I. We weren't ourselves until this guy," she hefted the young man on her shoulder, "fixed our heads up."

After remembering Hanzō's assertions that they were all distorted and every impersonal encounter she's faced with the once motherly Yumi, Yozakura nodded her head and uttered, "I understand…"

While everyone's thoughts still considered the complicated turn of events around them and how to deal with the distorted Yumi, Asuka called from beside Miyabi, "We can talk more about this later. For now, we need to get him warm," and brought the back of her hand to his face underneath. Before she could settle over his freezing forehead, she grazed over his eyes and came to a sudden realization, "Where's his glasses?"

There were a few jumps of surprise before everyone looked to the ground, searching for the spectacles as Miyabi ordered, "Do a little looking but don't lag behind for too long. We need to get him to the academy and the more voices we have against Yumi, the better."

In her static voice, Hikage remarked, "They might have gotten shattered in the road. He did get hit by a car earlier," to which Yomi and Yagyū let out quick hums of surprise before proceeding to turn their heads away.

Exhaling out of her mouth tiredly, Ikaruga glanced back at the streets before she faced everyone else and stated, "We'll do some light searching. Though, since we've seen him run around without them in the past, we'll only be a few minutes. In the meantime, move on ahead and get him warm."

With everyone's roles settled, Miyabi carried off the young man with Asuka and Homura at her side with a few confidants tailing behind them while everyone else searched for his glasses. As the rain continued to pour down and soak everyone to near-freezing, a set of eyes practically glowed with curiosity from afar as they witnessed the scene. For a moment, they seemed to consider the bundled young man and the option to tail the shinobi carrying him. But, considering the massive risk in following them to their headquarters, the eyes simply settled to break away and depart under the cover of heavy rainfall.

To the person who owned the set of eyes, there were two options that would play out. The young man would die in the shinobis' care and any questions that the person had would go unanswered, aside from some of the looks that they'd gotten of the shinobis' faces. Yet, the young man could also escape or be set free after some mediation and would answer why the glasses in the person's possession could see the shinobi barriers with complete ease. Regardless, the pieces were beginning to fall into place for a confrontation that the person wanted to take part in.


	14. Chapter 14: Intervention

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 14: Intervention

With the departure of the young man and his accompanying shinobi, Ikaruga immediately set out with everyone on hand to comb the area for his glasses. Though, after less than a minute of searching, the effort was decidedly in vain. The sidewalks were already empty due to the raging rainfall, effectively making them much easier to sweep, and the streets practically had a river running straight through that would have carried any small item down its current. Not long after the alley was cleared, the girls agreed to depart for Hanzō Academy.

Just as Ikaruga was about to depart alongside everyone else, a hand found her shoulder. She was about to turn around when she heard Yagyū's voice, "Don't move."

Without a flinch or hint of hesitation, Ikaruga froze and asked, "What is it?"

"There's someone watching us from the sidewalk beside the train station."

Anxiously, the Hanzō upperclassmen closed her eyes and sucked in some air. She calmly called up ahead, "Katsuragi. Hibari."

When the two turned, Ikaruga nodded her head to the sidewalk on the opposite side before swiveling around to stride ahead with her nodachi in hand. After a bit of squinting, she spotted a figure in a black raincoat retreating away from them in response to the raven-haired girl's advance. Every now and then, the person's head would turn back to look at them before promptly turning back around to quicken its pace.

Feeling a devious smile pop on her face, Katsuragi chipped, "Good, I needed a distraction from all this drama," before surging ahead in a sprint. Once her form blew past Ikaruga, the remaining members of Hanzō also began to give chase. The figure fully turned around before her arms reeled up in surprise. After tripping back a few steps, the person turned on their heel and sprinted for their life. Enthusiastically, Katsuragi called after them, "Hey, hey~! No need to run!" and watched as the figure turned the corner. Simultaneously, lightning flashed as the wind briefly unveiled the person's hood to reveal a dark-haired girl wearing large round spectacles as the turn also revealed her endowed features from a side-view. With a few anticipatory grasps of her fingers, the blonde lusted, "O-ho, ho~… New prey."

Similar to a tiger, Katsuragi mustered all the force in her legs to spring herself into the air and land on the corner of the sidewalk, her head low and her excited breaths heavy. Unfortunately, where she expected to see a gazelle fleeing, she found a lead blackjack whirling around for her face. Though she attempted to raise her arms to block the oncoming baton, Katsuragi took the full force of the clobbering strike into her face and was blown onto her back.

Just rounding the corner behind her, Hibari let out a yelp of surprise while Ikaruga and Yagyū raised their respective weapons to take the girl down. With the nodachi being driven straight for the girl and Yagyū diving to flank, the girl deflected the blade with an upward jab of her blackjack before rounding it to hammer down on the white-haired girl. Fortunately, Yagyū managed to block the heavy strike with her arm before opening up her bladed umbrella with a spin to force the girl back. As Ikaruga steadied her blade and prepared to go in for another strike, Hibari pulled up Katsuragi and the two of them also converged.

Before she could be surrounded, the girl reached down to her waist and pulled out what appeared to be a firearm. Immediately, Ikaruga called, "Gun!" and drove her blade forward to prevent any fatal attack. Then the familiar sound of grinding metal filled the air. Out of the pistol's muzzle, a wire zipped upward and connected to the adjacent building as the girl once again parried the nodachi with her baton while using her leg to kick away the umbrella canopy. The second all four shinobi began a joint-attack, the wire pulled the girl into the air. Swiftly, she sheathed her blackjack into her coat before reaching down to her waist to produce a second grappling gun.

Not even entertaining the thought of letting the girl get away, Katsuragi leapt up to an overhang on the adjacent building's structure and kicked herself up and after her. But, just as she was zoning in on her, the girl aimed her second gun down at the blonde. Katsuragi flinched for a moment in fear before spotting the horrified look on the girl's face as she pulled the trigger. Immediately after, there was a sharp pain in Katsuragi's shoulder as the wire pierced into her and proceeded to reel her upward. Barreling forward with the momentum of the blonde's propulsion and the rapidly reeling wire, the girl arced her body in the air and fiercely kicked Katsuragi in the face to send her down to the ground.

Thankfully, she was caught by a horrified Hibari and Ikaruga as Yagyū let out a yell before calling, "Secret Ninja Art: Sweeping Legs!" and summoned her squid as it morphed from the tip of her umbrella. The girl attempted to swing away with her grappling guns, but one of the squid's tentacles promptly latched onto her leg before yanking her backward with a terrified yell. Rage soaring through her eye, Yagyū directed the squid to fling her violently into the ground and watched as the tentacle moved to abide.

When the girl's body was promptly pitched downward, she fired a wire from one of her guns straight into the squid's eye and began to swing herself back into the air while it groaned in pain. However, with her body being low enough to the ground, Hibari leapt over Yagyū and flapped her arm around in an attempt to punch the girl. While her fist was way off course and missed, her elbow was jutted out enough to be unintentionally delivered into the girl's stomach. Having the wind knocked out of her, she fell and splashed into a puddle on the sidewalk, rolling a few times before laying still.

Stepping over her motionless body, Ikaruga lifted off the raincoat and began to observe the unremarkable features of the girl. Pulling herself into a seated position off to the side, Katsuragi called, "Mind if I have a word with her? I'm feeling a little salty over that last dirty trick of hers." Before the other upperclassman could respond, the curious sound of something small splashing to the ground caught Ikaruga's attention. Looking down to the puddle underneath the girl's body, she found the nearly shattered glasses belonging to the young man. Instinctively, Ikaruga moved to retrieve them from the ground only to have her hand caught by the girl's and had a fist driven straight into her face.

Without a hint of the tact or skill she displayed earlier, the girl's shaky hands clenched on and further crushed the glasses, drawing blood from her hand as shards ripped into her, before scurrying with a whimper to aim her grappling gun and retreat while Ikaruga recovered from the sucker punch. But, with a lack of further ranged attacks and Yagyū's squid blinded, the girls of Hanzō academy could only watch as the girl made a frustrating escape. The silhouette of the girl disappeared into the shadows of the dark rainclouds above and Ikaruga could only tighten her face in fury as Katsuragi let out a despaired yell of defeat.

Meanwhile, drenched and fuming, Yumi and Murakumo had just arrived back at Hanzō Academy. They were greeted by the adults, each of them being borderline interrogative in regards the young man's whereabouts and health, before the girls tore into them and ranted about the stunt that he pulled. After informing them of the young man's capture, unveiled by the texts that Shiki had sent to the two, the grown-ups were ordered back to the gymnasium to await the results of the young man's interrogation before the girls went off to the locker-room to dry off.

With only the sounds of their wet clothes smacking against the floor, Yumi and Murakumo began to towel down. Still wearing her mask, Murakumo would occasionally tilt her head to her adopted sister. The girl, with an ever-wooden expression on her face, glanced up and demanded, "What is it?"

Raising a palm defensively, Murakumo spoke back quietly, "I'm wondering how you are."

"I'm fine."

Yumi's words were level and neither too quick nor too slow. Having expected the girl to be more frustrated with the young man, Murakumo nodded, "Sorry. I expected you to be more heated about what happened at the train station," before beginning to pull up her garments.

Puffing air out of her nose, Yumi stated, "I'm still furious, actually. To speak honestly," she broke her gaze away from Murakumo as she began to dress, "I don't see a point in this interrogation."

The tall girl looked over and asked, "You're not in the least bit curious about what he's doing? Why he's doing it?"

"Of course I'm curious. But what do we know?" Yumi responded before counting up her fingers, "He's a terrorist according to his own collaborators, he's capable of literally getting into our heads, and the most vocal people who want to speak with him are the grown-ups, Miyabi, and Homura. I don't need to tell you that he could've done something to them while he was in their heads."

Murakumo silently kept her gaze on Yumi as she pulled on her shirt before diverting her head away, "Honestly, they're a bit more normal… for themselves anyway, compared to before."

"You buy into Hanzō and Sayuri's nonsense then? Is that it?"

A chill went down Murakumo's spine as she felt cold eyes pierce into the side of her head. Still, she felt that some words had to be spoken, "Hanzō's always watched out for us, between the time he's posed as Wang Pai and all of the times he's opened his ear to us… Sayuri had a bit of an edge during the Millennium Festival but she's opened a bit, even if she disagrees with our individual philosophies… Considering they could wipe the floor with us in any fight, and by extension the infiltrator, but have instead opted to have us speak with him… I don't see too much reason to doubt them."

After securing her skirt, Yumi replied harshly, "Well, don't get too comfortable with him. This matter ends in only one way tonight."

All movement for Murakumo stopped then and there upon hearing the deadly inflections in her sister's voice. As her mask slowly turned to face the girl, Yumi gestured for her to hurry up before heading out into the hallway. Left alone, Murakumo's eyes fell to the ground before remembering all of the sweet words that once came out of that vicious mouth.

"You've done well in training today. Excellent job!"

"That's quite a pile… I'll help you with the dishes."

"Please, mind your manners at the table and put away your phones… The sketchpad too."

"I still say you look so cute, even without that mask."

Remembering Homura's accusation earlier that day, Murakumo repeated under her breath, "You're distorted…"

Out in the hallway, having grown impatient with waiting for the girl, Yumi started toward the entrance by herself to await the rest of the shinobi's arrival. Fortunately for her, the sound of opening doors and wet pattering feet echoed through the hallway. On rounding the last corner, she was greeted to the sight of Miyabi hauling in the young man on her shoulder while rapidly looking around. Yumi attempted to greet them, "Good, he's been-"

"Asuka, we're going to need towels and blankets," Miyabi interrupted while turning toward the Hanzō Academy native.

"This way," called the brunette before running down the hall toward the infirmary, Miyabi and Homura following close behind.

While the remaining girls began to flow into the academy, Yumi stood silently with an irritated look on her face. She was about to follow after the three and their plus-one before Yozakura's hand rested on her shoulder, "Where's Murakumo?"

Brushing the wet hand off of her fresh clothes, Yumi responded coldly, "Still in the locker-room, I suppose. Why?"

Without meeting her sister's glaring eye, Yozakura responded slowly, "She… dropped something… At the train station."

Yumi's eyes further narrowed, "What'd she drop?"

Twisting her mouth uncomfortably, Yozakura seemed lost for a moment before a light bulb flashed overhead. Bringing her hands up to the Gessen patch on her breast, she pulled it forward before reaching behind it and producing a folded one-thousand-yen banknote, "This- she dropped this."

Staring at the bill with obvious doubt, Yumi looked back up the blue-haired girl before muttering, "I don't know why you think you need to lie to me, but fine. Murakumo's probably just getting out of the locker-room. Go meet her."

Guiltily, Yozakura hung her head a bit before giving a pleading look to her older sister. However, after a heavy breath and a clap to her cheeks, she nodded and went deeper into the academy, Shiki trailing behind her while a pale Minori was rubbing her hands together at the building's entrance. Not bothering to ask any further questions, Yumi followed down the hallway that the young man was carried down. Behind her, she heard Yomi's suspicious voice coddling Gessen's shortest member and asking her to, "Be brave and remember what to listen for. We'll move on your cue."

Sensing the rapidly developing plot around her, Yumi redoubled her pace after the trio of girls carrying the infiltrator.

In the infirmary, Miyabi and Asuka were popping open cabinet after cabinet in search of towels, blankets, and medicine while Homura was attempting to awaken the young man while he rested on a chair. She muttered under her breath, "…Doesn't know when… Honestly, Haruka. I would have rather just carried him back here screaming…" before turning to the two girls behind her, "How's the towel search going?" In response, Miyabi flung a hand towel to her face while cussing at medicine that was just barely out of reach. Pulling the fabric from her head, Homura grumbled, "Classy," while Asuka rested a large pile of body towels beside her.

They were about to start drying him before immediately encountering a problem. When the scene grew quiet behind her, Miyabi asked as she finally got a grip on the medicine, "Everything alright? Why so quiet?"

In response, Asuka mumbled incoherently. Miyabi was about to ask again before coming to her own realization upon looking the scene over: the young man had to be taken out of his clothes to get properly dried. The three girls looked between one another before Asuka took a step forward to pat his shoulder, whispering gently, "Hey~… Time to get up… Please wake up… Please-"

"Wakey-wakey!" Homura cried before bringing her hands to violently shake the young man back and forth, "Sleepy-time's over! We're not going to strip you! Get up, get naked, get dry!"

Letting out a sigh as a red flush overtook her face, Miyabi mumbled, "There's no getting out of this…" before she said to the two, "We're going to have to do it."

Ceasing her flailing attack against the unconscious young man, Homura grumbled, "Oh, sure," before scoffing, "Let's just get naked too while we're at it. He might get self-conscious."

While the two glared at one another, Asuka innocently asked, "Would he get self-cons-"

"I'm not letting you go there," Homura growled before turning back to face the young man. He was still in his school uniform, equipped with layers of clothes that they'd have to peel through all while they stuck to his skin. Plus, there came the greatest challenge at the end in regards to the private area between his legs. Glowing redder and redder by the moment, Homura turned back to Miyabi, "Hey, you said we have to do it, right? You go first."

"Very brave of you to lead by example, Miyabi," Asuka before a rebuttal could be offered.

Red with having being been caught between a rock and a hard place, Miyabi hmphed, "Fine, I will," before taking a proud step before the young man. Then, all that was left was the act itself. Her lip began to quiver in anticipation while her hands steadily shook as much as the young man's. She whispered to herself, "Remember what he did for you… Here he is freezing to death and you're afraid of skin? Bullshit… Bullshit! I am Miyabi of Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy and I will not be defeated in this way! Not like this! I WILL WIN!" In a rapid series of movements, she unbuttoned the jacket of the young man's uniform before pulling it off, only stopping to precisely peel the fabric off when it refused to yield. Dropping the wet jacket to the floor with a triumphant huff, she proudly brought her hands to her hips before pointing to Homura, "Your turn."

Staring back at her in a mix of disbelief and admiration for her ever-grandiose deed, the other two girls nodded before beginning the cycle.

Next came the young man's shoes and socks, Homura claiming both while sticking her tongue out at Asuka. In turn, Asuka slowly took the young man's belt and offered a sympathetic gaze back to Miyabi, who proceeded by taking off his shirt with averted eyes. Eventually, when Homura embarrassedly removed his pants before a sigh of relief, Asuka looked on in utter fright as she realized all that was left was the young man's underwear. For a moment, she began to quietly chant in a squeaky whimper, "I can do this, I can't do this, I can do this… Can't… Can…"

"Asuka," came an encouraging voice. Turning over to Homura, Asuka listened as she was softly told, "Since I met you, I knew you were capable of many things- great things… And this… Well… You're going where the rest of us never have. Truly, you are worthy of being Hanzō's granddaughter."

"Asuka," came Miyabi's voice. On looking over to the white-haired girl, Asuka was greeted by one of the most serious looks she'd ever been given in her life, "Do it."

Though her face remained red, Asuka nodded to the two of them before bending beside the young man and hooking her fingers. She reached forward as her breaths grew more and more heavy by the second before they latched onto the bands of his boxers. With a huff and a puff, Asuka let out a war cry before wrenching back the undergarments with great might, all while Miyabi and Homura had to hold the young man down so that he didn't get accidentally flung into a wall.

For a few seconds after, there was only silence. Then Asuka looked at the underwear in her hand before her eye wandered downward. Simultaneously, as Homura and Miyabi followed her line of sight, a united screech of terror flooded through the school, startling students and adults alike as the girls' once innocent eyes were burned by their view of nature.

Through the chaos that followed, the young man was wrapped in about three layers of towels, Homura wildly throwing her hands around and about while violently drying his head. Asuka stammered incoherently while mindlessly patting down the towels across his upper body as Miyabi took position with the blankets. Once the young man was effectively dried, Asuka and Homura pulled away the towels and twirled the young man to his feet as Miyabi circled around him with a blanket. In the end, the young man was buried under every blanket the infirmary had to offer as he was laid to rest on the bed. After taking a moment to calm down, the three girls exchanged looks and silently praised one another.

Then the sprinklers above them went off and proceeded to drench them and the young man again. With wide-eyes, they turned around to find that Yumi had snuck into the room at some point and promptly activated the mechanism, rendering all of their effort for naught. Giving a loud huff, Homura growled, "You're going to be the one to dry and wrap him up again."

"There's no need," Yumi said before turning to push the lever back up to turn off the sprinklers, "I told you before: I'm not putting up with whatever trouble he may cause for us. He's done exactly that and I aim to live up to my word."

When she turned back around to face the other girls, she was surprised that they hadn't taken a hostile or even a guarded stance. Instead, Homura simply crossed her arms before nonchalantly asking, "So, you intend to kill him then."

Drawing her bladed fan, Yumi nodded, "There's no better time than now. By the look of it, he's drugged out and defenseless."

"You agreed that we could question him," came Asuka's hushed voice with a slight crack.

Giving a snotty snort, Yumi sarcastically replied, "And he's in such a state to be questioned, yes?" before taking a step forward, "Even if we spare him today, that will just make us his accomplices. If the government finds out, we'll all be killed."

"You're right about that," came a low and deadly voice. Looking to Miyabi as she proceeded to transform, the three other girls flinched when they heard the sheen of her katana, "If word gets out, the Hanzō and Gessen academies will be hammered down by the government, the pursuit against Hebijo and renegade shinobi will intensify… Plus, the corporations that hire evil shinobi may very well go out of their way to hunt us too… We've thought about it."

Taking a combat stance, Yumi retorted, "So why spare him?"

Homura transformed and drew her six katanas in turn and growled, "It's simple. We know that distortion exists by taking just one look at you. If he can clean you and everyone else of it, then we need to take the chance. To put it bluntly, losing who we are and being forever changed is much more frightening than death."

As she moved to transform, Yumi took a few steps back while eying the two. By the determined looks on both of their faces, she was playing right into the palm of their hands by pushing for a fight. Upon looking to Asuka, who had transformed, Yumi asked in a low and slow voice, "So… that's it then?"

She edged her way to the door while keeping her fan raised while the other three held their positions. Once she reached for the door handle, hoping to head out and gather the rest of Gessen for an inevitable brawl, Asuka spoke loudly, "Yumi, answer me clearly: is there no chance you'll trust him enough to cure us?"

The door popped open and Yumi began to edge through. To close the conversation, she declared, "I will not risk my life because four liars told us a story that we've yet to confirm."

Asuka yelled back, "Then let us confirm it by asking him!"

Yumi screamed, "He's already declared himself our enemy!"

"If he was honest about that, he'll be honest with everything else!"

"I'LL KILL HIM BEFORE HE HAS THE CHANCE TO LIE TO US!"

At that moment, a loud whistling noise bellowed throughout the hallway. Peering out, Yumi spotted Minori standing by with tearing eyes and a dribbling nose as she tried to stifle a couple of sobs. In her hands was a small wooden whistle, often used for coaching joint-shinobi techniques or signaling attacks. Before Yumi could ask why the instrument was sounded, she sensed the transformations of nearly every shinobi, excluding the rest of Hanzō Academy, in the building all around her. She looked back and forth and, the next thing that she knew, all of the girls charged through the hallway and straight at her.

Yumi took a step back while moving to raise her fan defensively before an arm wrapped into her elbow. She turned to yell in surprise as Miyabi and Homura proceeded to tackle and pin her to the ground while ripping her fan out of her hands. Within a few seconds and with the addition of a few more bodies piling on top of her, Yumi could only groan and sputter as she was surrounded by the overshadowing forms of the people that she regarded as friends.

When she looked up to her sister with a helpless look, Minori let out a sob before muttering, "I was told to listen for you… And… you're not you…"

Dropping the soft look on her face, Yumi quietly demanded, "Help me…" before bellowing, "HELP ME! I'M YOUR SISTER, DAMN YOU! HELP ME!"

"That's just what we intend to do," came Yozakura's voice. Once the crowd separated enough for her to peer through, the blue-haired girl knelt down to her dear sister and cupped her cheek, "We're going to help you, but we need him to do so. Please… don't resist."

Heavy breaths were blowing in and out of Yumi's nose and mouth before she began to hyperventilate, realizing that she was about to be completely at the young man's mercy when he woke up. She boomed a teary cry as she was pulled from the ground, "SHIKI! MURAKUMO! HELP ME!"

Then her eyes fell onto the two shinobi. Shiki was keeping her eyes averted to the wall while painfully keeping back guilty and sorrowful tears while Murakumo appeared to only look on from behind her mask. At first, only Yumi's face fell at the apparent betrayal. Then she heard Murakumo's voice squeak, "This will be good for you… Trust us."

Upon hearing that, Yumi screamed a lonesome cry into the air. Before her very eyes, all of the people she once considered friends and family had turned on her for a man they scarcely knew. Rather than eliminate the threat that he posed to all of them, they chose to believe the claims of deceitful people to combat a potentially nonexistent ailment.

With the way she was then, Yumi couldn't even see why she was so alone. But, on looking into her red and puffy eyes, everyone else could see the clouds that hovered within. It hurt to listen to her cries and screams but it had to be done. As everyone else went on to carry Yumi ahead to the gym, Asuka volunteered to lag behind and await the young man's awakening. Still, she shuddered until the despairing wails disappeared into the far end of the building.

All she could do was wait.


	15. Chapter 15: Trust (Asuka)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 15: Trust (Asuka)

Wet and miserable, the remaining girls of Hanzō finally arrived at their respective academy. Yagyū and Hibari were helping Katsuragi along as she held a hand up to her wounded shoulder and continued to fume in a silent rage at having been struck down twice by the girl from earlier. Meanwhile, as their drenched shoes and dripping clothes pattered through the hallway, Ikaruga maintained a stoic lead at the front of their march, occasionally reaching up and touching the light bruise that had begun to form underneath her eye. Despite how sore she was over the matter, figuratively and literally, she was much more concerned with the implications of their confrontation.

Mentally, Ikaruga was piecing together the similarities between the girl and the young man. Both of them could see the shinobi clear as day, were armed with grappling hooks and tools, and had glasses. The last similarity would have been chalked up as meager and unnoteworthy if it weren't for the fact that the young man had already proven that he had no need for them in a traditional sense. Adding in the girl's desperate fumble for them, Ikaruga couldn't help but feel as though the lenses on her face were noteworthy.

"I hate losing…" came Katsuragi's mutter, "I hate losing so much yet here I am today… double KOed!" Pulling herself from Yagyū and Hibari's grip, she stepped away before gripping both sides of her hair and yelling up, "TWICE! She beat me TWICE!"

Pulling her back, Hibari began to pat her comfortingly as Ikaruga continued on ahead and called back, "She beat all of us. It's not all on you."

With a disapproving puff of air through her teeth, Katsuragi grumbled, "Easy for you to say… I didn't even land a hit."

Stopping midstep, the other third-year turned around and sternly faced the blonde. After staring harshly for a moment, Ikaruga sighed before speaking sympathetically, "Neither did I. The only ones who managed to do so were Yagyū and Hibari." She took a few steps forward and placed a flattened hand against her heart, "But, just like when we met Homura's squad, we'll live and learn enough to turn the tables come the next encounter… and if not that one, then the one after that."

Though it was evident that Katsuragi still wanted to vent further frustration, flaring her nostrils with every breath, she ultimately sighed and looked up dejectedly, "You're right… I'll quit being a brat," and followed after her friend in silence once the march resumed.

Initially, the four of them were heading toward the student council room, where the interrogation of the young man was meant to be taking place. Then they heard a loud cry echo from the other side of the building. Hibari froze in terror before turning to Yagyū, who happily allowed the girl nuzzle close as they shivered in fright, "What was that?"

"Yumi, no question," answered Katsuragi without hesitation.

Yagyū stared inquisitively for a moment, about to question how she could be so sure before narrowing her eyes. With a bit of deadness to her voice, the white-haired girl asked her upperclassman, "Have you groped so many girls that you've memorized their cries?"

"Every inflection and pitch plus particular tones," Katsuragi said seriously before waving her able arm, "C'mon, let's go," and taking off back toward the direction of the sound. After an exchange of shrugs, the other girls quickly followed after her. It didn't take long for them to realize that the screams were coming from the gym. Theories were bounced back and forth as to what was happening, most of them suggesting that the young man had awakened and somehow managed to escape.

But, with Ikaruga and Yagyū charging through the doors to survey the scene, they were surprised to see Yumi being pinned to the floor by Miyabi, Homura, and Hikage. Even when the other girls looked up to quietly nod and acknowledge the new arrivals, Yumi continued to wrench and groan in frustration before letting out another defeated cry. Spread out around the gym and each giving their own silent greetings in slow waves or forced smiles, the other girls on scene were spread around the gym in their respective clusters. Closest to the group restraining Yumi was the renegades, looking down to the girl with evident pity while the rest of Hebijo was in a far corner, chatting and debating among one another about the present circumstances. But, most eye-catching, were the girls of Gessen's with their backs turned to their sister and hunched by the wall as the adults seemed to offer them words of comfort.

For a moment, Katsuragi considered dropping a suggestive joke before reading the atmosphere and opting to remain silent. With a nod of appreciation to her longtime friend for the restraint, Ikaruga was about to approach the girls restraining Yumi to ask what was happening before she was flagged down by Jasmine with a curt wave. When the girls approached, Hanzō called from behind his wife, "The situation's gotten fairly complicated… On our end and, by the looks of it, yours too."

Looking at the bruises on the two older girls and the wound on the blonde's shoulder, Jasmine uttered the young man's name under her breath before asking, "He didn't do this, did he?"

Though she attempted to force a laugh to pass it off a joke, "What? No, this is just… uh…" Katsuragi found her body slumping in remembrance of the results of their fight.

While Yagyū patted her back silently, Ikaruga stepped forward, "We had a fight with a girl shortly after we ended our search for his glasses. She was equipped just like him."

At this news, multiple sets of listening eyes and ears turned toward them with mixes of surprise and unease. Even Rin and Kiriya, who'd been offering quiet words of encouragement and comfort to the girls of Gessen, looked over with wide-eyed looks before turning to their seniors disconcertedly. But, as Jasmine clenched her teeth and slowly closed her eyes to the news, Hanzō nodded his head and asked calmly, "Are those wounds as bad as they seem?"

Ikaruga shook her head and answered, "It's mostly just bruises from a couple of punches and kicks… As for Katsuragi's wound…" but trailed off when she looked to the girl.

Fortunately, the blonde just waved her hand, "It's a clean wound. The wire didn't tear any skin, apart from the initial puncture so… I'm good."

Disapproving of the laidback attitude the girl had taken, Jasmine crossed her arms and muttered, "There's a first aid kit in the gym storage closet. Disinfect it and make sure everything's alright."

"Before I do that," Katsuragi raised a finger, "what the hell's going on with Yumi and everyone else? Some kind of disagreement?"

"Call it enlightenment," Rin called from behind the other two adults. She offered a pat to Yozakura's shoulder before ushering herself away from Gessen to answer, "Yumi's distortion has gotten to an extreme and, thankfully, everyone else caught on pretty quick."

Before she could continue, Minori chipped quietly from her position on the floor as she pulled her knees to her chin, "We made the plan on the way back to school… Homura was afraid that Yumi was going to kill the infiltrator and…" she hid her head into her legs, "I didn't believe it…" before holding up the wooden whistle, "she gave me this and told me to blow it when…" and sobbed, "when I was sure Yumi wasn't Yumi."

By the end of her explanation, Minori was back to crying as Yozakura wrapped an arm around and rubbed her comfortingly. Seeing the open sorrow before her, Hibari also began to tear up and went to her friends' side to wrap the two into a group hug and cry into one another's shoulders. Off to the side, Yagyū commented, "Thinking about it now, her comments at the train station were pretty… dangerous."

"It wasn't just that," came Murakumo's words, etched with her deep voice wavering, "Yumi was planning to kill him before she even saw him again. Then she shouted it loud enough for everyone to hear…" Her masked turned to glance at Minori, "After that, there was no question that Yumi wasn't… that she wasn't herself."

Beside her, a teary-eyed Shiki was having the top of her head rubbed by Kiriya, who answered in her place, "The situation's under some semblance of control now. We're just waiting for Asuka to wake up our guy and… Hopefully this will be all fixed up for the time being."

"Then we'll worry about the interrogation?" Ikaruga asked, "And, after that, will we pursue that girl?"

"Never mind the interrogation," Jasmine muttered before lowering her head, "Once Katsuragi's cleaned herself up and everyone's gotten warm, we can tell you everything… There's no point in holding back now."

While the girls did a doubletake upon being told that their questions could have been answered long ago, Rin called from behind, "Is there really no way to salvage this?"

"Speaking frankly," Hanzō said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "the plan was thrown out the window the moment these girls even considered taking his side. Even hoping that they'd keep him as a silent enemy was an improvised longshot. No… It's best we come forward with everything we know."

Nodding her head, Jasmine pointed to the gym storage closet before telling the girls of Hanzō, "Get Katsuragi's wound cleaned up and some ice packs for those bruises. After that," she took a heavy breath, "we'll tell you everything."

Off in the infirmary on the far side of the building, Asuka sat on her knees patiently while taking the occasional glance at the newly blanketed young man. It took a bit of tedious effort, but she managed to salvage a few dry blankets from downpour Yumi caused and used a scissors to cut away the dryer bits from the others. So, with the occasionally shake of his shoulder and word of encouragement, Asuka could only wait for him to awake from Haruka's injection. But, with nearly half an hour having passed since the other girls departed for the gym, the brunette couldn't help but silently mirror Homura's complaint from earlier, "If you're going to use something like this, it'd be a lot better if we knew when he was going to wake up…"

Eventually, out of both boredom and worry, she stood up from her seated position to analyze the young man's face, trying not to think about her second experience in blanketing him and focusing hard to keep her eyes off of his very visible collarbone. His breaths were soft and at ease, though his face still had some of the same intense features that he had in the alleyway. His eyes were barely relaxed enough to be considered asleep, his nose gave the occasional flare of subtle frustration, and his lips remained tightly sealed together. The overall look he had left Asuka wanting to warmly hug him but, as she reminded herself, everyone needed him up and moving to cure Yumi.

Cupping his cheek and gently grasping his shoulder, Asuka whispered, "Please… we need you to get up…" and watched for any sign of activity. A few seconds passed and she tried again, "Please… Please, please, please, please… We need you now." When he still didn't move, her shaking quickly became much more frantic and her words grew in desperation, "I don't want to say goodbye to Yumi… You need to bring her back to the way she's supposed to be. We need you to fix her!" and gave him one final shake before releasing him to bring a hand up to her mouth to quell a sob. She would have fallen into a depressing slump if she hadn't seen his lower eyelids flutter.

Excitedly, she began to mouth off, "You're awake-" before she realized that nothing else was moving. Aside from the twitch in just his lower eyelids, everything else remained still. When she could see his pupil, it remained deathly still. Groaning a sound of frustration, Asuka lifted her hands to the young man's head and gently used her thumbs to open the rest of his eyes, "You need to wake up! Please! Yumi's just over in the gym now as we speak and you can fix her and everything will be alright and we'll all be good again. I'll carry you there and everything! Plus, if you fix her, we'll stop chasing you around! Uh- ugh… We'll… We'll write you thank you notes- we'll be best friends! Anything! Just wake up!"

The young man remained motionless as Asuka reached up to her cheek and realized she was crying. Wiping away her tears, she relaxed her face into a frown before looking back up at the young man, "I can't say I fully understand what corruption or distortion is… But I can see what it's doing to Yumi. If you are the only one capable of fixing that then… do what you did for Homura and Miyabi." After a moment of silence, she reached her hands down and raised his arm from out of the blankets before connecting his hand to her forehead. After remaining still for a few seconds, she closed her eyes and whispered, "This is what you did, right? Wake up and do this…"

Asuka was about to pull away until a sudden burst of energy surged through her. Her eyes shot open and looked down to her arms to find them emanating a dark red glow. She was about to panic and let out a few yells before, just as quickly as it appeared, the glow was gone. Her head turned up to the young man's and found that his eyes were steadily fighting to keep open while his pupils dilated with evident awareness. In such a situation where Asuka should have begun to well up with excitement, she only felt a strange hollowness run through her.

A large weight seemed to weigh in on the girl's shoulders. She no longer had the desire to move and felt all of the motivation that was once driving her sapped in seconds. As her features went from surprised to dull, her eyelids seeming to tire and her mouth falling into a grim frown, Asuka heard the young man make a groaning sound. Unenthusiastically, she cocked her head to the side while looking at him, trying to figure out what he was trying to do. Then he hitched in his breath and sputtered, "…forward…" Still, Asuka remained in her spot and did not move, her pupils just as empty as the young man's were a minute before. Again, a bit more clearly, he murmured, "Lean forward… Now…"

Asuka would have remained motionless if it weren't for the fire that began to course through the young man's eyes. Their stillness was long gone as passionate fury and determination surged through, practically glowing in their beautiful color and piercing straight into the girl's core. They commanded her more than the young man's words ever could. So, the downtrodden Asuka leaned forward with a dull look on her face, still curious but unenergetic.

Fighting to keep his balance steady and tensing every muscle in his body to wake up, the young man shakily tried to lean his head toward Asuka's before, in a moment where he had to take a breath from the strain, fell forward into the girl's shoulder. He uttered under his breath, "Sorry…" and pulled back up. Asuka remained in her spot, her eyes peering upward to eye the young man as he finally settled his forehead against hers. He uttered no words as the world began to twist and turn all around them, swiveling like a tornado.

Then they were both standing in what appeared, at first, to be a standard house. But, as the young man quickly looked around to survey his surroundings, he found that it must have a been a sort of off-campus dorm for the Hanzō Academy elite. Between the cutely decorated plaques bearing the girls' names on doors within the hall and the living room littered with shinobi tools, magazines, and a bowl of candies on a coffee table, he was certain that the house was their living place.

When he brought his eyes back to Asuka, he found her to be the exact opposite of the way she was in the infirmary seconds before.

"Huh, so this is what Homura was talking about," commented the girl in a curious but chipper attitude. She swiveled around on her heels to take everything in and noted, "It really is just like home in here! Say, how do you do this?"

The young man blinked before he calmly began, "I just go into your memories-" but was promptly interrupted before he could finish.

"Right, that makes sense. Though, wouldn't that take a long time to sift through each of my memories to find the right place? How would you know which place is the right one to begin with?"

Reeling back from the one-eighty Asuka pulled in her mood, the young man continued with a blank expression, "It's fairly simple-"

"Yeah, maybe with enough training. This whole thing is weird though. No offense intended at all, but this whole thing is pretty weird- Hey, you're wearing clothes! Awesome. That was pretty awkward in the infirmary. Once was bad enough, but I had to cover you twice! So, what now? Homura told me you grabbed her hand when- Oh! Am I supposed to be crying or depressed or something? See, she told that she was 'not entirely herself' but you fixed her. She got all red when I asked for the details, so I don't really know."

Scrunching up his gaze into a glare and his mouth into a frown, the young man attempted to speak again, "I can explain if you-"

"But then you apparently took her hand and made everything better and then you talked about 'life stuff' and offered some kind words. Seriously, why did you say you were our enemy before? Homura's back to her old self with a newfound confidence. Whatever you told her must have been some words of encouragement!"

The young man raised his arm, "If you'll just take my hand-"

"Right, right," Asuka continued with a cheery smile before taking his hand. Before he could instruct her further, she immediately went off, "So, what now? I still don't really feel different. Unless we need to talk about that 'life stuff' first. Sorry, I thought that was more like casual conversation."

If looks could kill, the young man's face would have left the room as bloody as an overindulgent slasher flick, "Now, I need you to take-"

"Take what? Is it a tool that you use to fix people? But why would a tool-"

Reaching forward with his free hand, the young man covered the girl's mouth while staring intensely. She tried to pull free and speak through his fingers, even going to far as to lick them in an attempt to disgust him away, as he practically growled, "I need you to accept back your sense of inferiority. Please, right now. Take it back."

Though the girl continued to try and blabber through his hand while leaning her head to the side curiously, Asuka seemed to obey the young man's orders as he felt the aspect of her personality flow from out of him and back into her. Once her chattering had finally ceased, he let out a breath of relief and lowered his hand from her face before asking, "Are you okay?"

After seeming to process all of the blabbering she'd done, Asuka reddened in the face before nodding timidly. There was an awkward pause as Asuka stared down to her feet while the young man pulled on the collar of his shirt. Eventually, after a bit of time spent twiddling her fingers, the former muttered, "So… I'm not complaining, I want to make that clear. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was you clearing the distortion, right?" and watched as the latter nodded. She took another breath before asking, "But… still, don't you think you could've fixed Yumi up first? She's the one who's the most affected right now."

After sucking in some air through his teeth, the young man answered back, "That was my goal too… but…" before puffing it all out and bringing a hand up to manically rub the side of his head, "Okay, in all seriousness, I have some questions for you. First and foremost," and threw both arms into the air before letting them slump, "What the hell?"

A rush of confused shame zipped through Asuka before she stuttered out, "What? What did I do?"

"I shouldn't be able to be in here!" exclaimed the young man before he paused and held up a finger, "Wait… no…" and looked at her with a cross expression, "Do you think I'm the enemy?" before pointing at her accusingly, "Be honest! Be honest like you'll be damned to Hell if you lie!"

Nearly buckling under the pressure and not knowing entirely why the young man seemed so agitated, Asuka nearly cried, "You're not the enemy! You're not the enemy!"

There was no room for dishonesty in her panicked voice. Seeing exactly that, the young man's eyes further narrowed in confusion before his body seemed to crank forward into a slump, starting, "Then…" before muttering in a frustrated tone, "What is this shit…?"

Leaning over to grasp his shoulder, Asuka asked, "What? What's going on? Fill me in!"

Looking up at her tiredly, the young man seethed out another breath before looking to the floor in defeat. Just as the brunette was about to ask him again, he quietly explained, "The only way I'm supposed to be able to do this… or, rather, do what I did out there is by making you completely distrust or completely trust me. There's no one way about it… unless…" before raising himself up with a more positive expression. After a moment of thought, he clapped a fist into his hand, "Unless I've discovered an exception to that rule… But… Hoo boy, that upturns everything…"

Asuka up to him with a mix of sympathy and confusion, "What are you talking about?"

He looked at her again before spouting off, "I'm only supposed to be able to do corrections, that's what we're doing here, if I have either your complete trust or distrust. But, since I'm here and you don't fall into either of those factors, that means there's an exception to the rule somewhere… But then that means any further corrections I attempt will run the risk of me finding the opposite exception, where someone I should be able to correct actually can't be corrected and I'll only do more damage than good…" and breathed out, "Ah… crap."

Taking a moment to blink a few times in response to his misguided deductions, Asuka held up a finger and said, "Actually, I think it'd be fair to say that I trust you."

The young man looked at her skeptically, "Not the same level that it's supposed to be. When I say complete trust, I mean," he extended his arms as far apart from one another as he could, "really, truly, completely trust. Like… Say you were dangling over a pit of lava and I was the only one who could pull you up. You'd have to not doubt me, consciously or subconsciously, at all to be on that level of trust. As an additional note, most siblings, parents, and married couples do not have that level of trust. We're talking something that's difficult to establish with one person over the course of a lifetime."

Thinking for a moment as she brought some fingers up to her chin, Asuka quietly wracked her head before shrugging, "I don't- I trust you, that's all I know. You're here to help us, I'm fully aware of it, and I don't see a reason to distrust you."

Like a computer that just had its modem disconnected, the young man ceased all movement as he tried to process what he just heard from the girl. As much as he wished to object, her proposition was much more likely that the prospect of him finding a sudden exception to the rule of trust and distrust after nearly a century of infiltrators had been doing exactly as he'd been doing. Still, he couldn't help but utter, "Bullshit."

Feeling her brow twitch in irritation in the face of his stubbornness, Asuka retorted, "It's true!"

Resting his hand against his forehead, the young man uttered back, "I've been in this city for about a week-and-a-half. I've, personally, known you for about a day. We've had zero interaction together in that time, apart from our few words exchanged on the rooftop before I corrected Homura's distortion. During all of this time, including what you must have heard from your grandparents, Kiriya, and Rin, I have deliberately set myself up on a display to be your enemy… We were literally fighting in the streets. But you mean to say that you trust me?"

"Yeah," Asuka said without hesitation, "Fighting is a great way to get to know people. Plus, it reminds me of how I met the others."

Again, the young man's look fell blank before he narrowed his eyes, "What?"

"Well," she held up one finger, "I met Homura and we fought for a while until she left Hebijo behinid. Actually, we still fight from time to time, but that's mostly in good fun."

"…Fun…?"

Asuka held up another finger, "Then I met Yumi when she tried to start a Shinobi Battle Royale against us. She wanted to burn down the academy because Grandpa groped her and the rest of Gessen on their way to pay respects to their deceased grandfather. We learned some lessons and it was all pretty understandable."

"…Wait… She wanted to burn down the academy…?"

With a nod as she began to smile from the nostalgic memories, Asuka continued, "Yeah, that's how it started. Now we're pretty close. Occasionally, we'll treat each other to dinner and go shopping," before she clapped her hands, "Oh, we met Miyabi not too long after Yumi. She was a bit more different as there a lot less room for us to be friendly to one another, but we were on good terms by the time the Millennium Festival rolled by."

The young man held up his hands, "Hold up, hold up, you're losing me here…" before staring at her wide-eyed, "So… pretty much everyone in your group of shinobi, Hebijo, Gessen, and the renegades… You've all been at each other's throats at some point in time?"

Asuka gave one final grand nod, "Yup."

After that, silence followed as the young man simply stared at Asuka as the epitome of baffling. Occasionally, she shifted under his gaze but continued to smile up at him innocently. With a dead tone and unreadable expression, the young man uttered, "Suddenly, this sort of makes sense… but… still…"

After giving a confused scratch of her cheek, unsure whether or not she should be offended, Asuka clasped her hands together and said, "Okay… Is there anything else we need to do here? It's just… you know, Yumi still needs to be fixed."

Breaking away from his attempt to rationalize all that he'd been told, the young man shook his head and nodded, "Right…" but quickly raised a finger, "eh… actually, wait."

Asuka quirked her head, "What is it?"

He gestured his hand awkwardly at her before asking, "In regards to your correction… you're all good?"

After a second of thought, Asuka arced her head around and about to give her body a onceover before turning back to him and answering, "Yeah… I mean, I think I am. Why?"

Calmly, but with evident concern, the young man answered back, "Well, not disclose what all happened, but Miyabi and Homura needed a bit of time to come to terms with the aspect of their personalities that was afflicted. I just want to make sure, in regards to yours, that you're okay."

Popping a small smile onto her face, Asuka replied, "It was 'sense of inferiority' or something, right? I'm good. I can see why I'd want that back."

Once again, her words threw the young man off, "You… do?"

"Of course," she replied with a cheerful expression, "if I didn't have it, I wouldn't see other people like Homura or Grandpa as my better and wouldn't have any motivation to grow as a shinobi."

"Oh," the young man made an approving sound, "well, that's good," and took in the girl's bright smile.

But just as he was about to bring them back to consciousness, Asuka's expression quickly shifted to concerned as she sputtered, "Wait, wait, wait!" The young man stopped what he was doing and eyed her curiously before she proceeded to bring a hand up to play with the white bow in her hair, "I'm perfectly okay with what happened but… could I ask you to not speak about how depressing I was in the infirmary… or how rude I was before I took back my inferiority?"

Without blinking, the young man replied, "A doctor always lives by patient confidentiality unless specifically told otherwise."

Once a humorous bit of relief took her face and was followed by a smile, rays of light began to split apart the room around them as they fell back to consciousness.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of inferiority ensuring a confident heart, you have saved a young woman from a fate of lesser existence.**

**For this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has endured through physical and mental punishment in order to save her. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the seeds of a love to come will blossom.**


	16. Chapter 16: Onward

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 16: Onward

When Asuka came to, her face was buried deep into the infirmary bed and its blankets. Wobbly and thoroughly dizzy, she lifted her head with a pained moan as a crick stung throughout her neck before surveying the room. Almost everything appeared to be the way it was, save for the fact that she found the young man scrunched up and unconscious on the cold floor with some blankets trailing off the bed. Part of her wanted to scream in embarrassmentwhen she saw that he was still very naked before she was compelled forward to unwillingly launch herself headfirst like a missile and collided her head into his before crumpling down to the floor with a groan.

Asuka raised her hands to her head, "Ow, ow, ow," and questioned why she lost complete control of herself as she could hear the young man rasping beside her as he came to consciousness. Once she fully recovered from the blow, Asuka turned back over to face him, "Are you ok-" but stopped mid-sentence when she saw his agonized form. The young man's chest and abdomen were convulsing rapidly up and down on the floor while he was scratching at his throat with every hack and heave a desperate attempt to try and breath. After a few seconds of horrified observation, Asuka shot up and clung her hands to his arms to pull him up. Once he was barely on his feet, she wrapped her arms around his waist, balled up a fist over his stomach, clasped her free hand over it, and proceeded to repeatedly heft her fist upward. After a few tries, the young man finally got out a cough before a revolting glob of spit and vomit flew from his mouth and splattered onto the floor.

He quietly shivered in Asuka's arms after having cleared the blockage and took heavy breaths as the ordeal came to its end. Once he had gotten enough air, he gave a raspy, "Thank you…" and began to pull away.

But Asuka brought him backward and sat him down onto the bed before asking, "Are you okay?"

Passing a tired glance to her worried hazel orbs as they continued to stare at him, the young man strained a hand into the air before muttering, "Yeah… Yeah, I just need a minute and I'll be ready to move."

Despite his assurances, Asuka sat beside him and rubbed him on the back a few times, a gesture he offered no resistance to. After a few seconds of the soothing sensation, he turned over to her with a weak but thankful smile, which she reflected with her own grin of assurance and gratitude. Then her eyes trailed downward and her face flushed a heavy red. When the young man realized his nakedness, his hands shot to one of the blankets nearby to cover up himself up while his face blanked out with a tint of red. The two averted their eyes from one of another and, before the silence could get any more awkward than it was, Asuka stumbled out, "So, so…," before clearing her throat, "So why do you wind up choking like that? It happened yesterday too, right?"

Keeping his voice level with a bit of tenseness seeping through, the young man answered, "Eh… it's a bit complicated but… in short, while my consciousness was in your mind to work things out, my body was left on its own and could only rely on basic reflexes and activities to keep alive. By the time I came back, a lot of saliva and gunk built up in the throat. So… there's that."

Unknowingly bringing her own hand up to massage her neck, Asuka let out a quiet, "Yeesh… that's rough," and turned over to him worriedly, "So… you have to do that after every correctional process?"

The young man kept his eyes averted, though his suddenly straightened posture indicated that it wasn't from embarrassment. He slowly answered back, "Well… there is a way to circumvent it. If I keep my forehead connected to whoever I'm correcting, my subconscious would be more able to work around and circumvent the buildup."

Remembering his orders to leave both him and Homura alone and not move them apart the other day, Asuka felt a sudden wave of guilt run through her, "Ah… whoops."

"I know what you're probably thinking about. Don't worry about it," mumbled the young man as he reached up to the red spot on his head, the same place where Asuka slammed her forehead against him, "Aside from keeping myself from… spitting up, keeping our heads together would also prevent me from having to… reconnect, let's call it."

"Reconnect?" Asuka asked.

"The headbutt."

Looking at the spot and remembering how Homura had done the exact same thing the day before, Asuka stood from the bed and pointed at him, "That was you!? Did you mind-control me!?"

Taking in a long breath, the young man nodded before continuing softly and sympathetically, "If not that, I would be stuck in your head and unwillingly fighting for your consciousness. But I know it's not the most comfortable thought. Honestly, it's probably pretty violat-"

As he began his apologetic speech for Asuka, her eyes began to sparkle with excitement and promptly cut him off. Once again, the young man was baffled into silence as her smile grew brighter and brighter before reaching forward to clasp his hand, "Awesome! And it's not like Haruka's puppeteer thing either or anything voodoo-y! You're actually putting you're head into someone else's!"

Internally, the young man rescinded all of the guilt and sympathy that he had for Asuka a moment before. He just stared at her while attempting to piece together all of her logic and feelings before his eyelids drooped, "Naif."

Tilting her head at the word, Asuka let out a sort of, "Huh?" before shrugging and continuing, "What else can you do? Anything like tele… telekinetic- no. What…"

The young man didn't blink, "Telekinesis? No."

"That's it- oh," Asuka began to beam before the disappointment hit her. For a moment, it appeared as though she were about to go on and list other science-fiction powers, to which the young man already braced himself to bring her back to focus on their situation. Fortunately, she seemed to do that on her own as she stood up and pointed to an assortment of clothes dangling off a couple of chairs, "Those are yours. They're, uh… probably still… just a little damp."

Offering a nod, the young man said, "Thanks. I'll get dressed and be ready in a minute or so."

Quietly clasping her hands together, Asuka awkwardly smiled, "Good, good," before her eyes once again unintentionally trailed down to his chest and covered groin area, prompting steam to practically blow out her ears. Turning on the ball of her foot, she proclaimed, "I'll be waiting outside!" and scurried off.

The young man kept his composure in the face of a girl accidentally catching a glimpse of his nether region while also trying not think about who else might have seen it. Wordlessly, he stood up to dress himself before a sudden throbbing pain rang through his hip. Remembering the fact that he was hit by a car earlier, he groaned loudly but pressed on to get out of the room and to Yumi. However, on pulling up his pants and briefs, he found the clothes to be uncomfortably damp and was thrown back into a fit of shivers. But, without a better alternative option other than to streak, the young man bit back the cold and continued to pull them up. He dressed himself, leaving off the freezing school jacket of his uniform, and popped open the door to exit the infirmary.

Asuka awaited him with a renewed smile on her face before it promptly fell into worry. Seeing his shivering form, she quickly asked, "Will you be okay?"

"Well… No, probably not," the young man started, "But, as said by many a poet in ye olden days, fuck it."

Asuka reeled back from the curse, not expecting such crude language out of someone who always gave off a more levelheaded impression, "Is there anything I can do?"

Giving her offer a few moments of thought, the young man asked, "Is there anything in the infirmary I could take for a fever or cold? Nothing's set in but I don't expect that'll last."

"Miyabi found some medicine while you were unconscious," Asuka replied back, "Once everyone else dragged off Yumi, I poured some of it into your mouth."

The young man was about to thank her before a thought crossed his mind and he asked, "You made sure to measure it?"

Giving a small puff of her cheeks in the face of the subtle accusation he was making, Asuka replied back, "Yes, I measured it. I'm careful."

Dropping the doubtful expression on his face, the young man nodded, "Sorry to question you."

Pursing her lips in confusion at the one-eighty he managed to pull, Asuka nodded resolutely and waved her hand, "Alrighty. The gym is this way," and began to march forward. However, as her steps enthusiastically carried on, the slow-paced slaps of wet shoes smacking into the floor made Asuka turn around and realize the young man could barely trudge along. Her face fell and she couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Hip hurts and I'm still freezing," the young man said as he continued to shiver and lifted another leg upward, "trying to make it work."

Asuka's head peered back and forth between him and the hallway they had to traverse before she sighed in defeat. With a bit of a slump to her posture, Asuka retreated back to the young man before grabbing one of his arms and throwing it around her neck as she wrapped her own around his back. As his damp clothes began to soak into hers, Asuka started, "Let me help-" before jumping away when a chill ran down her spine, "Criminy, you're freezing!"

The young man gave a look that reeked of the words, "No, really?"

With a shiver of her own, Asuka let out a moan of surrender before she hesitantly reattached herself to the young man and proceeded to aid him down the hall. Occasionally, as the two walked, she would hear him suck in a pained breath of air and hiss it out over the course of a few steps. Knowing that it was the shinobis' pursuit of the young man which led him into that state, Asuka couldn't help but feel guilty over all the suffering that he must have gone through. Between his beating and retreat at Hebijo academy, the slice to his leg on the rooftops, and all of the blows that he took only a couple of hours before, she was surprised that the young man was still willing to carry on and even jump to Yumi's assistance. Once she hit the end of her train of thought, she couldn't help but say, "I'm sorry for all this."

In response, the young man turned to face her, "What're you going on about?"

"Look at you right now," Asuka groaned as she continued to practically drag him forward, "Beaten, cut, electrocuted, freezing… violently choked… all while you've yet to even raise a fist against us."

"I see where this is going," the young man said before planting his feet to the ground to stop any more forward progress, "and I want to assure you that there's nothing to be sorry for." Asuka was about to cut him off but he raised a finger into the air to silence her and continued, "I deliberately provoked the lot of you. It meant I was considered the enemy and allowed for me to do corrections, something that none of you had any knowledge of nor permitted me to do. All in all, this is more a less a severe case of self-defense. It sucks, don't get me wrong, and it hurts a bunch. But it was also expected. Don't apologize." Feeling as though his words were enough, the young man proceeded to take a powerful stride away from the wide-eyed Asuka before flopping down to the floor. After a moment of quiet, he uttered, "Damn."

Letting out a conflicted breath, Asuka ordered, "Let me help you," and reached downward. Obediently, the young man was hauled up into her arms before she proceeded to carry him away like a sack of potatoes on her shoulder. She noted his ability to bite back what must have been a humiliating display after such a superb speech, hearing only a low rumble from his throat which was etched with disapproval. After spending a bit of time carrying him to the gym, Asuka asked, "So, after Yumi's cured, what then?"

Bouncing up and down with his eyes facing the floor, the young man replied, "Well… There must still be… no…" and trailed off for a moment with his head bobbing up and down from Asuka's walking before continuing, "Frankly, I gave up after realizing I'd lost my phone to either you guys or the police last night. Between this morning and now, I've just kind of been winging it."

She wanted to reply, "Well, you know how that turned out," but didn't want to bruise his ego any further. Instead, Asuka opted to further question, "So… there are no plans going forward then?"

"None at all," came the immediate answer, "The base of everything relied on everyone being my enemy. If they're taking my side over Yumi's right now… that just uproots everything. Sure, Yumi still perceives me as the enemy. That's an easy fix."

Asuka felt a bit relieved by the young man's assurance that he could help Yumi but remained silent when she realized that, by that point, the rest of the shinobi did not entirely regard him as the enemy. From that, she could see where his worry was coming from, "You're worried that it won't be as easy with everyone else?"

"I don't see them being as open you've been about me rifling through their heads," the young man muttered in a low tone, "And, if they don't view me as a full-on enemy or as someone of complete trust, that means we're screwed."

Asuka remained silent for a moment before she mumbled thoughtfully, "I wouldn't be so sure. I mean, we're a pretty forward-thinking bunch. I think that, after some time, they'll wind up trusting you."

"Naif," uttered the young man with an empty breath of air.

Pulling her lips into a pout while puffing her cheeks, Asuka grumbled, "You called me that earlier, didn't you? What is it? It sounds like some kind of fairy but not the good kind."

"Naif~."

"What does that mean!?"

Ignoring her question, the young man pulled away from her shoulder, forcing the girl to drop him down onto his feet. She gave him a once-over, making sure that he was fit to walk before proceeding to guide him further into the school. Eventually, they spotted a pair of doors into the gym further on in the hallway. As happy as he was to be approaching the end of the night's ordeal, he couldn't help but sigh heavily in response to Asuka's optimism. When her irritated eyes flipped over to concern, he stated, "I don't know everyone in that room as much as you do. But I do know this: people are complex consciously and subconsciously… It'll take more than a round of twenty questions for them to trust me as suddenly as you have… naif."

Surprisingly, Asuka flicked him on the head as she retorted confidantly, "Sure, but after a couple of games, some meals shared together, and a few chats like the one we're having now? It'll be a done deal, especially if Miyabi, Homura, and I support you just as much as we have been."

By the time she finished her sentence, the two of them reached the gym door and the young man had no time to offer denial. Instead, with her reaching back to clasp a hand over his shoulder, she pushed open the two doors and was greeted to the sight of every shinobi strewn about the gym turning to silently acknowledge their arrival.

With so many eyes on them, the young man very nearly took a step back before Asuka nodded her head forward to Homura and Miyabi, restraining a tuckered out Yumi with Hikage staring from right beside them. He let out an inaudible and nervous groan before clenching his eyes closed to take a breath. Once they opened again, they shined resolutely as the young man took a step past Asuka, leaving her assuring grip, and embarked into the gym before the wary shinobi. He did not dare to turn his head and trade stares with anyone around him, save for Jasmine and Hanzō by the wall beside the girls of Gessen Academy. He offered a brief nod to them, letting his solid face slide for a moment before taking another breath and continuing on toward Yumi.

Once he was about halfway there, many of the girls broke away from their corners in the gym to converge on him in long strides. As they neared closer, the young man simply kept his eyes forward and on Yumi, who was tiredly glaring up at him from her position on the floor. From the side of his vision he could see that the only girl among Gessen to advance on him was Yozakura, whose expression was completely unreadable between her determined eyes but sorrowful frown. By the time the young man was only a few steps away from Yumi, the blue-haired girl stood in his path and held out a hand to halt him, to which he obediently abided.

While Asuka, Homura, and Miyabi looked on with ranging levels of anxiety, the majority of the remaining shinobi in the gym circled around the young man. He looked between their faces and saw varying levels of interest and skepticism, acceptance and hostility. But, keeping himself focused, the young man only dared to lock eyes with Yozakura, who asked him in a quiet voice, "What do you intend to do with Yumi?"

Earnestly, he quietly answered back, "I intend to help her."

No muscle on either of their faces dared to even twitch, "Specifically, how do you intend to do that?"

Both willed themselves to focus on avoiding any show of weakness. Neither sweating nor an aversion of eyes was allowed, "I'm going to, in simple terms, go into her head and root out the distortion within her. She'll be back to her normal self shortly after."

Yozakura's eyes continued to dare him to lie, "How are you able to do this?"

The open-endedness to the question made the young man break his steeled expression. His lips briefly parted when he was about to answer only to close again when he considered the complicated elements to a correction. Part of him wanted to glance at Jasmine and Hanzō for assistance but found that his view was obstructed by several shinobi blocking his way. The young man fell silent at that point, wondering if he should spare the more in-depth details or if he should spill everything. As the seconds rolled by, Yozakura's look transitioned from unreadable to open frustration.

As the moment continue to grow in tension between the two, the young man remembered Asuka's words of encouragement and opted to open up, "It's a complicated process. Ultimately, for proper setup, it relies on me being able to pull out the distorted element in its entirety before severing it from her to starve out the corruption."

"And how do you do that?" asked Yozakura.

Part of the young man wanted to scream in frustration at that point, considering that Yumi didn't have much longer in regards to her distortion. But, if the girl wanted to question him before he was allowed access, then he wasn't in any position to oppose her, "It ultimately relies on her perception of me. If she either completely trusts me or distrusts me, the corruption inside of her conscious will be gathered into one place and will be easy to reach. From there, I can safely sever it without any risk of damage. After that-"

"And you opted to be her enemy? Our enemy too?"

The young man recoiled form Yozakura's sudden interruption before slowly nodding, "In the interest of speedily working through all of you, yes."

Once he finished answering her final question, Yozakura pulled her head back in a strange mix of mellow surprise. A few seconds passed before she stepped back and bowed her head in apology, "I'm sorry for all that you've had to endure up to today." A few shinobi followed suit, softly bowing their heads while a few others looked on doubtfully. Absolutely confused by the development, the young man watched with a slack jaw as Yozakura turned to Jasmine, gesturing for some of the shinobi to shift to the side so that he could see her too, "Sayu- sorry, Jasmine told us everything about what you're doing here… and about why you've made yourself out to be our enemy."

With her own sorry look, Jasmine called over to him, "I'm sorry to… to do so without your direction but…" her gaze looked like it wanted to break away but she held on, "we needed to make a judgement call."

The young man looked at her for a moment before he called back, "Honestly, I was furious when I found out you directed everyone at me" and looked around to the surrounding shinobi, "thinking about it, though… this is probably for the best once all of the circumstances are considered."

"If it makes you feel any better," the woman called, "I left out the more personal details. Those are still yours to share."

In genuine thanks, the young man lightly lowered his head, "It's much appreciated."

Silently and awkwardly, Yozakura and the shinobi around him stepped aside to give him a bit of breathing room as the former explained, "We weren't sure if we could believe her but…" and promptly bowed her head again, "I'm sorry. We just wanted to make sure that your stories matched."

Once again, there was another round of bowed heads which only served to make the young man shrink his head downward in embarrassment, "There's no need to-"

He was cut off and surprised by Asuka gently patting his back as she announced, "He's not good at accepting apologies, but there's no hard feelings."

There were a few understanding smiles at the young man's perceived nervousness, though part of him wanted to point out that he legitimately believed they did no wrong. But, with Yumi so near and in need of help, he instead asked, "May I… begin the correction?"

Yozakura stepped away from her distorted sister, not daring to meet the girl's eyes, "Please," and walked back a small distance to observe.

The curious gazes of all the girls within the gym watched as the young man stepped forward, keeping himself from even shivering should he upset any of the shinobi with more doubtful expressions. Even as he knelt beside Yumi and nodded to Miyabi and Homura, he could see Imu off to the back staring at him alertly while Ikaruga even seemed contemptuous of his presence. When he turned his head, he found himself more alarmed by Murakumo, whose feelings were entirely unknown behind her mask.

His attention was broken away by Homura whispering over to him, "Do it just like before."

Jumping in quiet surprise from her sudden words of encouragement, the young man turned to her before nodding. Catching a glimpse of Miyabi's face watching with interest, the young man reached down to Yumi's head and rest his hand on her.

He closed his eyes as the complicated process of an infiltrator took place. Like a tendril-y arm, his subconscious reached into hers and felt around for the distortion as time seemed to come to a complete slow. In the split-seconds that it took for him to search around, he easily found the swelling distortion within Yumi. Like a crimson orb flaring black smoke in a cramped room, he could reach out to it and cup into his 'hands' as its maliciousness tried to seep into him. But, the young man's training as an infiltrator and in self-control rendered the anomaly's efforts in vein.

Repeatedly, it tried to pump its corruption into the young man as he began to pull it outward. None of its many fractions were hard to find as they all came at him, hoping to attack and distort his mind due to their sheer hatred and animosity. Not minding them at all, the young man was instead more transfixed on the element of Yumi's mind that was corrupted. Within the agitated exterior that blocked the young man's senses, something venomous was bubbling and brewing. With Miyabi, Homura, and Asuka, his view of the distortion was clouded but still very readable. Yet, with Yumi, it seemed as though her own unaffected subconscious was trying to work against him. Still, with every bit of the distortion gathered, the young man didn't dare to delay any longer and relented from trying to figure out what was corrupted.

That was his first major mistake.

Then he began to pull at the distortion, drawing it out so that it would overtake Yumi's entire consciousness like the parasite it was. From there, he would only to need to take it head on and sever it from the rest of her mind to starve out. Then he would just need to have Yumi accept the cleansed aspect back, a feat he'd already accomplished with three other girls. But, as he was rehearsing all that he would have to do again, he began to neglect just how much of the distortion he was pulling out.

That was his second and most fatal mistake.

Once the young man finally caught on to the significantly larger amount of distortion that he was bringing out of Yumi's subconscious, he tried to put the process to a stop. But, when the floodgates opened, the tainted subconscious surged through and began to pump its presence throughout the girl. With how much volume the corruption took up in her subconscious, there was no way that her conscious mind could contain it all. Thus, as the young man realized all too late, the flaring presence took complete sentience of Yumi and began to spread beyond the two connected minds.

Breaking out from her mind in an attempt to warn everyone nearby, the young man yelled, "Everyone! GET BACK!"

Then it broke loose. Yumi's body glowed a horrifying crimson which outshined its three predecessors tenfold. The force of the eruption blew Miyabi and Homura away into the air with yells of surprise before landing with hard thuds, rolling them along the ground. The surrounding girls who were observing were thrown back by a few meters before collapsing with their eyes rolling up into their heads. Jasmine and the rest of the adults were blown back against the wall and looked on in horror as the rest of the shinobi in the gym, who were further back from the scene, took on looks of shock before crumpling to the ground. Amidst all of this, the young man desperately tried to keep his hand clung to Yumi's forehead before the relentless force proved too much. Just like the two girls who were beside him, he was flung back and crashed hard onto the back of his neck before rolling along the ground into Asuka, who was just picking herself up from her own landing.

Once the crimson flare had ended, the young man looked up and spotted Yumi's prone form at the center of the room. He watched in horror as her arms reached out to pick herself up before looking over at him. Where once she had icy blue eyes, both her irises and sclerae were a deep and dark red which seemed to shine brighter than the gym's lights.

The young man looked around, picking himself up with a groan before reaching down to pull up Asuka, who muttered under her breath, "What happened-" before she caught sight of Yumi's form, standing overbearingly and keeping her eyes locked onto the young man, "What… what happened!?"

From the two opposite sides of the gym, Miyabi and Homura also stood up and looked at their surroundings comrades laying on the floor. On spotting Imu, the former called, "Hey! We've got… trouble…" but trailed off as a petrifying sight beheld her. In place of her second-in-command's eyes were the same crimson glow that was on Yumi's face. Under her breath, Miyabi uttered, "Hey… Imu. Are you okay?"

Homura, on the other hand, watched as all of her own comrades rose up from the ground with the same eyes and proceeded to advance on her. She took a few steps back as she uttered, "Yomi? Hikage…" glanced off to the side, "Mirai…" all as she unknowingly began to reach up to her blades, "Even… Haruka."

Like a bunch of blank-faced marionettes, the girls throughout the gym drew their weapons as Hanzō roared, "GET AWAY FROM THEM! IT'S YUMI'S DISTORTION!"

**STAND-THEIR-FEET-AND-FIGHT!**

The young man realized then and there what had happened. The distortion's massive swelling in Yumi's subconscious was too much for her conscious mind to hold onto and instead reached out to the other distorted girls within the room, sparing only those who'd already been immunized by prior corrections. With the way the surrounding shinobi looked at him, how they seemed like unthinking zombies and puppets under the central distortion's command, the young man realized exactly which aspect had been distorted: the sense of control.

**SIDE-BY-SIDE-WITH-MIGHT!**

Adopting a solid but grim look on his face, the young man clenched his fists and watched an emotionless Yumi, waiting for the shinobi under her thumb to either clear out or give him an opening to charge. Behind him, Asuka casted worried glances toward her own red-eyed comrades as she drew her wakizashi.As all of the girls affected by the distortion's influence drew their weapons with rough and seemingly unpracticed movements, Homura and Miyabi let the metallic sound of their katanas ring throughout the gym. They looked back and forth between each of their comrades before the young man shouted to everyone who was still in control of themselves, "Just hold them off! I need to sever the distortion!"

**BRING-PEACE-TO-THEIR-PLIGHT!**

Jasmine nodded over to the young man from her position as a red-eyed Minori was a shakily raising her bucket to attack. Easily, the older woman managed to catch the girl's arm before restraining her to the floor, backing away only when Murakumo and Shiki began to approach. Thankfully, Rin and Kiriya immediately got on the two and dodged around their sloppy attacks to disarm them with a few precise strikes of their fists. But it became apparent that restraining all of them would be impossible when the headcount of the distorted girls was roughly double those unaffected.

As a complete blur zipping from girl to girl, Hanzō jumped from throwing Ryōbi to the floor to going on the offense against the girls of his respective academy. When Ikaruga and Yagyū simultaneously attacked, he practically disappeared into the air before reappearing behind them to strike the back of their heads. Yagyū and Hibari gave lazy leaps into the air to descend down with a cooperative kick. Without effort, he grabbed one of each girls' legs from the air before flipping them down into the floor. But, regardless of whatever knock-out point he hit or however he attacked, the girls only just got back up. His eyes fell to Yumi, who was observing the resistance of the adults. Hanzō dashed straight at her until he saw her reach down to the ground to produce her bladed fan, dropped by Miyabi when she was blown away. Before he could close the distance, Yumi raised the weapon and dug it against her own throat and uttered in a low voice, "My opponent is the infiltrator. The rest of this will be handled afterward."

Not daring to race his legs against a flick of her wrist, Hanzō backed away from her with a tense expression. He only broke his eyes away to fend off Ryōna as she tackled after him while firing her pistols. Though she was easy to handle, the old man was forced to dodge again as Mirai and Hikage also proceeded to suppress him with gunfire and a slashing blade.

From where they stood, the young man and Asuka kept their eyes on Yumi as she watched the entire scene expressionlessly. The two were lost for words as they took everything in from the adults acting to try and neutralize the girls without doing severe damage, to Miyabi locking her blade against Imu's bo and Murasaki's shuriken, to Homura swiping her blades to keep Haruka and Yomi at bay as Yozakura was flanking behind her.

Snorting her nose haughtily, Yumi turned around and marched toward the gym exit opposite of the young man. When Asuka prepared to pursue, he grabbed her by the arm and shouted, "Group up with Homura and round over to Miyabi, they're getting overwhelmed," all while glaring ahead as the distorted controller disappeared into the hallway.

Were it not for Yumi's threat against herself, Asuka would have argued to assist further. But, seeing as everyone all around her was in severe danger of being outnumbered and killed by their own comrades, she nodded her head and charged forward. As Yozakura was about to sucker punch Homura, who was too occupied with blocking Yomi's greatsword and Haruka's puppets, Asuka blew her elbow straight into the back of the blue-haired girl's spine and knocked her down to the ground. From there, the two rivals proceeded to fend off the other girls while making a gradual retreat toward Miyabi, who called after the young man as she pushed away Imu, "Fight! Do not let her win!"

Left on his own amidst the chaos, the young man silently eyed the doors Yumi retreated to. It was obvious that she would have the greater advantage in a one-on-one fight. Her strength and speed couldn't be matched by a non-shinobi and her bladed fan would easily make mincemeat of his flesh and bone. But it was do or die. Then and there, he had to chase after her lest he just left everyone to their fates.

With an anxious breath and a heavy heart, the young man forgot the cold of his soaked clothes and ignored the biting pain in his hip as he pressed ahead past the surrounding swarm of distorted shinobi. Surprisingly, none of them seemed to even consider the prospect of attempting to wound him. Once he passed through the exit, the young man attributed their willful ignorance to the arrogance of Yumi's distorted sense of control… the very same aspect which he would fight tooth and nail to defeat.

**Trapped on all sides, rely on strength,**

**Strength nulled by binds, lean upon eye,**

**Eye bound by cloth, run away blind-**

**BLIND-INTO-TRAP!**

**Win one by one, call unto help,**

**Help caught all force, advance upon prey,**

**Prey armed and honed, unleash all might-**

**MIGHT-BRINGS-THE-WIN!**

**END-THE-PLIGHT!**

**End the plight.**

…**end the plight…**

**The round's not done yet!**

**Hold the just banner!**

**Cling to righteousness:**

**True souls' earned reward!**

**Thoughts drop accolades,**

**Gain for all at cost.**

**Selfish joint health,**

**Bare the fruit of mind,**

**All to cleanse their hearts!**

**All to break the chains!**

**Long winding roads wait,**

**Past journey's first step.**


	17. Chapter 17: Fly

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 17: Fly

Murakumo sloppily swung her cleaver at Jasmine as the older woman, once again, easily dodged around it and struck the underside of the girl's jaw for what should have been another knockout blow. But, as with several instances before, Murakumo only got back up while Jasmine was forced to hold off Minori and Shiki, who were left unattended while Rin and Kiriya were reinforcing Asuka, Miyabi, and Homura against the rest of their comrades. While her two distorted sisters were thrown to the ground with a shove and a kick, Murakumo darted forward with her spear only to have it ripped away from her grip and have the shaft rounded into her stomach.

Earning a few seconds rest from the chaotic brawl, Jasmine watched as Hanzō rapidly jumped between the girls of his respective academy and continued to throw them onto the floor with ease. But, just as the case with the girls of Gessen, they only proceeded to get back up. There was an ongoing realization that everyone free from Yumi's control had to hold back their more damaging blows and ninja arts to avoid the risk of inflicting lasting damage against their unrelenting opponents.

Most frustrating to the older woman was the fact that everything would likely be fixed if Yumi's distortion had been immediately severed. The aforementioned girl was well aware of that fact and easily staved off stronger foes like Hanzō and Jasmine by threatening her own life. The only one she would allow herself to combat was the young man, an opponent whom she could easily overpower due to their difference in power and strength, even if she only managed to retrieve one of her fans amidst the chaos. What she intended to do in the future, whether she would run away or come back thinking she could reassume her position in Gessen, was entirely unknown. The only certain thing was that she intended to fight and kill him, the one who represented the dissent to her control.

Powerless to even offer support to the young man, Jasmine could only stay behind and await the results. Eventually, something had to happen. Hopefully, the marionettes around her would be set free or would at least back off so that a plan could be put together to save the young man. But if anything happened, it was more likely that it would mean the fight between him and Yumi had already ended. Painfully, she and the other remaining shinobi could only wait and see.

Meanwhile, the young man continued through the hallways in a half-sprint, following the sight of Yumi's kimono trailing around a corner or, eventually, following the path laden with freezing ice. His teeth chattered relentlessly as he carefully ascended up the stairwell, fearing that he may slip and crack his head open or be left open to any sort of ambush. With every corner he took, he raised his shaky arms to counter any potential physical strike to come while also keeping his eyes rounding back and forth to watch the periphery of his vision. Occasionally, an icicle would suddenly form on the ceiling and launch downward when his alertness began to dwindle, forcing him to haphazardly dodge out of the way in a nick of time.

All of that plagued him until he reached the end of the icy path: the door to Hanzō Academy's roof. Knowing for fact that Yumi was likely waiting for him in an open environment, one which offered no cover to hide, he was forced to acknowledge the fact that death was a very real possibility. The distorted girl was armed with a bladed fan, one which he'd seen hold its own against Miyabi's katana, while he only had his bare fists. He'd been dragged through a hell's worth of beatings and hypothermia through the day while she'd only wrestled with her fellow shinobi before being carefully restrained. To top it all off, according to Jasmine, she was a shinobi who'd proven exemplary in combat skills since early childhood, trained by one of the deadliest shinobi of all time: Kurokage. The young man, who could only be acknowledged for above-average agility and endurance, was a pacifist who refused to strike his opponents with deliberate harm. Yumi's only weakness in the fight would be the inevitable arrogance that came with a towering sense of control which neglected subtle disadvantages until it was too late. All he could do was try and disarm her attacks, that is if he even had an opportunity to counter whatever Yumi threw at him.

Still, he lifted his hands to push open the doors. In the back of the young man's mind, he remembered that there would be a great price for failure or surrender. He could have easily turned around, returned to his apartment to pack his bags, and returned home. But to do that would bring upon him one of the worst penalties that the world could offer, one which surmounted even the threat of death: the loss of his own freedom to the hands of an overbearing narcist.

With a grunt as he shoved open the doors, shattering ice that had been building up along its top, the young man arrived on the roof and observed Yumi standing with her back to him on the far side, allowing the early night's rainstorm to pelt her from above. It was an obvious attempt to bait him into an unguarded attack, but he couldn't just sit back and hope to beat her in a war of patience and attrition. The time for his attack had finally come.

**Duel: Yumi – Distorted Ice Queen of Gessen Girls' Academy**

He took one single thundery step forward, as if to prod Yumi and see if she would suddenly turn around to fly at him. But she remained still.

"**They'll wind up trusting you…"**

The young man's face remained unbending despite the anxiety that had begun to set in as he took another step forward and stomped his foot into a puddle.

"**Do it just like before."**

His slow advance proved to be unprovocative to his opponent, who continued to leave her back open to the young man. He loathed the fact that he had to make the first strike, being more of a man to counter and disarm the attacks of others. He took a heavy breath, strengthened his resolve, and took his third step in the downpouring rain.

"**Fight! Do not let her win!"**

After that third step, the young man's body no longer faltered. He gradually began to advance on Yumi while picking up in speed, forgetting the freezing rain that bombarded them.

**Pounding hearts,**

His shoulders bounced up and down as he passed the halfway point, all while he sucked in a chilly breath.

**Pumping Veins,**

Balling up his fists as the distance began to close, the young man's eyes were lit up and bright like the swirling fires of an inferno.

**Yearning long,**

Once he was only a few meters away, the young man barely spotted a twitch in Yumi's arm.

**Living free!**

In a sudden swish, Yumi flung around her body. From the ends of her fingertips, an icicle formed and shot forward at the young man's feet, forcing him to jump back in surprise. Once the frost struck into the ground and was obliterated into thousands of tiny shards, he raised his arms and prepared for her rapid advancement only to find that it never came. Instead, Yumi was only facing him with her bladed fan in hand and a deadly scowl on her face. The young man realized quickly that she was gauging his reflexes and speed and braced for her next move.

**Strike the moment there's no escape,**

**Bite the heels of omnipotence,**

Treading light on his feet and prepared to leap away at a moment's notice, the young man began to circle Yumi by the tip of his toes. His arms remained steadfast in the air while his eyes peered through and awaited her next move. Meanwhile, wherever he edged his way to, Yumi wouldn't dare to even blink while her eyes locked on him, glowing red and daring him to take a step forward all while her chin remained low in sheer resentment.

**Hell's choir sings, "BOW, LOW PEOPLE! BOW LOW!"**

In a feint, she threw her arm up as though she intended to launch another icicle. Though his body reflexively jumped away, he caught himself quick enough to ensure he didn't give Yumi a significant amount of distance for her ranged attack. Curling his lips open into a frustrated snarl, the young man's heart continued to beat in his chest in anticipation for what was to come. His eyes followed her every movement as she took her fan and raised it into the air.

**Let them feign their claim to Heaven,**

**The vine knows who's the villain…**

Suddenly, Yumi boomed, "Secret Ninja Art: Black Ice!"

Once the words left her mouth, she dashed forward and sliced her fan around faster than the eye could see. The young man barely dodged back quick enough to avoid what would have been a series of fatal cuts before spotting her next move. Yumi kneeled downward and brought her hands together before pulling them back. Without a bead of sweat nor a grunt of effort, Yumi launched a massive car-sized icicle at him. As he was still being carried by the momentum of his previous dodge, the young man willed himself to fall onto his back and let the massive heap of ice pass overhead.

**Shill's ruse,**

Acting quick on his disadvantage, Yumi pounced forward while rolling her fan up into the air. Before she sliced into his stomach, the young man rolled to the side and used his knees to throw himself back onto his feet as her fan blew straight into the concrete roof, splitting it into multiple cracks. Using the opportunity to claim the offensive, he launched himself forward with his arms extended to wrap around Yumi's neck. Not allowing him to claim control of the situation, she kicked a leg up and nearly struck his nose before roundhousing her other leg to connect with the side of the young man's head. Upon impact, the young man was thrown off his feet and crashed into the ground.

**Abuse,**

Yumi afforded him no time to check his swelling cheek as she called, "Secret Ninja Art: Ice Pillar Fan!" and proceeded to twirl herself around like a whirlwind. The shiny glimmers on the blade of her fan flashed with lightning as the young man rapidly jumped away from the tornado of a woman before she leapt at him. Once she landed beside him, she flicked her fan around with one last grand spin before multiple spears of ice produced themselves from the rain puddles surrounding the young man. It took every bit of sight, hearing, and instinct in him to avoid the crackling harpoons as they stabbed at him, forcing him to nimbly dodge around and sustain multiple light cuts to his limbs. By the time he was done dodging, the icicles blew apart into multiple shards as Yumi dived through and delivered her second kick, exploding it into the young man's chest and blasting him backwards.

**Think they can't lose,**

Though he had to take a few breaths to pull himself back up, the young man was immediately forced into another dodge as Yumi flung herself up and seemed to hover midair while firing more ice projectiles down at him. Back and forth, he was forced to zip around like a mouse under a cat's paw.

**Hell calls, "Bow, bow, bow, bow – BOW, BOW, BOW, BOW!"**

Eventually, Yumi fell back down to the roof. Seeing an opportunity, the young man pounced at her descending form and tackled her head-on. For a moment, they struggled as he continuously tried to reach for her forehead until she managed bend a knee up to get between them and shoved him overhead. While he was falling headfirst toward the ground, the young man's hands latched onto Yumi's upper-arms and held on even after he struck the concrete.

**People,**

Locked and unable to move, Yumi could only blindly swing her fan around with her forearm until she nearly cut into the young man. Before he could be harmed, he released her and pulled himself back up before turning on the side of his heel to continue his assault. When Yumi stood up and raised the fan to defend herself, the young man grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her toward him. Shocked by the sudden momentum, she was lurched forward as he stuck a leg out to try and trip her. Though he was initially successful, Yumi managed to catch herself and reached up to one of his shoulders before pulling herself onto him.

While the young man kept the fan going for his throat at bay, Yumi proceeded to wrap her free arm around his neck and began to strangle him from behind as her legs folded around his abdomen. Losing his breath and needing to counteract quickly, the young man kept her weapon away while summoning all of his spare strength to his legs. He kicked himself into the air while pulling his body backward to land on the back of Yumi's head. The resulting blow was enough to force her off, though it did throw a shock into the young man once he realized he'd seriously hurt her. But, even when his breath stopped and his face twisted into brief surprise, Yumi swung her fan for his ankles and forced him to jump away while she remained prone on the ground.

**Hunt on,**

Not daring to let the bout end in a draw, the young man dove above the clambering Yumi and landed just behind her. While she scurried to pull herself up, the young man knelt himself down to lock the back of her legs beneath his. When Yumi twisted her abdomen around to try and cut him away with her fan, he managed to grab hold of her wrist and began to reach for her head again. Knowing that defeat was close, Yumi pulled up her only free arm to grip the young man's hand before proceeding to crush it in her grip. The resulting pain was excruciating but, despite the tears beginning to sting in the corner of his eyes, he continued to try and press himself forward.

**Give it your all,**

Reclaiming neutral ground while the young man began to seethe from the resulting pain, Yumi twisted her body to fling him down and bring herself on top. Though he still held her fan in one hand, she would only need to wrestle it free and drive it down into him to end the fight. Feeling his grip loosen as Yumi pulled away, he arced one of his shins up to hold against her stomach while his other foot rose up and promptly kicked straight into the center of her chest. Effectively, she was shoved away before she could deliver a fatal blow.

**Push up the winding mountain road!**

Though he scurried himself back onto his feet to brace for her next strike, the young man quickly observed that Yumi was also backing off for that moment. The fight came to a standstill as the two panted heavily and eyed one another, daring for the next move to be made.

**Strike first,**

**Seek feints,**

**Spot shift,**

**Search slack…**

After a moment of basking in the lull of their fight, the young man became wary of just how exhausted he was. His heart was pounding into his chest while his breaths were uncontrollably long and strained. Just as he began to take notice of how hot he felt despite the freezing rain beating down on his head, the young man took notice of the fact that Yumi was still perfectly composed after their bout. Taking in his realization with silent glee, she tilted her chin upward as though to look down on him.

**When distortion measures justice,**

**It's time to upscale descension,**

Knowing that their fight was far from over, the young man straightened himself and raised his fists into the air again. Though his upper body rose and fell with every puff, his throat occasionally emitting a disconcerting wheeze, he knew for fact that there was no running away and that, with his fighting spirit, there was no possibility he'd accept laying down to die. The only option was to fight.

**Freedom's bell rings, "RISE, LOW PEOPLE! RISE HIGH!"**

In response to the young man's apparent resolve to continue the fight, Yumi flared her nostrils before opening her mouth to intake a breath. Her arms rose and crossed one another in the air before being thrown outward as she yelled, "Ultimate Secret Ninja Art: Ice Queen!" Before the young man processed what she said, a sudden blue vortex swirled from the ground to the storm clouds above, enveloping Yumi and hiding her in the sudden whirlwind. The blades of her fan shined in several circles, zipping up and down through the maelstrom as lighting flashed. Once the storming blue gyre disappeared, Yumi stepped back into view. Her glowing red eyes were complemented by long icy blue hair flowing freely as her hair tie blew away in the wind.

**Should corruption endure the night,**

**Mankind abandons salvation…**

Feeling the immense power stemming from her form, the young man took a step back from Yumi as she advanced toward him. Her hand fell to one of her kimono sleeves before gripping something. Morphing the rain as it came down, Yumi produced a massive sword of ice and swiped it to the side to let out a metallic-like ring. Gazing on in horror, the young man realized his disadvantage in the fight had grown exponentially and felt his will begin to crumble at its foundation. But he'd still be damned before he gave in.

**Whistle pipes…**

Darting his eyes back and forth, he took in her form and how she wielded her blade. He noted the fan still within her other hand, making the oncoming engagement increasingly difficult to predict. But the way she held her sword so straight and by the way her fan was reeled back, the young man could foresee the lunge and slice to come.

**Slowing strings…**

He bent his legs and jutted his body against her coming march, lowering one of his hands to be parallel with his stomach while raising the other to level with his shoulders. If there was to be any hope for victory, he had to incapacitate Yumi's weapons before getting caught in a lengthy engagement.

**Cymbals tap…**

He swayed back and forth not even daring to blink. In the back of his mind, he feared that even a quarter of a second without seeing her would mean his loss and death.

**Silent mouths…**

Yumi even seemed to change up her stance after realizing that her attack had been read before it had even begun. Her sword glimmered under a flash of lightning as Yumi bent herself forward, seeming to prepare for a large thrust.

**All in grim anticipation…**

Their eyes had a silent exchange. No muscle flinched under one another's scrutinizing gaze.

**Winding forked road,**

The moment thunder began to roar, Yumi zipped forward and threw all of her power into a stab straight at the center of the young man's chest. Calculatedly unmoving for the briefest fraction of a second, the young man sustained a gash along his lower ribs as the sword ripped past him while he dodged to the side.

**Slippery serpent tongue,**

It was the most dangerous gamble he'd ever taken in his life up to that moment, one which left him simultaneously biting down in pain but also elated to see the opening Yumi gave him. Sparing no time, the young man raised his lowest arm over to her sword-wielding wrist as it passed by and locked on for dear life.

**Taints the freedom it's rung,**

For a moment, Yumi's momentum edged the young man backward. Still, he kept his feet firmly planted to the ground and maintained his balance while watching her other arm. As expected, Yumi immediately moved to retaliate by flattening the offhand weapon and zipped it straight at the young man's throat. Utilizing his free hand, he caught her wrist and proceeded to extend the rest of his arm while simultaneously pressing all of his weight down to the ground.

**Brings death to soul,**

As a result of his premediated move, Yumi was unable to utilize either of her weapons as the combatants were pushed downwards. Caught by surprise and feeling his weight press down on her, Yumi began to bend backwards. In the end, she fell to the ground with the young man on top of her.

**Dragging victims towards its hole!**

Having gained the upper hand in the engagement, the young man sought to act fast and released his hold on Yumi's sword arm, pressing down his knee on the blade to pin it down. As he reached for her forehead, he failed to anticipate Yumi's flexible leg raising up and kicking him in the side of the head. When the first foot fell after its strike, its twin was thrown up at the recovering young man while he struggled to maintain his hold on Yumi. Before he could do anything about it, she released her grip on the sword and clung onto the side of his stomach.

**Leave it dead-cold,**

The young man let out a brief cry of agony as Yumi's hand dug its fingers deep into his skin and proceeded to painfully squeeze for the smaller organs within. Still clenching onto her fan-wielding arm while using his other hand to guard against Yumi's kicks, the young man was trapped on top of her before she rolled them over and began to gain momentum. Suddenly, his struggle to keep her restrained had become one to keep her from driving the fan downward.

**Bring down the cloud-high mount,**

Amidst his defense, Yumi suddenly kicked back one of her legs before kneeing the young man violently in the groin. His legs squeezed together, a state which Yumi used to trap them between her own, as his upper body scrunched forward while he gasped for breath. Fortunately for the young man, the resulting pain had inadvertently propelled the arm struggling with Yumi's fan outward. Clenching his teeth together from the lingering pain between his thighs, he bucked up his hips and legs in a strong effort to roll Yumi over his head.

**Rip the deceiver's veil,**

At first, the young man's attempt to throw her off seemed successful. Then, just when luck seemed to solidly favor him, the arm Yumi was using to reach for her sword instead jutted forward and clung to the hem of his shirt. As a result, her roll ended with her back slamming straight into the young man's face and blinded him beneath the cloth of her kimono. During all of this, his hold on her fan arm remained steadfast.

**Redeem sin's bend,**

For a few seconds, the two struggled against each other with Yumi trying to break free from the young man's hold while he tried to flip away the loose kimono as it hung over his head. Eventually managing to stand up and spin her body away from him, the ice queen took a new approach to trying to lose his grip. Growling frustratedly, she clenched her free hand onto her other wrist before wildly swinging her fan back and forth to wrench it free.

**Venture to the winding road's end!**

Knowing for fact that letting Yumi in her powered state run loose with her fan would be fatal for him, the young man kept a resolute grip on her wrist before pulling himself forward. Shoving with all of his might to keep her fan away, his fingers reached and nearly grazed against her forehead. But, much to his dismay, she pulled herself back and allowed the young man to fly beside her body.

**The first and last,**

Zipping past Yumi, he still kept his other hand locked onto her wrist, pulling her along with him. When she tried to break away, the young man stomped his foot to clamp down onto hers and tripped her. Losing her balance, she spun around his side before twirling him down to the ground with her.

**Blood of tyrants,**

Yumi landed headfirst into the concrete and felt the fan slip from her hands as she recoiled from the pain. Spotting the weapon off to the side, the young man's eyes glimmered at the opportunity. Releasing her wrist and clambering for the weapon, he was caught by surprise when Yumi wrapped both of her arms up and around his waist before lifting him and slamming his forehead straight into the ground.

**Scheming man's doom,**

While the young man clutched the front of his bloody face, Yumi felt at the stinging sensation on her own forehead and looked on in surprise to find that she was bleeding. Snorting at the notion that the young man had unintentionally dealt her harm, Yumi strode over to her fan and bent to pick it up. At that moment, the young man scrambled to tackle into her with a vicious yell.

**HOLD!**

With a cry of surprise, Yumi socked him straight in the face as he gripped onto her before trying to throw him off. Still, ferocious as a bird of prey, the young man clung on and even managed to wrap an arm around her neck.

**HOLD!**

Standing on their feet, the two continued to struggle against one another with Yumi steadily gaining the advantage. But just as she began to reel her arm back to slice the fan into the young man, he gripped her shoulder with his opposite arm while lining his knee against hers. In a sudden surge of desperate energy, he pulled Yumi and unsteadied her balance before tripping her down to the ground.

**HOLD ON! DANGER LINGERS!**

Still on his feet, the young man brought both of his hands to Yumi's fan and gave one last heave before managing to pry it free from her grip. Before she could dive after it or pressed an alternative attack, he leapt away and faced off against her as she stood back up with her face reflecting a murderous look.

**Circled by devils on all sides,**

**Do or die amidst the mission,**

Actively fighting for every breath by that point, the young man was on the verge of collapse while Yumi only let out the occasionally huff of tiredness or of a bruised ego. But, even when she marched over to retrieve her sword, the young man noticed something about the design of the fan in his hand. The rivet, sticks, and ribs' material were hard and dense feeling like a supernatural nonmetal. Even its malleable leaves gave the impression that they could not be easily ripped or torn. Remembering the damage that it had done to concrete, he was sure that the fan could stand up in a fight against the ice sword Yumi wielded.

**Heaven calls down, "CLIMB, HIGH PEOPLE! CLIMB HIGH!"**

The only thing about the fan that put the young man off were the multiple folding blades just above the fan's leaves. By the look of their color and shape, they were made of a more worldly and standard gray steel that conflicted with the rest of the fan's smooth and pristine design. If he had to take a guess, he'd suppose they were new additions made either personally or ordered by Yumi after her distortion set in.

**To quip or show for the record,**

**Certain to drown in avalanche,**

Wondering what she must have been like before the distortion set in, wanting to see for himself the elegant and kind beauty that Jasmine boasted, the young man sucked in a breath and shifted his feet to assume a combat stance. Meanwhile, thoroughly insulted by the notion that her own signature weapon would be used against her, Yumi raised her sword from the ground and began a slow advance. Despite the icy exterior her hair and kimono gave off, her red eyes truly showed the wildfire brewing within.

**High eagles screech, "FLY, HIGH PEOPLE! FLY FAR!"**

In response to her advance, the young man also began to inch himself forward while sliding open both of the fan's guards to be parallel to his forearm. Between the stance he took and the way he held the weapon, it was clear that he held experience in using similar weapons for close quarters combat.

**Even still, the will won't back down,**

**Steeled as the freedom inherent…**

Noting the apparent pacifist's adept posture with the weapon, a hint of alarm surged through Yumi. But arrogance bred from her sense of control threw aside all concern and kept pushing her onward. She rose her sword up into the air and called, "Secret Ninja Art: Black Ice!" and proceeded to slice her sword around in the air in front of the young man to summon the massive icicle once again.

**Scabbard drawn blades…**

The young man raised his arm and fan to level with his face while also bringing up his free hand to hover just over his neck.

**Ringing in mind…**

All that Yumi had left over him was her strength and speed. The young man still had a hidden ace in the hole, a pliable stratagem of numerous techniques that could bring the fight to its end.

**No speech exchanged.**

The massive projectile had begun to form from the center of Yumi's attacks. Clenching his weapon tightly, the young man sucked in one final breath.

**Intentions clear.**

All of his energy was going to go into the next attack. He would either succeed and cure Yumi or be cut down dead.

**Spewing swirled flames!**

The glowing red of Yumi's eyes as the icicle was propelled forward at the young man was outshined by the intensity in his orbs.

**Erupting stones!**

Driving himself forward while bending back his arm wielding the fan, the young man closed his eyes for soon needed protection.

**NO GOOD NOR BAD!**

Behind the mass of ice, Yumi dashed forward as she winded her sword back for a slash.

**SURVIVE OR DIE!**

With no time to spare, the young man slid to his knees and arced himself back as the giant icicle passed overhead. Simultaneously, he propelled the blades of the fan up to skid against the side of the ice. Bits and shards began to rip apart from the mass as the blades on the fan were decimated by the resulting force.

**FLY!**

Following just a meter behind the projectile, Yumi was already arcing her sword around for a fatal slice at the young man's unguarded stomach. However, as the rest of it passed over him, he continued to throw the fan forward, flinging all of the ice which had been grounded away from the mass at his opponent's face.

**FLY!**

Knowing for fact that she would be blinded if she didn't, Yumi was forced to close her eyes as ice sprayed into her face. Still, her sword slashed forward unabated. Fortunately, the young man already adjusted the position of his fan to block the oncoming blow. With a satisfying clang as the sword was bounced back after shattering the last blade on Yumi's fan, the young man dived forward as the girl opened her eyes.

**FLY!**

She drove forward her open palm and blew all of the force she could muster for the young man's stomach only to have her wrist caught by his free hand. Having killed her momentum, the young man's body still continued forward and collided straight into Yumi's. He released her wrist and slid his hand up for her forehead before he caught the defiant glow in her eye.

**Cleanse the world of fatal control,**

Rolling herself backwards while catching the arm rising for her face, Yumi kicked up one of her legs and blocked the rest of the young man's body with her knee. Midway through flipping her body back, she rolled her foot up and kicked him in the jaw before landing back on her feet.

**Be the start of new beginnings,**

Despite the blow to his face, the young man continued to kick his body forward. Out of breath, sore, and freezing, he was seconds away from collapse and had no time to stop or think. He tackled into her while blocking a downward strike from her sword with the fan. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he brought them both to the ground again.

**Break the chains and their corruption,**

When Yumi tried to twist the blade to stab at the young man, he twisted his body away while raising up the fan. In a moment of precise improvisation, he caught the sword between the fan's sticks and ribs. Seeking to disarm her once and for all, he began to repeatedly wrench the fan back and forth with both of his hands to pull the blade from Yumi's grip.

**Heed the call to beat back liars!**

Throwing her palm into the young man's stomach, that time with greater success, Yumi began to take the advantage and nearly pulled her sword free. But even as he wheezed for air, the young man twisted the fan and locked the blade repeatedly so it couldn't escape. He nearly took a successful breath when he saw Yumi reeling her free arm back for another jab. Instinctively, the young man's other arm left the fan to reach for her head which, in turn, forced Yumi to cut off her attack to catch it and protect herself.

**The situation's gone dire!**

As both opponents struggled with their arms occupied while their legs pushed and guarded against one another, the fight came to its final moments. Though Yumi had greater strength and stamina, the young man was a wild animal driven to its last corner. Every ounce of energy in his body was rushing to support him and his win. Even if he was inferior, the best of himself aimed to be enough to topple the distorted shinobi.

**The wicked and benevolent,**

Managing to slide one of her legs free, Yumi repeatedly tried to either kick the young man in the back of the head or bend it enough to get between the two. However, he kept swinging their bodies back and forth to cut her attempts to break away short. Eventually, when Yumi's legs came together briefly, the young man took his chance and spread both of his legs out to hook them around the undersides of her knees. When she tried to kick him off, he arced his body so that every push only further assisted him in driving his free arm toward her forehead.

**Yin and yang unite as one force,**

Confined only to the power of her arms, Yumi could only try to pull the sword free while crushing the young man's wrist in her grip. But unlike his previously seethed reaction, the young man's expression was desperate and crazed. Even while his teeth were biting down and grinding hard against one another, it only prompted him to wrestle even more fiercely.

**Epitome of swords and shield,**

Just when the young man seemed to finally take and keep the advantage over Yumi, he found his breath cut short. The feverish heat in and on his head as blood dripped down with the flooding rain left him weakening quick and suddenly. Even though there were no other strikes to sap the air out of him, the young man was beginning to relent. His saving grace was that he was well aware of it and quickly thought through the last card he had in stock.

**Striking the hypocritical!**

Feeling his slackening strength, Yumi began to put distance between his hand and her face. Glimpsing over to her sword still caught in the fan, she gave one final grand heave before pulling the blade and the weapon caught on it out of the young man's grip. Much to her surprise, the young man's face didn't react in the slightest.

**A great victory, they will yield!**

Ready to deliver the final blow, Yumi reeled the sword back and swung it for the young man. Unfortunately for her, while his other hand was still contesting with hers, he reached out for her sword arm mid-swing and caught her by the wrist. Unsure of what he planned to do since his grip only slowed the strike, Yumi continued to press her arm forward.

**Blinding like light, crafty as dark,**

Grunting loudly as he used the last of his energy, the young man unwrapped his legs from hers while using his grip on both of Yumi's arms to heft his body upwards. Before his opponent knew what was happening, he'd already swung his legs between the two and past her head.

**The all-accepting force of heart,**

Once his legs stretched as far as they could kick, the young man let their momentum carry the rest of his body forward as he released Yumi's wrists. The sword she was swinging was effectively shoved aside as he and the entirety of his upper body piled onto her neck and head.

**Betrayed brother of treachery,**

Yumi was about to counterattack when one of the young man's arms wrapped around her throat from the front while the other shot straight for her forehead. His fingers grazed against her and she began to wildly swing her limbs around in a fit of panic. While the palm of the young man's hand settled on her forehead, her ice sword cleaved into the back of his shoulder and produced a noiseless and wheezy cry of pain from his throat.

**Will usher the new tomorrow!**

He reached his consciousness out to hers and severed the distortion away.

Just like that, it was over. Yumi's body froze up and dropped the ice sword as it melted back into rainwater. Releasing her head and neck, the young man rolled away as he fought for his breath. But, when the air didn't come into him and his feverish mind began to break away, he was reserved to lay on the ground. Peace was found in the fact that he'd won the fight but he was still discontent knowing that the correction was incomplete. Unless he gave Yumi back her sense of control, she would later wake up as a shell of her former self. Plus, if the roof of Hanzō Academy was really where he was meant to die, then he'd do whatever he could to make sure that his own loss meant someone else got to live. He could go in peace with that in mind.

Thus, as his body heaved airless coughs and his heart painfully thumped against the inside of his chest, the young man rolled onto his front and weakly crawled over to Yumi. With one last look at her as her icy blue hair faded back into her normal dark gray, the young man rested his forehead against hers. His consciousness transferred into her mind and left his body behind, prepared to let it die, unaware of the shinobi rushing from the gym to his aid at that very moment.

**All on the tide of victory,**

**Mountains will fall, hazards will cease,**

**In shadows forever unseen…**


	18. Chapter 18: Assurance (Yumi)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 18: Assurance

From Yumi's memories, the young man beckoned a beautiful forest with a large snow peaked mountain peering over the treetops. As his body formed, he could hear the lull of a stream and the whistling of leaves amidst a gentle wind. All of the greenery with the many different colors of the surrounding bushes and flowers made the young man nod in approval once his own body took shape. It all distracted him well enough from the fact that his real body was likely suffocating. Adding the fact that the rushed position the young man took to connect his head to Yumi's would likely result in his head sliding right off, preventing his subconscious from even potentially helping.

Forcefully taking his mind off his injuries, he let out a heavy-hearted sigh and began to survey his surroundings for Yumi. Quickly enough, he spotted an opening between the trees and found a small house resting in the center of a clearing. On his approach, the young man could see a mix of shinobi practice tools and children's toys leaning up against the little cabin. With a bit of thought, the young man deduced that he was standing in the very place that Yumi and her adopted sisters were raised. His eyes turned over to a collapsed form leaning against a pole sticking out from the ground. In long strides, the young man approached the form before pausing a meter away. He fell to his knees and sat on his feet before curtly nodding his head, "Yumi."

Breathing heavy with the occasional spasm of a limb, the girl sat limply against the pole as her teary eyes repeatedly darted back and forth. All of her elegance and beauty were nowhere in sight as she sat without even a hint of control over herself. There were very few things in the young man's life that were as pitiful and pathetic as the sight of her suffering in the way she was. Closing his eyes for the briefest of moments to acknowledge his part in causing her current state, the young man stated as gently as he could possibly muster, "Listen… I'm here-" but was forced to stop when his voice cracked.

Along with the pressure of knowing that his body was dying, the young man couldn't help but feel a piercing guilt for bringing Yumi into such disrepair. Even if it was to help her, he had cut off her sense of control which, in turn, resulted in her mind going haywire. Never mind the body before the young man, Yumi couldn't even control her own thoughts. She was facing every memory she did or didn't want to see, every success and failure she'd ever made, every possibility she did and didn't take. The suffering of it all could be seen in the tears, bitter and sweet, streaming down her face.

After taking a moment to catch himself, the young man cleared his throat and readdressed her, "I can fix this. All I need for you to do is to wait. Once you can, accept back your sense of control."

Without a hint of acknowledgement from her, he leaned himself forward and took one of her hands between both of his. All he could do after that was wait. Since she had none over herself, the young man had to wait for a random point in which her mind would take back its sense of control. Even if it were just a sliver, Yumi taking the slightest bit of control back into herself would give her the ability to reach out and take the rest. Fortunately, by just taking her hand and waiting, her dysfunctional mine was bound to accidentally do so at some point.

Thus, the young man was forced to sit idly by, gently rubbing his thumbs across the top of Yumi's shaky hand in hopes that she could feel some semblance of comfort while they waited. A minute passed by without anything happening and he began to speak soothingly, "It shouldn't be too long now. You'll take back control over yourself and you'll be free of this mess," before falling again to silence. Even after that, nothing happened for some time. Occasionally, he'd spout something along the lines of, "I'll be here until it's completely done, don't worry," or "It won't be terribly long… Just a bit more patience and it'll all be over."

Just when the young man began to fear that he was doing something wrong or would have to endure yet another gruesome trial, he felt just a bit of Yumi's control get pulled back into her. She blinked warily and her icy blue eyes locked onto the young man's. What resulted was one of the greater domino effects he'd ever had the honor to partake in. That tiny sliver of control reached out and pulled over another bit. Yumi's body stopped fidgeting. Those two slivers in turn pulled over another pair. She weakly began to pull herself up from her slumped position. Then there came more, more, and more. Gradually, she took it all back and was made whole again.

Once the process was complete, there was sheer silence between the two. The young man stared at Yumi as she sat herself straight against the pole with wide eyes. He waited patiently while she looked down at her quivering hands. All of the memories from the previous weeks, every insult she dished out and all of the harm she'd done, hit her like a bullet train. Through it all, the mixed tears that continued to waterfall down her cheeks only turned sorrowful. Then she looked to the young man in the same way she'd regard a stranger before her eyes widened, envisioning all of the trespasses she committed against him. Between the chases, the wounds, and their confrontation, she knew of all that she'd done to him. Worst of all, she remembered that the young man's goal was to free her from the distortion which had been plaguing her. Without cost and facing off against the shinobi who'd do him harm, he only intended to help.

Unable to hold the welling despair within, she hiccupped a few times before breaking out into full sobs. The tears fell in greater volume as complete shame and guilt wracked her mind to its very core. As she cried on and on, the young man's face fell awkwardly. He wanted to comfort her but considered the fact that she could very well still regard him as an unwelcomed entity. Bur, when Yumi hands went up to cover her face while her body repeatedly bounced with every sob, he couldn't refrain from offering a shoulder.

With the uncomfortable look still on his face, the young man skirted his knees forward until they very nearly connected with Yumi's. Slowly and carefully, he reached his hand out to gently grasp onto her shoulder. Unexpectedly, it prompted the bawling girl to lurch forward, very nearly pushing the young man onto his back, to wrap her arms around him and cry into his chest. While surprised, he raised his hand from Yumi's shoulder to cradle the back of her head while the other wrapped around her back. After adjusting, he began to soothe, "Let it out… Let it out…" while she kept her head buried into him. Over time, he began to rub and knead his finger against the back of her head, rocking her back and forth while promising with hushed breaths, "None of it was your fault… No one, not your sisters nor any of your friends, blames you… It'll all be okay…"

Minutes went by as Yumi let out all of the welled sorrow, mixed between the guilt of her actions and the memories she faced while her control was severed. In the back of the young man's mind, he knew that his body only fell further and further into the clutches of death while he tarried. But the way that Yumi held him felt refreshing and, being fully aware of his own feelings, he already knew why. Between the mixture of warmth and dependency shared, the last time the young man exchanged a hug like that was months before with his grandfather. To experience that particular feeling again allowed the young man to really put into perspective just how starved he was for it, enough so that he couldn't bring himself to leave it even under the threat of his body dying.

Eventually, with great reluctance, Yumi pulled her sniveling head away and looked up to the young man. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks as she stuttered with quivering lips, "I am… so, so… so sorry…" before hiccupping a few more times.

Shaking his head, the young man calmly said, "It wasn't in your control. There's nothing to be sorry for."

"No," Yumi argued shakily, "No… I heard from Miyabi and Homura… from Jasmine in the gym… You take things that are a part of us- All of that out there, what I've said and done… That was all me, wasn't it?"

"That was one fraction of a million parts of you," the young man replied, still rubbing his thumb against the back of her head, "and it was one which everyone has. Add in just how far developed the distortion was…" Without a hint of unsureness, the young man shook his head, "It's not your fault. I know it for sure and everyone out there knows it. That's why they stood up to you… In order to save you."

Still letting out small sobs, Yumi mumbled, "I'm still responsible for this though. I attacked-" before suddenly pulling herself away from him, "Goodness, are you hurt!? Here, show me your wounds and… Where, where are your wounds…?"

Startled by her sudden alarm, the young man raised a hand while leaning back, "We're in your head right now," and proceeded to lie through his teeth, "Trust me when I say I'm fine."

Having heard similar words after sparring sessions with her sisters, Yumi had none of it, "You aren't fine!" she said with a crack in her voice, "Putting aside how sick you must have been beforehand, you've taken very serious cuts! Even if we're…" but trailed off when she processed the first part of his sentence, "We're in my head?"

Ignoring her comments on his injuries, the young man gave her an affirmative grunt, "It's how I do the correction. Did Miyabi or Homura not fill you in on this detail?"

Looking around and fully taking in the fact that she was at her childhood home, Yumi mumbled under her breath, "No, they did. It's just… I didn't expect it'd be so real."

Seeing how enamored she was with the cabin and how it detracted from the previous subject, the young man stepped up from his knees and offered Yumi a hand, "Give it a look." Somewhere in the back of the young man's head, he accepted that too much time had passed for his body to sustain itself. If Yumi doing a bit of exploration through the memories of her childhood home put off confronting whatever came after death, he'd have no complaints.

Taking his hand while her mesmerized face began to softly smile, the girl uttered, "It's… all here." Yumi's slow walk toward the house turned into a trot as she looked from shinobi equipment to the cabin's woodwork and to the toys. At one point, she let out a quiet chuckle before turning back to the young man, "You know how I can tell this isn't the real thing?"

Following after her, he said with a blank face, "Tell me."

She pointed toward the pole she was leaning against not thirty seconds before, "By the time Grandpa propped up that post there," and rounded her finger to the toys, "we, that is my sisters and I, had already buried these off somewhere to prove that we were ready to train ourselves as shinobi."

Looking between each of them, the young man found it easy to imagine all of the girls' younger selves playing with the items in question. There was a miniature oven of wood and smooth metal rods along with coloring books scattered messily along the ground nearby, a sketchpad with a devil's face on the front page beside a few handcrafted figurines, and stitched dolls with beautifully knit clothes. While observing the playthings, the young man took notice of Yumi looking down longingly at a particular set of items: an assortment of calligraphy and history books. Seeing the nostalgic smile on her face, the young man found himself mirroring her expression.

After a moment of reminisce, Yumi said, "I probably don't need to tell you all of the tall tales we've made with these."

Tilting his head, the young man asked, "What do you mean?"

Turning back to face him, the girl asked, "Don't infiltrators read the memories of the person they're correcting?"

Immediately, the young man's eyes went narrow. Before he even thought to respond, he rapidly replied, "I don't." By the time he realized how aggressive he came off, Yumi had already reeled her head back in surprise. Feeling the back of his neck begin to itch with sudden guilt and embarrassment, the young man stuttered, "Sorry, I didn't mean- no, I did but I… didn't," before taking a moment to loudly clear his throat to slowly speak, "While infiltrators are capable of doing it, I do not… take part in that practice. I regard memories to be very personal. I only manage to create places like this," he gestured to the house, "by… looking- well not literally- I create them by feeling its outer shell… sort of. You do not need to worry about me accessing your memories without your consent… ever."

Seeing the once completely composed and rational young man being reduced to a flustered mess just because he tripped over his response nearly brought a laugh out of Yumi's throat, though she kept it in to prevent further damage to his ego. Instead, she replied, "I won't worry then," before bowing, "Thank you for respecting the privacy of those memories."

The young man immediately gestured for her to rise with a face tightened in embarrassment, "No, don't worry. Please rise… please."

Standing herself straight, Yumi continued to smile down on his reddened face before looking back to the cabin. She could see the memories of playing with her sisters in the clearing while trying to forget the pain of having lost their parents. She could rehearse the cruel words exchanged in every fight between Shiki and Murakumo over whatever ridiculous reason they could scrounge up against one another. Above all, she could see her grandfather's smiling face, hear his words of encouragement, and feel his warm hand atop her head. Part of Yumi wondered aloud, "Would you be proud that I lost today or just be happy to have me back?"

Having regained his composure, the young man quirked his head up at her before asking, "What- Uh… I'm… happy?"

Jumping a bit after being pulled from her thoughts, Yumi stammered, "Wh- no, no! I was just…" before pausing at the notion of explaining that she was talking to her deceased grandfather.

Fortunately, a look of realization passed over the young man, "Ah. Sorry to interrupt."

"No need to apologize," Yumi said, "In fact, while I'm thinking about it and if you don't mind, could I ask you a question?"

"I don't mind."

Yumi immediately asked with intensely wide eyes, "Those techniques that you used out there, what were those?" Her mind became transfixed on the fighting style which bested her, the granddaughter and top student of Kurokage.

Taking his turn to reel back from Yumi, the young man mumbled, "It really isn't special. You don't need to get too… excited," but paused once he saw the competitive edge in her eyes. After taking a short breath, the young man answered, "It was a basic form of CQC."

Upon hearing the word 'basic' and letting it echo in her head for a moment, Yumi felt herself lean forward with an empty look on her face, "So… CQC… I lost to basic CQC… that's understandable… yeah…"

Before the girl could start muttering about how disappointing she must have been to her grandfather, the young man quickly iterated, "There's no need to sore about it. You lost because you were practically fighting with a hand tied behind your back."

Waving her hand to dispel his claim, Yumi mumbled, "There's no need to try and console me. It only means I have a ways to go before I can consider myself strong."

Feeling his face tighten in irritation of her denying his words, the young man spoke frankly, "No, seriously. So long as your distorted control had the reins, you regarded every situation to be under said control. I'm sure I don't need to tell you just how dangerous it is to not properly grasp advantages or disadvantages in a combat situation." When Yumi's empty look didn't go away, the young man pursed his lips before muttering, "If it makes you feel any better, you gave me the fight of my life out there."

Yumi's eyes briefly widened before falling low with a resurging guilt. Before the young man could question her, she asked quietly, "Be honest… out in the real world, are you really fine? You took more than a few strikes and cuts in that fight."

The thoughts of death that he'd been trying to put off immediately sank back into the young man. Even as he replied, "I'm fine… even if you were distorted, you were ultimately just defending yourself," the fearful look that glazed over his face told Yumi more than enough.

She took a step toward him and offered out a hand while her lips curled downward. Hesitantly, the young man complied with her nonverbal request and rested his hand atop hers. Yumi softly stroked his knuckles with her thumb while murmuring, "I'm sorry… I hope the damage isn't… irreparable."

The young man's head shrunk a bit while the slightly taller girl offered coddling words. After averting his gaze to the side, he talked slightly louder than he intended, "You don't need to be sorry. Besides, I wound up hurting you at times when I was caught in a pinch. As someone who's vowed against that sort of fighting, I should be-"

"Don't apologize," came Yumi's quick reply. Desperately, she kept angling her head to try and meet his eyes while the young man kept turning away. Eventually, when she finally managed to catch and hold his gaze, she saw the truthful yet silent terror than was beheld by a prominent frown and glimmering eyes. Even as she began to tear up at the sight, Yumi quietly declared, "Don't speak ill of what you did to survive out there. You had every right to fight back, especially if it was life or death," and proceeded to pull him into a hug.

The young man was confused when tears began to roll down his face. The situation had transitioned into a reverse with him on the verge of letting out his own sorrow while Yumi held him. The only thing that kept him from being reduced into a sniveling mess was the resolve that he made prior to their fight: death was more preferable than the loss of his freedom to the narcist that he left back home. But, even then, why were those the only two options? Was there a cruel deity who decided that the young man was due for a tragic tale or did luck decree that he rolled his dice too low to live any longer? Falling victim to his own self-pity, his shoulders began to bounce up and down while he tried to stifle every quiet sob that erupted from his throat.

Doing the same as he did for her earlier, Yumi just held the young man close despite being unaware of every circumstance which plagued him. They were practically strangers but she rubbed her hand against the back of his head while hugging him tightly with all of the assurance she could muster. Even without being told so, she could tell there was a part of him that had been scared through the whole ordeal. Whether he felt it during or put it off until after, she didn't know. All that she could see was that he was feeling it then and it broke her heart to see all of the strength that he had put up gone.

With a shaky breath, the young man pulled away with a barely audible croak, "I have to do it… bring us out, that is," before sucking back the saliva which had been pushed to the front of his mouth.

Holding firm against his attempt to break away, Yumi asked, "Do you want to wait? Is there… a rush?"

"No," whispered the young man as gave up resisting against her arms, "no, I just… can't wait here forever."

"But if you want some time," Yumi said, "you've earned it. More than," and watched as his teary eyes peered up at her. If they weren't leaking sorrowful tears, she wouldn't have been afraid to call them beautiful. Even if she looked past the two waterfalls running down the young man's cheeks, the evident fear of whatever was to come was too prevalent. Instead, she could only offer, "I'm here with you."

There, the young man stood in the arms of the woman who had once set out to kill him. His parted lips quivered and his puffy eyes were red as the sobs came back in full force. He thought he'd been ready to face death with not only his head on straight but with an arrogant attitude. He thought he'd meet the reaper of souls and ask to share a drink since he died so young. Instead, the young man only wanted to run while pleading to the looming spirit for more time. Even if he walked the Earth seeking an unambitious existence, he still wanted to see what a life without danger could offer. There were still people he'd like to meet and one person he'd hoped to see again: his grandfather. The young man wanted to present himself to the old man and ask if the few years of training were well spent and if he'd done enough to justify true redemption from the aspirations that he once vied for?

But, between the sickness his body picked up from the rain and from all of his wounds, the young man didn't think he'd any of the sort. Even if any of the shinobi ran their way up to him and Yumi after the battle, the young man was just a strange visitor. Compared to the girl who held him in her arms, he was damaged tool. As Yumi continued to rub his back as assuredly as she could, he let out all of his frustrated and desperate tears. His ringing sobs conveyed just how unfair the world could be to someone who just wanted an escape. Unsure and uncaring of how much time was passing around him, the young man could only let out all of the pent-up emotions that had been dormant for months on end.

After his last sob, he gave one last prominent hug to Yumi. Upon pulling his head away while tears ran down his face, the young man sucked in a breath as the world began to break away into light. Caught unaware by his decision to cut their time short, Yumi looked down in alarm to his still frowning face. Even as their own forms began to fade away, he uttered up at her, "Thank you… I… thank you… thank you…"

Feeling their connection sever, the young man braced for whatever was to come next. Perhaps he'd be stuck in Yumi's head for a while before eventually getting absorbed into her subconscious, though the odds were that there wouldn't be such a complicated result. It was more likely that his consciousness would briefly conflict with hers before he faded away into nothingness.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of control reclaiming the identity of a gentle soul, you have saved a young woman from a life in which she'd watch her own body through a window as it cruelly abused those whom she loved.**

**For this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has endured through physical and mental punishment in order to save her. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the seeds of a love to come will blossom.**

The light began to disperse and the young man wondered if he was approaching the gates of Heaven or a path toward reincarnation. Briefly, a fear that he was simply going to lose all consciousness and fade into darkness took hold. But, when he heard voices, he felt the assurance that there was something that came after life and that, based on the lack of fire, he wouldn't be descending to any sort of Hell yet.

Then the young man realized something: he hadn't gone through the process of leaving Yumi's mind yet.

That was when he felt the obscure sensation of his consciousness transferring over into his own body, a baffling scenario considering the fact that his rush to connect heads with Yumi practically guaranteed that they wouldn't stay connected. Yet, it couldn't be anything else since he didn't find himself fighting for control over Yumi's body in the way he did with the last three cases. As his consciousness continued to seep back to where it belonged, he heard a voice which distinctly belonged to a certain naif.

"Wait until he's awake. Don't pull her away any sooner."

Suddenly he felt the sensation of being back within his own body and opened his eyes to take in the scene before him. He was face to face with an awakening Yumi as her eyes drowsily fluttered. Once his head turned to the side, breaking physical contact with the girl, he heard Homura call from nearby, "He's awake. Get her into a blanket."

The young man tried to crane his body up and ask after his location, which prompted his body to be engulfed with pain as his stomach's wound throbbed sorely. When his arms reached to feel it, they screamed in agony too and forced him to just lay back unmoving. By that point, he'd already realized that he was wrapped head-to-toe in warm blankets atop a dried bed within the very infirmary he awoke in earlier that night.

While his eyes studied his surroundings, he heard footsteps approach him and locked eyes onto Jasmine as she stood above him with a soft look on her face. His expression remained blank as she asked him, "Are you okay?" The only thing the young man could offer was silence while his feverish mind caught up to the fact that he was still alive. Even if his breaths were strained, he could still feel his own lively heart thumping away inside his chest. At some point, Jasmine started to explain how she and Hanzō came to his rescue but he just zoned those details out. The only thing which really caught his ears was when the old man japed about his wife apparently blowing a hole through the hallway ceiling to quickly get the two combatants treated and warmed in the infirmary.

By scrunching up his forehead or lightly flinching his limbs, the young man could feel bandages covering his sore body while the married couple yapped away at one another. His eyes turned and found that most of the shinobi caught under Yumi's distortion were either resting sleepily on the blanketed floor or pulling their bodies up into consciousness. The only exceptions were the girls of Gessen as they exhaustedly pulled themselves up to wrap their newly corrected sister into warm blankets. Occasionally, one of them would look back at the young man and bow their head deep gratitude for his work. Finally, just as Jasmine was snapping her finger in front of his face to get his attention, the young man realized that he was fully released from his fear.

He was alive. With every breath and conscious thought, he began to fully realize that he was still alive and no longer in any danger.

Snapping her fingers again, Jasmine groaned, "Come on, I'm trying to talk to you here." But, after a few seconds of observing his face, her look fell soft again. At her sudden silence, Hanzō gave a small smile as his wife gently leaned over the young man. The adults doing their best to keep the unconscious girls comfortable felt their gaze drift over as the three shinobi unaffected by Yumi's distortion also turned their heads in concern. Then Jasmine tenderly asked, "Are you okay?"

Relieved tears streamed down the young man's smiling face while he fought back against his body's urge to sob aloud. Occasionally sucking in a wavering breath of air through his teeth, he felt all of his fear scatter away. With every sniffle, he dropped the worrying unsureness that he had been enduring since he'd begun his mission. At that moment, he knew that he didn't need to fight for his life and that he was safe.

Just as the waterworks reached their peak and the young man's attempts to hold back his sobs began to fail, he felt a gentle hand rest atop his head. Looking next to Jasmine, he found Asuka standing beside him as she brushed hair away from his bandaged forehead. Toward the foot of his bed, he felt the mattress shift as two other forces sat down. Upon looking there, he found Homura and Miyabi sitting with the warmest faces he'd ever seen them hold. None of them uttered any words, though there was no need to. All of the comfort and assurance could be found in their soft and gentle smiles, promising the young man that no more harm would come to him.

Stepping away with a quiet snort, Jasmine moved to exit out into the hallway before she heard her husband whisper over, "He's taking it better than I would have guessed, considering how much he kept dammed away."

Doing her best to hide her own surprise at the young man's display of uncontrolled emotion, Jasmine found herself stating, "It's hard to believe he's still so young. I'm amazed he's made it as far as he has."

"Kids mature fast these days," Hanzō replied, "With how much is at their fingertips, it shouldn't be terribly surprising to see them bottle it all up like a bunch of self-destructive adults. But, however quiet and calculated he is… he's still just a kid."

His wife just looked at him, remembering how she dragged the young man into the whole mess to begin with and expected him to go above and beyond for the shinobi out to kill him. Feeling her own bit of shame and guilt weighing down after the day's ordeal, Jasmine mumbled quietly, "I'll keep that in mind."

While the two adults left the room, Yumi was caught in the confines of a loving embrace from her four sisters. Even as they fought the exhaustion pulling their bodies down after the night's troubles, they clung to her and repeatedly uttered, "I love you, Yumi," under their breaths without any prior words exchanged. To the girl in question, it was astonishing. To be forgiven despite all of the trouble caused by her distortion was so unbelievable a concept that she nearly tthought she was dreaming. There wasn't even an exchange of jokes or sarcastic gestures to blow off whatever malice that could've been built up. There was only the truest love of her sisters as relief clung onto all of their faces. Even through the cries and sobs from Minori and Yozakura, through the tears drizzling down Shiki's cheeks, and the small sniffs resounding from under Murakumo's mask, there was no doubt that Yumi's sisters loved and forgave her.

Amidst their reunion, the awakened girl found her eyes drifting back to the bed where the young man laid. Occasionally, Yumi would catch a glimpse of his teary but smiling face between Asuka, Homura, and Miyabi's forms while they offered silent comfort. There was no measuring the relief that surged through the ice queen when she realized that he didn't succumb to his injuries. After all, he was the white knight who fought with all that he had against an unrelenting force for the sake of saving her. Part of Yumi remembered the confident and unbending posture that he took while they were fighting. She remembered just how driven he was to win despite the odds having been stacked against him from the very start.

Even if he was a bit of mess at that moment, the memory of him in action to save her was enough to make a girl's heart skip a beat.


	19. Chapter 19: Deliberation

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 19: Deliberation

Taking a few long drags from her pipe, Jasmine looked up at the damnable hole in the ceiling. Her face repeatedly contorted between mildly irritated with narrowed eyes to completely worn out as her jaw slowly went slack in defeat. Amidst the contemplation of the circumstances that caused her to inflict such damage to the school, Hanzō approached her from behind. His ever-cheerful face flicked between the hole and his wife before he commented, "Would you say we've passed the worst of it?"

Turning her head to blow smoke into his unreactive face, Jasmine drearily replied, "Unless Oda doesn't ask why a bunch of shinobi were fighting in Hanzō Academy and doesn't ask how the ceiling got destroyed…" and proceeded to put out her pipe, "Not even remotely."

Ignoring the lingering smoke around his head, her husband asked, "You've no regrets?"

"Of course not, don't be silly," she replied before waving the smoke in Hanzō's face away, "Yumi nearly drowned with her nose and mouth slipping into a puddle… And our boy? He wasn't even breathing… No, if I took the stairwell then at least one of them would be dead."

Hanzō nodded while humming in approval, "Then we think alike," and gazed up to damage. The hole itself was about a meter and a half wide with multiple pipes and bits of electrical wiring dangling out. After a moment of contemplation, he surmised, "Well… We've got about ten hours before school starts. There's no patching and fixing all of that unless we call Oda… and we'd have to do it now."

Letting out a sigh, Jasmine asked, "I'll do my best to get our little secret home, though doing so without further damage to him will be difficult."

"Stay here," Hanzō said with a dismissive wave of his hand and a sure smile on his face, "He'll be light enough for me to carry and keep stable without any risk of harm."

Suddenly staring at him intensely as her maternal instincts kicked in, Jasmine growled threateningly, "Do not let him get hurt! No showboating, no sideshows, no slowdowns so you can yap away- nothing! Just get him home and get back here before Oda arrives."

The old man lifted both of his arms into the air with an innocent smile, "Why are you so worried? I've learned, I've learned! There will be no repeats from that anniversary nor of Akari's ninth birthday! I've already promised you that. And, hey, with that last statement, do you mean to imply that Killjoy Big-Boy is faster than me? I'm actually insulted."

Staring at her husband with a no-nonsense grimace, Jasmine pointed back toward the infirmary, "And there'll be more verbal flogging to come if you don't move your ass."

With one final snort, Hanzō mumbled, "I'll move mine because yours is so sweet," before turning around and walking away with a swat at Jasmine's behind. When she stiffened up from the contact, he boasted, "It's been way~ too long since I've done that."

The resulting fist that connected into the side of his head echoed loudly through the hallway.

In the infirmary, Homura turned her head to the doorway, "Did you guys hear that?"

Asuka brought a finger to her lips in thought for a moment before offering, "Based on the echo, I'd guess it was Grandpa doing something again," and proceeded to continue patting the resting young man's head.

While Homura cringed from the pain that Hanzō must have been feeling at that moment, Miyabi peered around her and quietly stated, "It looks like the painkillers have begun to settle in."

Lacing her fingers through his hair, Asuka said nothing as she gave another appreciative smile down to the sleeping boy beside her. Having seen the split concrete and the uncountable shards of shattered ice, her soft eyes betrayed the imagination inside as she envisioned the fight that went down on the roof. Even without all of that, the young man's intensive work was beheld by the form being embraced on the other side of the room.

As tears mixed with relief and sorrow streamed down her cheeks, Yumi kept hugging herself into her four sisters. Regardless of however many times they accepted her apologies, she just kept reaching out and whispering with a cracked voice to them, "I'm so sorry for everything I've said and done these last few weeks. I hope you can come to forgive me but just know that I am so sorry… I love you, all of you, so much…"

Every time, Yozakura would quip back with teardrops in the corner of her eyes, "We've already forgiven you long ago," before being pushed aside as a bawling Minori buried herself into Yumi's embrace and spouted with her muffled voice.

"We love you too, Yumi! We love you so, so, so much!"

Flanking their recovering sister's shoulders, Murakumo and Shiki remained silent. Once the other two had their fill, the latter would carefully wrap an arm around Yumi's neck and nuzzle their cheeks together while the former discreetly brushed the mask off to plant a kiss on her temple. The scene promised one thing to the other girls strewn about the room: however much the elite of Gessen may bicker or come to a conflict of interests, they were still a sisterhood. The five of them would stand by one another through the world's darkest crevices and would celebrate the safety of one another with smiles and tears.

As the quiet began to resettle, Hanzō soundlessly cracked open the door before slipping his way into infirmary with a noticeable bump on the back of his head. He maneuvered around the numerous resting shinobi across the floor and snuck behind Asuka, who went back to combing her fingers through the young man's hair with a smile on her face, "So soft," and peered to her other two friends sitting on the side of the bed, "You two should feel when… you get… what?"

Both Miyabi and Homura were staring above the girl's head before exchanging looks with one another, unsure if they should note Hanzō lingering just overhead. Fortunately, the old man decided to make his entrance with a quiet whisper into her ear, "A-su-ka~…"

Nearly breaking out into a scream that cracked back into a squeak while her heart nearly shot out of her throat, Asuka whipped around and sputtered with a shiver, "Gra-, Gra-, Grandpa…!"

"I know you seem to be in the middle of your own courting ritual," he said with a mischievous smile, "but, alas, I'd need to conduct an interview with him first. After all, I know your father and mother would be too soft on him."

Feeling the steam blow out of her ears while Homura snickered behind her, Asuka murmured, "There, there's no, there is absolutely no need for that now, Grandpa…"

Leaning his face closer in an interrogative fashion, Hanzō spoke quietly, "But will I?" After that question, Asuka remained quiet. She glanced her face at the still young man before dragging her eyes down to the floor, a suspicious move that elicited curious hums from Homura and Miyabi. Keeping in the cackle bubbling in his throat, Hanzō turned to the few awake shinobi in the room, "Everyone, it's time to say goodbye. Shinobi authorities will be on the way and I need to get our red flag out of here."

Having been sitting quietly against the wall next to the still unconscious Katsuragi, Ikaruga asked warily, "Who's coming?"

With a grim smile supplanting his once cheerful face, Hanzō uttered, "The head of Inquisitive Affairs, himself: Killjoy Big-boy…" and watched as everyone around him stared with puzzled features across all of their faces. Letting out a humph, he reiterated, "Oda."

Immediately after the final syllable of his name, everyone's eyes nearly bulged from their skulls in alarm. In particular, Miyabi quietly shook for a moment before asking, "Do… you think that he'll…"

Hanzō finished for her, "He'll definitely use his network to contact your father, seeing as Hebijo students fought on campus without declaring an official Shinobi Battle Royale." Giving a nod with a lamenting sigh, Miyabi resigned herself to the fate to come and turned her head away at the thought.

Aware that the consequences would be dire, the three girls sitting on the side of the young man's bed stood up and watched as Hanzō's arms scooped under the blankets covering him before pausing awkwardly. Slowly, he turned his head and asked, "If you don't mind my asking, where are his clothes? I suppose I shouldn't leave those lying around."

Doing their best to not remember their second joint venture in undressing the young man from his soaked garments, the three girls once attending to him pointed to a shelf in unison. While they were silently praising Jasmine for doing most of the work, Hanzō approached a stack of clothes and proceeded to hang each article onto his arm. The clothes were still too wet and cold for the young man to wear but they couldn't just be left around. After all, if Oda found a tattered non-shinobi school uniform, undodgeable questions would be asked.

Once he had everything, Hanzō went back to the bed and scooped up the young man while keeping wary to leave him wrapped in his blankets. Before taking off, Hanzō muttered to the unconscious fellow under his breath, "You could have been a bit more considerate by being born as a beautiful woman, you know. The nakedness wouldn't be so awkward…"

"Why am I hearing you speak and not seeing you move… fool?" came the low and demonic voice of Jasmine as she peered through the crack in the doorway with one brown eye promising all of the suffering that the world had to offer.

"G'night girls," peeped Hanzō before he rushed to said door, slammed it open, maneuvered around his wife, "I love you, Darling!" and zipped straight down the hallway. Even with their differences in strength leaving him the superior, an angered Jasmine was no force who any should reckon with in any way, shape, or form.

The room remained silent after Hanzō's departure, with many silently exchanged looks getting thrown around. After a few more seconds of glaring down the hallway, Jasmine let out a groan before entering the room and nodding to all of the girls, "It'd be best to get yourselves as cleaned up as possible. Homura-"

"Yes!" the girl immediately replied after being addressed. While she didn't mean to sound so jumpy for the sake of protecting her ego, the malicious presence from seconds before still lingered in mind.

"-it'd be best if you and the rest of your squad got out of here. While Oda does have a tolerance for evil shinobi, he's not likely to take too kindly to a bunch of renegades during business hours."

After hearing the rest of Jasmine's statement, Homura nodded before looking to where her team was lying. Fortunately, Haruka was already awake and watching the scene with a serious look on her face. But Yomi, Hikage, and Mirai were all still wrapped up in their blankets and unconscious, needing to recover from the distortion's attack. Though Haruka could carry Mirai and Homura was more than strong enough to take the remainder without issue, the heavy rain and urgent need to make a speedy exit put a hindrance on their plan.

Still, the two exchanged solemn looks before taking on undaunted smiles. For Haruka, it was solely a matter of just doing their best to make sure their team was safe. While Homura deeply shared that sentiment, one other specific thought rang through the back of her head, "If an underpowered pacifist could bring down an elite shinobi, how can I quiver at a race in the rain?" Thus, after throwing both of her teammates onto her shoulders like two sacks of potatoes, Homura offered one final smile to everyone in the room before rushing off with Haruka right behind, holding Mirai bridal style.

From there, the rest of the awake shinobi mentally prepared themselves for the questioning to come. It would be difficult to come up with an excuse as to why three schools of shinobi were combating on grounds that were not covered by a Shinobi Battle Royale. For all the carnage, nothing less than an admission of guilt from all three shinobi schools would convince Oda that there wasn't a more violent element like distortion involved. But none of them, not even those who were more doubtful of the young man's role, would dare give away his identity nor his role in the clash. They'd collaborate and sell a believable story to guarantee his safety, whether out of appreciation for his efforts or to learn more before making a final decision.

Carefully balancing out his strength so that the rapid journey across the city was as safe and stable as possible, Hanzō hurtled onward with the young man bundled in his arms. With how quick he was jumping between roofs, balconies, fire escapes, and outcroppings, the journey took no longer than thirty minutes. As rain continued to pelt down on them, Hanzō kept the top half of his body hovering over the young man's face. While the occasional drop would still nip, the boy would at least not be brought back into hypothermia's reach.

Just as the rain began to lighten, Hanzō arrived at the young man's apartment building and proceeded to scour for the door to his living quarters. Fortunately, Jasmine had the entrance marked by name to make it an easy find. Unfortunately, the door was locked. After letting out a disgruntled sigh and resting the young man against the wall, Hanzō went through the clothes dangling on his arms. Much to his silent horror, the keys to the apartment were nowhere to be found. If the old man had to take a guess, they probably fell out of the young man's pocket during the event of his capture.

Hanzō brought his fingers up to his chin in thought before eying the doorknob thoughtfully. Though it could not be attributed the fault of the missing keys, a responsibility which ultimately fell to the shinobi and unrelenting bad luck, the veteran shinobi needed to get the young man inside. Therefore, in his mind, the doorknob had to be made to pay. Glancing down to the bundled teenager beside him, Hanzō proceeded to mutter, "Welp, I'm not sure how to tell you this so… I'm just…" before staring at the door, "I'm just gonna…" and delivered his fist straight into the knob. The resulting punch splintered the wood all around the metal, plowing open the door and sending bits of debris into the single room apartment. Quietly, Hanzō finished, "There we go…"

Hauling the slumbering young man inside, Hanzō went about the awkward process of disrobing him from the infirmary blankets. When it came to the final cover, the old man grumbled, "Because you saved my granddaughter, I'll just let this call us even," and carefully stripped it away. Diligently keeping his eyes level and toward the walls, Hanzō slipped in and out of the bathroom before he proceeded to towel down the young man and rewrap him in the blankets of a much-welcomed futon.

Having finished his task, Hanzō looked around for any sort of alarm clock before spotting a watch on the floor. He bent over and began to tinker with it but quickly found that there was no alarm to be found. After Hanzō set the watch down beside the resting young man, he smiled awkwardly before reaching into one of his pockets to produce a spherical object. He looked up at the clock on the wall and winded up a pin sticking out the side. After nearly thirty seconds of twisting, he pulled it out with a satisfying click and rested beside the young man's futon. As the gadget quietly ticked away, he offered an apologetic bow and quipped under his breath, "I'm not sure if you're heading to school tomorrow, considering the day you've had, but this is just in case you want to wake up with enough time to spare."

Without further delay, the old man darted out of the apartment. But just as he was about to bounce away, Hanzō noticed something: the rain had stopped. With the young man safely tucked and bundled into his warm blankets, the storm had receded and began to give way to moonlight. Under his breath, the older man quietly muttered, "You stuck around long enough to threaten his life but now you cower away?"

As the clouds above began to part, Hanzō bowed his head twice, clapped his hands together two times, and looked to the newly arriving moon before bowing his head in prayer, "All you who are listening, be you my closest confidants and relatives or the coldest stranger with whom I'd certainly quarrel… Look over that young man in there. If even the rain hunts him in the same way as those who share his blood, then he will be rewarded with nothing but tragedy for a good deed that he wanted no part in." Feeling his eyes turn soft, Hanzō glanced back at the damaged door to the young man's apartment before facing the sky again, "It is hypocritical of me to ask it of you. Here I am having destroyed a part of his home and… when that toy in there goes off, he'll certainly be disoriented and made to suffer a bit more… Even worse, it was the decision of Sayuri and I to force him into this mess to begin with. Even worse than that, we've failed to live up to our pledge to his grandfather after the good deed he'd done for us so many years ago."

By that point in time, Hanzō was dimly shaking with guilt and sadness. Part of him wanted to retreat back into the apartment to throw away the gadget but, alas, he still had no substitute alarm for the young man. Though it wouldn't cause any physical harm, it would certainly still be a massive bother that the teenager didn't ask for. Another betrayal against the promise made roughly a month before.

Shakily, Hanzō asked, "One God, many gods and goddesses… spirits of the world and ancestors who look on… give that boy luck. You've wronged him by allowing him to be born into such a troublesome family where he shares blood with Tsao, Scourge of Modern Shinobi… and with Haruo… that bastard son… For that, I beg you to bring him fortune for as long as he stays true to what he professes. For as long as he stays true to what it really means to be an infiltrator… reward him extravagantly for his rights and punish him justly for his wrongs…"

With his prayer finished, Hanzō bowed one last time before taking off into the dark. He didn't know when he'd be able to see the young man next but he did know that it would be soon. In the meantime, Hanzō delayed himself enough that he would likely only have a few minutes to spare before Oda arrived at the academy.

**Impressions left tonight,**

**Line the eyes' perspective.**

**Burnt away by pure blood,**

**The Slate's hate grime is cleared.**

At some point in the morning, the young man thought he heard ticking. His eyes drowsily opened and he squinted in the dark. For some reason, a freezing chill was running through the room as though a window were open. Nuzzling himself back into his blankets and pillow, the young man silently desired Asuka's warm hand to run up and down his forehead again. A comforting feeling like that was rare to come by and it felt like such a waste to fall asleep in the middle of it.

Then the ticking became more noticeable and the young man actually began to wake up. He patted his hand around to find the object emitting the obnoxious noise before something clicked in his head. The young man did not own any sort of alarm clock. His phone, which was still not in his possession, did not even have that sound as an alarm option. There was no object in the room that ticked like that.

Feeling the terror sink in, the young man pulled his blankets and pillow over his forehead to surrender himself to fate. As an old gentleman was walking his dog just outside the building, a loud boom exploded from the second floor apartment followed by scream, "FUCK YOU!"

Practically jumping out of his skin, the older man scurried ahead of his dog while it proceeded to bark at the smoke coming out from the broken doorway. Under his breath, he panickily muttered, "I don't know- I don't know, I don't want to know!"

Inside the apartment, the young man was flopped over and coughing beside his bed while smoke filled the room. Utterly furious by the sudden wake-up call, he sputtered in-between hacks and rasps, "Dick!- You, you fucking dick! Who was it!? WHO DID IT!?" before he managed to stumble to the window and threw it open. Waving his hands to air the smoke out, the young man grinded his teeth together as all of the frustration that'd been building up over the last twenty-four hours came to a head. In the back of his mind, he demanded his comfort back. The young man wanted to go back to relaxing in an infirmary bed while a cute girl played with his hair until he fell asleep. If nothing else, waking up to a loud and obnoxious smoke bomb was completely uncalled for, especially after the Hell he'd been through the night before.

Then, not having noticed due to his extreme fury, the young man proceeded to double over in pain while his hands clasped at the wound on his stomach. Once he laid his naked body to the cold wooden floor, he pulled away some of the bandages to examine the wound across his stomach and make sure that it hadn't reopened. Fortunately, it was clean and secure but still very raw. Groaning out the rest of his urge to let out a frustrated scream, he checked his arms and legs to find that the rest of his wounds had already scabbed over. The only thing left to worry about was checking the gash on his head.

Sliding his hand along the floor to pull himself up, the young man felt a splinter embed itself into the palm of his hand. Instantly, he pulled his arm up while seething through his teeth. While he cradled the splintered mitt in his other hand, the young man moaned out to no one in particular, "Stop persecuting me…" Looking at the splinter and noticing the bits of shattered wood along the rest of the floor, his eyes leveled up to the doorway and immediately noticed the gaping hole where the knob should have been.

Not even bothering to complain as he began to settle into the feeling of defeat, the young man exhaustedly pulled himself up and dragged his feet to the bathroom. He checked the wound on his forehead before rinsing it, he used a pair of tweezers to remove the splinter in his palm, and proceeded to run the hottest shower he could ever remember running. Even when the water burned and scorched his back, he couldn't bring himself to fight the smaller nuisances of life any longer. If he wanted any hope for surviving past his ordeal with the shinobi, the young man had to save what little energy he had left. Remembering a few of the glares that he received the night before, he wouldn't have been surprised if a few shinobi were preparing to raid the apartment right then and there to end the source of their troubles. If nothing else, his bad luck demanded it.

**Back in the thoughts,**

**Of tended minds…**

As the hole in the ceiling was finally patched, a tall man with unnaturally broad shoulders nodded down to the construction workers before his low voice uttered, "Thank you for this. I know it was short notice."

"Don't thank us yet," said one of workers comfortably, "Wiring would've been faulty in some areas so our electrician is pushing it off until he has a bit more time to do it safely and securely."

"Understandable," groaned the large man, "I'd rather avoid a potential fire."

"Exactly," came the words of the forewoman off to the back. After stretching and cracking her neck, she stated, "We'll be back tonight to finalize everything. If you'd like, we can call the usual inspector to make sure our work is safe."

"Fujiwara? Please do. If nothing else, I wouldn't mind seeing him again."

"Sounds good," nodded the woman before pointing along the hallway, "So, we'll just fill you in on what areas will be out of power for the day."

"Please."

Inside a room neighboring the conversation, Jasmine let out a sigh before turning in her seat to face Hanzō and the other two adults in the room. The evident nervousness was plain to see across all of their faces. Save for her husband, who had a history with the hulking man, the mere voice of Oda, head of Shinobi Inquisitive Affairs and Other Silent Resource Bureaus, was absolutely petrifying. After all, he was the man called in whenever shinobi were thought to have violated the sanctity of their existence or, in that particular case, if there was risk of such a violation.

Despite the fact that everyone else around him was either erratically quivering in fear of the man's reputation for brutality, Hanzō remained relaxed and completely unafraid. Even while Rin, who could take on Daidōji, shook beside him and Kiriya remained absolutely motionless, he just locked eyes onto his silent wife and smiled at her with all of the assurance that he could offer. It worked just a bit. After all, Hanzō just had to call in a favor he was owed by Oda or promise a meal together in the near future to call it even, as was the case for most old friends and comrades. But if Oda figured out that they were collaborating with an infiltrator, it was highly unlikely that the man would be willing to hear them all out.

**Relax within,**

**Extended hearts…**

Cleaning up and rebandaging his wounds, the young man stepped out of the bathroom. Looking up at the clock with a dreary look on his face, he debated whether or not he was ready and willing to go to the school of snoots. While he was sure that Miki would tone down his usually talkative behavior at the sight of the young man's cuts and bruises, there came the evident problem of practically everyone else. All of the walking and thinking to be done which would be an absolute drain on his energy reserves, the inevitable reprimands he'd receive for not completing his homework, the snooty gossip ringing from the mouths of a bunch of self-entitled brats; that was all that awaited him at school.

But Wakariyasui was a private high school and, as such, it had its own set of rules on attendance. Ultimately, it could be boiled down into a simple statement that Miki said in the young man's first week there, "You'd better have a doctor's notice, be hospitalized, or have a severe case of death! If not, Principal Shinohara will tighten a rope around your neck and will not let you go until you're gone. One way or another."

The young man had no time to play the political games of a high school. As much as he was neither ready or willing, the future would be much more of a hassle if he didn't just toughen up. Thus, as the wounds across his stomach and limbs throbbed in pain, the young man donned a fresh set of clothes for his school uniform. Thankfully, his wallet was quickly found in the pants from his previous day and he already knew that his schoolbag was still in his locker, having anticipated the previous day's trouble. At one point, he found his watch resting on the floor. While twirling it around in his hands, he thought to himself how useful it would've been to have the device during his fight with Yumi the other day.

The young man painfully chucked it into the wall to produce a satisfying thump before trudging his way to the train station.

**Beaten and bruised,**

**But still composed.**

Miyabi kept her head lowered in shame as words were growled through Oda's cellphone, "Would you care to explain to me why you would do something as stupid as invading Hanzō Academy?" While the girl took a slow breath and prepared to voice her explanation, her father on the other end called not a few seconds later, "Answer already. Aren't you one of Hebijo's elite? Speak, girl!"

"Jirō," uttered Oda.

The other end of the line fell silent for a few seconds before the addressed man answered back, "Sir?"

"Answer me quicker next time. Aren't you Hebijo's principal? You're too slow."

Feeling the counterattack strike deep into his ego, Jirō sighed into the phone before muttering, "I understand. I apologize for my impatience. This is just a sudden and alarming matter, especially since this is Miyabi we're talking about."

While the girl kept her eyes down to the floor, Oda sighed and said, "I respect you as a father and I respect you as fellow shinobi, regardless of your stance to the government," and proceeded to clasp his hands together, "which is precisely why I contacted you. Your daughter's already given me her story, she and the rest of her comrades. I only need to know from you whether you'd prefer to arrange their transportation or if I should pull some strings so that the bureaucrats will think nothing of a bunch of evil shinobi running amok."

"I can handle it, sir. I don't want to impose," mumbled Jirō, "Thank you for contacting me on this matter."

"Then that will be all."

The call ended with a deafeningly quiet click. Miyabi could only sit in silence until she was dismissed by the overshadowing man before her. Part of her worried that he'd seen through the small lies that she inserted into her account of what happened the night before.

But even still she had no regrets. If it meant saving the young man from danger, she'd proudly take the risk for him. If his suffering had extended as far as the threats and beatings he'd taken, the most he could hope for from her was a bit of sympathy. But he stood up defiantly despite how rapidly dire the situation became. Moreover, he'd proven his worth when he managed to take on Yumi and come out the victor. All while he wasn't even a trained shinobi.

To Miyabi, the young man was a warrior. Even when she normally regarded people who didn't raise their fists to be cowards, he turned the tables on her beliefs by coming out on top without delivering a single punch. That warranted her unbridled admiration, a rare feeling outside of her circle of comrades.

**Unworldly strength,**

**Held by made-cap…**

**Her nighttime star.**

On his arrival into school, the young man immediately began to receive disconcerted looks. Between the bandage across his forehead and the bruises on his neck and cheeks, he couldn't blame them and, so long as they didn't bother him, he'd have no problem.

At one point, just as he was about to enter first period, his fears were realized when a large but gentle hand clasped his shoulder, "Oi." The young man turned around to find that a fellow transfer student, the giant named Takatsukasa Sugiyama, had taken an dull interest, "You okay?"

As the grip on his shoulder remained firm but painless to the wounds underneath, the young man simply groaned, "I'm here so… no, not really," before pulling out of the grip and into the classroom.

"You've seen a doctor for all that?" came the larger man's voice.

"No," replied the young man, "but I'm good enough."

Grunting back, Takatsukasa shrugged before he followed into the classroom. It was weird, considering the fact that the giant was a quiet mass who rarely said more than a single word at a time. Perhaps he was just morbidly curious about the source of the bruises and, as hinted by the stoic exchange, and decided to retreat back to his corner of the classroom when he learned he'd receive no answer.

So long as he didn't pry, the young man would continue to not mind Takatsukasa. After all, it was only the first hour and he already felt exhausted. The rest of the day would be a battle of attrition that required every last drop of his energy reserves. Perhaps, when he was in better straits, he wouldn't mind striking up conversation with the giant. But that day hadn't yet come.

**Silently kind,**

**Open to all.**

Yawning loudly as she woke up, Mirai opened her eyes to find that she was lying on a couch within the renegade shinobi cave. Rubbing a hand to her head, she quietly asked, "That… wasn't all a dream last night… was it?"

"Not at all," came a sultry voice from behind, startling the small girl as she yelped in response. When she turned around, Haruka reached over and pulled Mirai into a tender hug while caressing the back of her head, "You're a late sleeper, aren't you? Though, after all of the commotion we caused last night, I suppose I shouldn't… punish you for that today."

While the two pushed and pulled against one another, Homura approached from her corner of the cave while crossing her arms, "You two might want to be a bit more serious, considering the situation at Hanzō Academy is ongoing."

Mirai narrowed her eyes in confusion, "Eh~… what's going on? How'd I get here anyway?"

Before the tanned renegade could offer any sensible explanation, Haruka interjected, "O-ho~, Mirai… I'll tell you the wonderful tale in which you were wrapped in my arms all through the night."

While the oldest shinobi within the Crimson Squad proceeded to tease Mirai mercilessly with a lewd subtext to the previous night's events, Homura looked down at her phone as she received an update from Jasmine. By the sound of it, the interrogations had finished without too much of a hitch. There were still rippling waters that had to be dealt with but, as promised in the texts, Hanzō would be more than able to smooth everything over.

Homura's thoughts proceeded to drift toward the young man. Everyone, even the renegades, were going out of their way to make sure that he was protected. She softly snorted at the thought. Just two days before, they'd been hunting him down with the intent to capture or kill. But, after a set of bizarre twists, suddenly they were going out of their way to go against government authorities for his sake.

Homura was glad for it, considering what the young man did for her. Though he certainly displayed standoffish elements, he gave her peace in something that she didn't even realize she needed peace in. Anyone who could do that was more than worthy of her respect. Them and a particular idiot who waved her swords around while boasting about how wonderful the powers of friendship were. Quietly sniggering to herself as Mirai actively tried to kill Haruka, who was retreating away with an uppity laugh, Homura couldn't help that two people who behaved wholly opposite of one another made her feel so happy inside.

**Ears big and long,**

**Eyes ranging far…**

**The second par.**

"Gee-ee-eez, those girls did a number on you," mumbled Miki as he poked his finger toward his friend's face, "I know it looked bad in the classroom but when you get it under sunlight… damn…"

Pulling his arm away from the window, the young man muttered "I'm more impressed by the fact you successfully guessed it was those girls who did it," as he slapped the hand away.

Miki shrugged, "Who else could've done it? They didn't appear to be the friendliest sort."

The young man quirked a brow, "You say that even though you were putting the moves on both of them… and gave me a thumbs up when you let them kidnap me?"

"Obviously, I was trying to protect you."

"You suck at being the hero. Do better next time."

Crossing his arms, Miki proceeded to mouth off, "You got what you paid for: nothing for nothing. If you wanted something like me doing an uppercut on the green one's jaw while trying to do a weird… leg kick thing on the tanned girl, you ought to have- wait, wasn't that the tanned girl from the restaurant a week back? The big tittied girl behind the register?" Miki made a gasping sound, "Dude, I'll tell you how to hire me as a proper hero so you'd better listen good. Chat me up to her. Like hard. Tell her I save puppies- no… Okay, tell her I hold umbrellas for puppies on the side of the street… No, that'd also be a lie… Tell her I like puppies."

The young man stared at his friend, "I'll tell her about that and your unique charm."

Miki blinked, "I have a unique charm?"

"Yeah," said the young man as he took a bite of his bread, "Your knack for not being completely annoying despite not shutting up."

Slightly offended as he was, Miki took the compliment and punch in stride since he knew the young man was already in a foul mood. If nothing else, he was just glad that he had a friend who both acknowledged his tendency to talk more than he should and accepted it in stride. The only real question left was if the young man accepted Miki as a friend.

**Sudden sunlight,**

**Failing to blind.**

Sitting by themselves in the shinobi meeting area, the Hanzō elite remained silent and idle while Oda finished his inspection for further damage through the school as normal classes continued, unaware of all that occurred the night before. Though the shinobi delivered their story without a hitch, Ikaruga and Yagyū were evidently second-guessing their decision to play along with the plan to protect the young man. Almost no one blamed them, considering the former was one who always played by the rules and the latter would scarcely do anything to endanger Hibari.

But Asuka couldn't ignore the two as they anxiously tapped away at the table. Even after the young man had risked his life to save Yumi, they had somehow brought themselves to regret repaying the favor. Sucking in some air and blowing it out to calm herself, Asuka jumped her eyes back and forth between them before Ikaruga finally muttered, "I have no intention to talk about last night, if that's what you're worried about."

Briefly, Asuka felt relief flow throw her. Putting on the sweetest face she could muster, she began, "Oh, good! I was wor-"

But the class representative coldly cut her off, "I'm not saying I agree with it. Unless we're given further reason to trust him, I don't see why we shouldn't be reporting him to the authorities."

It took everything within Asuka to keep quiet in that moment. Keeping in mind that Oda would be very able to hear any screams or yells, Asuka's face twisted into a scowl as she rebuked, "He saved Yumi. He saved Miyabi, Homura, and I. Grandma, Grandpa, Kiriya, and Rin have vouched for him. We know why the four of them kept him a secret. He nearly died. What else could he do to prove himself trustworthy to you?"

Ikaruga retorted, "Notice how four of those people are often involved in secretive ploys such as the Millennium Festival and Peach Beach Splash? Then there's the fact that the four shinobi he's 'corrected' have almost seemed to develop a simultaneous attraction to him?"

Feeling her cheeks heat up, Asuka sputtered, "I, I don't, I do not find him… ah…"

Katsuragi looked up from her spot with a rare expression of seriousness on her face, "You can't exactly deny it considering how much I've heard you and the others pampered him last night."

"Not to mention you've only known him for a day," added Yagyū, "and have interacted with him far too little for those feelings to make sense."

Slamming her palm down on the table, Asuka stared at the surprised shinobi before her. Hibari gently raised a hand to cool her down along with soothing words, "Please, calm down. They've promised they'll be quiet-"

"I can't just accept that," growled Asuka, "I can't just accept you four being quiet. You're free to judge however I may feel but you can't claim he's still a guilty party." Heaving her shoulders up and down in rage, she pointed to Ikaruga, "You! You should notice better than anyone else that he's far from our enemy."

Reeling back from the unusual rage from her junior, the uptight girl had to take a moment to straighten herself before asking, "Tell me how."

"He pointed out he was our enemy," answered Asuka, "Think about that! If he were truly our enemy, wouldn't he just do something that would convince us of that enough? Instead, he's been curing us while relying on our paranoia. What were we afraid of? The fact that he was an infiltrator. What else exactly has he done to deserve us chasing him?"

Having finished her tangent, Asuka stood up to storm off as Ikaruga called after her, "Hey- where are you going?"

Before she opened the door, the heart of the Hanzō Academy elite turned her head around and muttered, "If you regret not turning him over, that means to me that you think we'd be better off if he just died last night," and stormed out to the bathrooms in a huff.

Having been left in an uncomfortable silence, the rest of the girls simply looked between one another. As emotional as Asuka was during her proclamation, there were elements of truth to what she said. Ultimately, there was still much to the situation that had yet to be considered.

**Frank and honest,**

**Intent unmarred…**

**Another start.**

Groaning loudly as the wound on his stomach began to throb, the young man clenched his teeth together and ignored the stares of his peers as he proceeded up the stairway. He only had a few more classes before the day was done and he would be damned if his strength gave out then and there. Regardless of the few people pushing past with a few rude words, he carried himself up one step at a time until a careless elbow was accidentally bumped into his side.

The resulting sting sucked the breath out of the young man and forced him to lean against the wall. A few students pushed past him while muttering, "Don't overexaggerate. They barely even touched you!"

Under his breath, the young man uttered, "Blow it up your ass." Hearing a surprised squeak from behind in response to his cuss, the young man waved his hand apologetically, "Sorry, sorry. Bad day," and turned his head to find Sato Hazuki staring at him wide-eyed.

His memory flashed to the day before when she reacted to Asuka and Hibari despite the shinobi barriers that should've been covering them. Immediately after the memory reflected in his eyes, the young man and Sato's faces straightened. Silently, they dared one another to mention what had happened or suggest a potential meeting place to discuss the prospect of an explanation. But nothing was said. Neither the young man nor Sato uttered a word as students cursed at them and continued on their way.

Taking a deep breath, the young man turned around and continued toward his next class. Curious as he was, he couldn't bring himself to even try and question the strange girl on the matter. Pushing aside the fact that he was in no condition to risk a confrontation, the young man kept in mind a good rule from his grandfather when it came to general life: if the person hasn't done anything of harm and won't do anything of harm in the future, leave well enough alone. While he couldn't confirm whether the second half of that prerequisite was true for Sato, the young man would just have to observe a different time.

Thankfully, the girl shyly averted her gaze and marched off once they arrived on the next landing. By that, the young man took it as her agreeing to also leave the issue be for another day.

**Tact villain's bane,**

**In-victim's gate.**

As Yozakura offered Yumi a sandwich while she lied in the infirmary bed, still exhausted from the previous night's ordeal, the former couldn't help but ask, "So, you're content with all that's happened?"

Slowly closing her eyes as a smile spread across her face, Yumi replied without a hint of hesitation, "Of course. Considering my role in everything, it makes sense for me to take the brunt of the punishment to come."

In response, Yozakura's eyes fell as she mumbled, "But you weren't in control…"

"But it was still me," replied Yumi as she finally accepted the food being offered to her. She nodded her head in thanks and said, "Just as a drunk man is responsible for his accident, I am responsible for a part of myself going haywire," before taking a bite out of her meal.

Casting doubtful eyes to her most admired sister, Yozakura eyelids fell with doubt as she asked, "That wasn't the analogy that the infiltrator-"

"Jasmine's told us his name," menaced Yumi with a mouthful of food as her eyes narrowed, "Use it."

Muttering his name under her breath, Yozakura continued, "He didn't use that analogy, did he? If so, there's a fatal flaw in it: the fact that a drunk man chooses to drink while you were randomly attack by- what, corruption? That's hardly a fair comparison."

Swallowing her bite, Yumi retorted, "That was just something I made up… To make something that's really complex into something really short, I'd say that life just isn't fair. Whether I was properly in control of myself or had done nothing deserving of the distortion, I am still responsible for the actions that I've taken." Her eyes were partly hurt by her self-assigned blame. Without a doubt, she accepted it and intended to own her actions, but the lack of fairness of it all still hurt. Feeling her sister's stare burning into her, Yumi added, "And, regardless of what comes in the future, I want to make one thing clear now: he did not assign any blame to me for what happened. Contrary to that, he held me as I cried and assured me that I wasn't at fault."

The moment that those words left her mouth, Gessen's strongest felt immediate regret as Yozakura's eyebrows were raised suggestively. Seeking to lighten the mood, she purred, "He held you, eh~?"

Though the implications in her sister's remark were certainly embarrassing, Yumi did her best to show no shame in the matter. Trying to put on a brave smile as her cheeks heated up, she boldly spoke, "Indeed, he did."

Waggling her brows, Yozakura asked, "By the sound of it, you didn't hate it."

"Not even slightly."

"Perhaps it wouldn't be too presumptuous to say that you're interested in him?"

Yumi's smile faltered as her mouth scrunched up to not cry out in embarrassment. She began to shake uncontrollably as her mind began to melt at the thought of confronting her interest in the young man. Considering the fact that she was extremely thankful for his help, it shouldn't have been something too hard a phenomenon to face. She was a maiden on the verge of losing herself to a perilous and wicked force before a gallant hero arrived to save the day. The feelings she had for him could be summarized as a crush without difficulty. But, even then, that didn't make it any easier to talk about with her sister, whom she expected to begin a tirade of teasing and ridicule.

Then Yumi realized that she was talking to Yozakura, one of the more maternal members of the group who lacked Shiki's tendency to go all out on teasing. As if to solidify the reason as to why she was so trustworthy, the blue-haired girl gently stated, "You should talk with him sometime. If he's comfortable enough to hold you, he may be open to the idea of starting a relationship."

Feeling her eyes widen in response, Yumi began to stammer as the sandwich messily fell into her lap, "B-, b-. bu-, huh? But… wouldn't that be weird? Leaving the distortion out of it, we only met just last night…"

Pointing a finger into the air, Yozakura quietly declared with a hint of passion, "True love at first sight is one of the rarest things to come by, certainly! But," she waggled the finger back and forth with every syllable, "it is not im-poss-i-ble. If nothing else, you should think about it."

Drooping her eyelids, Yumi replied, "You've read too many romance novels."

Feeling her visions of her sister's future shatter, the shorter girl murmured, "Well… whatever you do, you've got my support."

Quirking her brows, Yumi asked, "So… you're serious then. You wouldn't object to him? After everything?"

Smiling earnestly, Yozakura's cheeks rose happily as she spoke, "You're free to make your own decisions on the matter and, since he was the one who saved you, I have no objections to make. Please," and said sweetly as she closed her eyes, "do what you feel is best."

Even though she had no idea what the future held for her interest in the young man, Yumi found a grin spreading across her face before she knew it and reached out for a hug, "Thank you."

Happily reciprocating her sister's embrace, the two wrapped one another up and stayed like that before realizing the sandwich had still left a mess in Yumi's lap. Regardless of how irritating it was to have its sauce staining into her clothes and blanket, part of he was still so happy to have both the forgiveness of her loved ones and the blessing to act as she saw fit in the future.

When she could muster up the courage, she'd certainly speak to the young man.

**Home's tender hold,**

**Closing the gap…**

**Her knight of heart.**

The young man's school day ended with the final bell and he couldn't have been anymore relieved in that moment. He offered a quick and curt goodbye to Miki, held himself back from burning his remaining energy reserves by skipping down the stairs, and proceeded down the sidewalk with a feeling of victory surging through his veins. So long as he went about the rest of his day without getting beaten or maimed, he'd happily mark the day to be a good and merciful one.

Then he heard a car horn and felt himself turn sheet white.

While walking on the sidewalk, the black car he recognized to be Jasmine's pulled up beside him with a few honks. Not willing to do anything regarding the shinobi for at least another twenty-four hours, the young man tried to play it off as though he didn't hear her and continued on his way. He tried to envision his futon at home and how it was impatiently waiting for him to arrive and be seduced into sleep.

Then the young man heard a loud, "Hey, dickhead! Get back here!" from Jasmine as he passed the car by. He closed his eyes and seethed out a whimper before looking up the sky for a sign of mercy. Unfortunately, there was none to be had.

Tiredly turning around with the most lamenting look on his face, the young man asked nonchalant-like, "Am I dickhead?"

Through her teeth, Jasmine called from the driver's side door, "Yes! Why the hell aren't you at home? After everything-" before waving her hand, "Get in the car, I'll explain on the way. Hanzō's organized a meeting."

Feeling himself fall further into dread, the young man quipped, "Can it be put off? As I'm sure you know, I had one heck of a night. So… please? Pretty please, just let me go for today?"

"Get in the car."

"I can give you five thousand yen to leave me alone just for tonight."

"Get in."

"Fifty thousand-"

"Now!"

Surrendering himself to whatever Jasmine had in mind, the young man sighed before casting one last look up to the sky. For all the good that it did him, the young man grimaced and shook his head. The world could be brutal for days on end. That day was just one among those days.

**What will tomorrow bring,**

**After a long dark veer?**

**Lying awake in fear,**

**In seeps the morning cheer.**

**But there still lingers tears…**

**Do not worry, kind dear,**

**They'll dry in times soon near,**

**Amidst the bell's still ring.**


	20. Chapter 20: Rally

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 20: Rally

Huffing and puffing in a silent rage, Jirō looked down to his only daughter from behind his desk before seething through his teeth, "That was by far one of the stupidest things you've ever done."

Nodding in response with a cold and detached face, Miyabi answered back as her eyes fell, "I apologize again. I thought the attack was a great opportunity but was evidently proven wrong. I hope you can forgive me."

Rubbing a hand through his graying black hair, the principal of Hebijo Academy growled incomprehensibly for a moment before pointing at her, "Thought. You thought it was a great opportunity. That, you dimwitted urchin, is where you went wrong." He slammed his fist into his desk, "As a student within my academy…!" before pausing to take a breath, "As a student within my academy, you know that we don't take those kinds of absurd risks anymore. In case you haven't noticed, Dōgen is dead. Gone! Sliced and diced by the renegades!"

"I am aware of that," Miyabi uttered.

"I'm in charge now," grunted Jirō, "I am in charge and those asinine policies of his are out the window. We don't take risks that could very well hand over the world to Yōma. We don't take risks that could result in meaningless death. What you did last night, attacking Hanzō Academy because you thought that both they and those bitches from Gessen would be weak, violated both of those rules. Effectively…" He sucked in a heavy breath before forcing himself to growl out, "You have dishonored the honor of Hebijo… Do you understand?"

Through all of the belittling, Miyabi didn't flinch, "I understand."

Stepping out from his chair and peering out to the ongoing midmorning training for the other girls on campus, Jirō declared with his back to his daughter, "If you do anything like this again… However small or inconsequential it may be… I will demand your head in exchange."

Miyabi nodded, "I'd offer it all for Hebijo."

"Good," came a voice that was far too soft for the man's liking. As if to blow away some of the relief that he felt in his daughter's understanding, Jirō grumbled, "Now… get out of my office. You and the elite will be put on leave for the rest of the week. Train hard and do not fuck up in the way you did last night ever again."

"Yes, sir," said Miyabi before she bowed her head and turned to march out of the office. Through all of the harsh discipline that her father handed out, she remained strong and unbending to his words. A large but silent part of her had hoped that he noticed for reasons she didn't fully comprehend.

Taking a breath of relief as she closed the door, Miyabi found that Imu was waiting for her. They curtly nodded to one another and proceeded down the hallway with the former taking the lead. Remaining as quiet and silent as possible so as not to attract potential attention and ire from Jirō, Imu whispered, "There was a letter on the assembly table this morning."

Miyabi kept her eyes forward as she asked back, "Did someone send orders while we were out yesterday?"

"No," came the spectacled girls answer, "It's from Hanzō."

Feeling her head slightly turn toward Imu with interest, Miyabi ordered, "Don't fill me in yet. Gather the others and meet me in the assembly room. I'll give it a read and fill everyone in from there."

Meanwhile, off in the renegades' cave, the five girls were making themselves at home and relaxing from the previous night's ordeal. By the time noon arrived, Yomi was already stewing a beansprout concoction with an alluring fragrance while Mirai had barricaded herself into a corner to keep an alert eye on Haruka, who continually passed suspect glances at the smaller girl. Sitting on the couch next to Hikage, who immediately took a nap after waking up, Homura found herself desiring a lazy day unlike any other. Not since her climactic battle with Ryōki had she burned so much energy and the resulting exhaustion began to weigh in despite her urges to spar. The absolute exhilaration of needing to dodge her hypnotized teammates while they threw sloppy, albeit unpredictable, blows was a nothing short of draining, though she'd be a liar if there wasn't something intoxicating to the fight.

Having spent so much time with her comrades, Homura practically knew their fighting styles in and out. Every sparring event became more of a scripted ritual which rarely ended without her being at the top. It was only when the girls broke out of their moveset for a prank or out of peculiar circumstance that Homura felt as though she were challenged and could very well lose.

Forgetting the tiredness plaguing her for the briefest moment, Homura began to come upon an epiphany. The random and untrained attacks of those under the distortion's effect was part of what she desired. Ergo she knew that she had a want for something new. It wasn't the first time she'd come to such a conclusion and it was usually by that time she'd get up and head out to challenge Asuka for a welcomingly fresh clash between the two rivals.

Then a new thought occurred in her mind: "What is fresher than someone you've never fought before?" Homura had already fought against Asuka, Miyabi, and Yumi. She had constantly exchanged numerous victories and defeats that were a particularly refreshing mold of uncertainty. But there was always a guaranteed chance that Homura would come out on top.

But what of the young man? If he was able to take on Yumi, the topmost elite of Gessen with absurdly powerful ninja arts, then how would he fare in a fight against Homura? That was the question she desired an answer to.

Louder than she intended, Homura spouted as she tiredly pressed herself deeper into the couch, "I wanna fight…"

Yomi chipped in a hushed voice from her makeshift stove, "Not today, everyone is still resting."

Not bothering to correct the intent of her words, Homura let out a sigh before a letter was suddenly flicked into the side of her head from the cave entrance. After letting out a yelp, "Ah-! What the hell!?" she spun herself up and around to face the entryway and found that no one was there. None of their alarms were set, the sound of the waterfall blocking the cave remained undisturbed, and there were no signs at all that someone had entered. Then Homura looked down to the letter and read Hanzō's name on it before uttering, "Oh."

Sometime later and after the outburst within the Hanzō Academy shinobi room, Asuka was calming herself down in the bathroom. She took a breath every few seconds while facing the mirror to get a hold of herself. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to fully understand Ikaruga's stance of not trusting the young man. Even if the admittedly gullible second-year did have an attraction to him, Asuka did not see a terrible fault within any of the points that she threw out to refute her upperclasswoman.

Taking one final breath before walking out of the bathroom in a proud stride, the brunette went over the situation in her head again, seeking to source Ikaruga's distrust. The young man had repeatedly cured a distortion that, save for Asuka's case, everyone bore witness to. His intentions were verified by four elite shinobi and the four girls whom he'd corrected. In addition to all of his more subtle signs of goodness, he was a pacifist. Despite it all, Ikaruga still claimed to be distrustful because of his label as an infiltrator and a few connections she'd made. In the end, Asuka still couldn't fully understand.

Just when she was truly beginning to hype herself up into a rage, a calming hand rested on Asuka's shoulder. Though she jumped a bit, she smiled softly and turned her head up to the figure gripping her, "Hi, Grandpa."

Smiling down at his granddaughter, Hanzō snorted, "What, no yelp this time?"

The girl shook her head, "I'm too used to you greeting me that way."

While the old man hummed cheerfully at her statement, Asuka found herself getting pulled back into what she was previously thinking about. Her eyelids fell depressingly and her smile gradually became more and more forced. Of course, Hanzō caught on quick, "I heard your outburst in the shinobi room, you know."

Immediately straightening up, Asuka sputtered, "We, we were, were we that loud!?"

Bringing a finger up to his lips to hush her, Hanzō continued, "Don't worry. Oda's still finishing up his inspection on the other side of the building and is explaining away to standard faculty about some of icicles that Yumi left behind."

Taking a breath of sheer relief, Asuka let out a sigh before Hanzō held out a letter in his hand. Quirking her head to the side, Asuka took it and asked, "What's this?" before feeling her head rise up in anticipation. Before her grandfather could answer, she stuttered out as her heart began to beat with a shivering face, "It's… it's not a letter from- no, probably not. But… is this a letter from…?"

Snorting out his nose while a chuckle rumbled in his throat, Hanzō answered, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid last night's hero is too busy at school-"

"Why is he at school!?" Asuka immediately cried, worry overtaking the embarrassment she felt a moment before, "He, he was in such a horrible state last-"

"It's all in the letter," whispered Hanzo while he rubbed the top of Asuka's head and pressed a finger to her lips. Pointing back to the shinobi room, he continued, "Now, go read it with everyone else… and feel free to prep yourself nicely for tonight."

Asuka looked up at him, "Wha-"

"Nothing too scandalous now. I still have to sit him down for a talk. Ta!" called Hanzō as he proceeded to zip down the hallway while leaving the girl in complete confusion. Staring blankly to where he disappeared, Asuka tried to piece together the sudden turn their interaction took before shrugging it off and turning back. If nothing else, it'd give her and Ikaruga something else to talk about. Hopefully it wouldn't end in the same way their argument had.

Towards the end of the day, around the time Jasmine was pulling her hair out because she found out for herself that the young man wasn't home, Yumi was still seated in a Hanzō Academy infirmary bed with Yozakura and Murakumo at her side. It wasn't too long after she'd been put on the phone with Gessen Academy administrators to talk about her part in the previous night's battle.

Keeping her eyes closed, Yumi despondently muttered out, "Cruel… This world is cruel…"

Murakumo replied monotonously from behind her mask, "You sure you don't regret anything?"

While unkempt bangs still covered most of her face, Yumi answered in a low voice, "No… not at all… it's just… so unfair…"

Taking a bit of pity on their leader, Yozakura stepped forward and patted her despondent sister on the back, "Well, if you need help with maintenance duties… or if you want some of my stipend until yours is renewed, don't be afraid to ask."

Raising a hand to deny the offer, Yumi just shook her head. When Rin and Kiriya explained how, to make sense of the situation to the authorities, Yumi and the rest of Gessen would have to take the blame for an apparent attack on Hanzō Academy, she thought she was fully prepared for the consequences. She was even so proud and entrenched in her resolve that she claimed to have pressured the rest of the Gessen elite and proceeded to take on all of the blame. Then the punishment came and weighed on her shoulders alone. Still, she had no regrets.

After taking a breath of air, Yumi raised her head and murmured, "It may not be fair… actually, the distortion that affected me makes this whole situation entirely unfair… but it'd be more unfair to throw the person who saved me under the bus." She took one final resolved breath before smiling, "No. This is for the best."

"Well said," came a very masculine voice from the corner of the room.

The three girls suddenly rounded their heads to said corner and found Hanzō standing there with his head nodding and arms crossed. For a few seconds they all remained silent before their eyelids drooped tiredly, impressed by the legendary shinobi's stealth but annoyed by his intrusion. Yozakura was the first to speak, "What're you doing here?"

After opening his eyes, Hanzō replied with a grin, "I was initially waiting for something sexy to happen-"

Amidst his statement, Yumi yelped in a hushed voice, "Murakumo, put your cleaver away!"

"-but then I remembered that I have a letter for you."

While the handle of her blade was being shoved back into its scabbard by her sisters, Murakumo questioned from behind her mask, "A letter from who?"

Once the cleaver was safely sheathed, Yozakura huffed a breath of relief before mumbling, "It's probably just a formal acknowledgement of our punishment from the academy."

"No, no," Hanzō said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "it's nothing so dreadful. It's just an invite out to dinner-"

Yumi and Yozakura nearly screeched, "Murakumo, no!"

"-to help settle our situation once and for all."

Freezing in place as their faces fell from panic to interest, the three girls watched as Hanzō extended a letter for them to take. While Murakumo put away her blade again, Yumi took hold of the letter and proceeded to read it through. Still warily watching her masked sister for any sign of danger, Yozakura asked, "So… what is it?"

After a moment, Yumi simply offered a cheery smile, "Just as he said, an invite out to dinner."

Pointing to the girl's face, Murakumo questioned, "Why're you grinning like that?"

"Your face is red too," added Yozakura as Yumi's eyes proceeded to sparkle ecstatically. While their leader was practically on the verge of dancing around on tiptoes, the other two girls reached and grabbed the letter from her hand. After reading it through once and twice, Yozakura just mumbled, "It's… not that special. It's just a dinner out to Hanzō's restaurant… it's going to be in about an hour and- Ah, I see."

Murakumo glanced over, "What?"

Smilingly cheekily, Yozakura stuck her thumb out to Yumi, "Her hero will be there."

Around forty-five minutes later, Jasmine swerved into a humble side street as the young man quietly muttered from car's floor, "You are the worst kind of person…"

"Quit your grumbling," growled Jasmine, "I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to go to school today. Also, in case I didn't just hear myself say it, you're stupid for going to school today."

After rolling himself around as the car turned again, the young man chipped back, "It's called avoiding lasting consequences, Grandma."

The woman's eyes twisted fiercely as she jabbed back, "You're lucky that you were on the verge of death last night or I'd come back there to beat you."

Letting out a humph while trying to adjust himself comfortably, the young man turned his head up to the front seat, "Just as a note: holding back from beating me is not a suitable reward for fixing a nearly fatal situation."

"Oh?" one of Jasmine's brows went up before she huffed a hot breath of air out of her nostrils, "I feel as though you have more to say."

"I do. Care to hear?"

"No. I don't, if I'm being honest. There's more to-"

"Hold up," the young man snapped his fingers repeatedly while aggressively quipping, "timeout, pause. Fuck you, I'm speaking my mind anyway."

Groaning at his defiance, Jasmine nearly slumped into the wheel before waving a hand, "Let's hear-"

"After everything, you could at least let me sit in a seat. Why am I on the floor?" growled the young man. After a moment of silence, Jasmine was about to answer before he suddenly continued, "Or, if it's so necessary, couldn't you use that one scroll thing from before to heal me? Could you do that at least? Seriously, my stomach feels like it got gutted and my arms feel like itchy pin cushions- that's ignoring how sore I am across the board… and rolling around back here is not helping anything."

Using all of her restraint to not reach back and slap the young man silly while also keeping her eyes from rolling, Jasmine stated back, "We don't want you getting spotted by any shinobi authorities. Quit griping."

"Then heal- ngh," the young man proceeded to mutter to himself, "Funny how you blew off most of what I just said," before levelly demanding, "Heal me."

"No, just…" Jasmine rested her head in a hand once they reached a stop sign, "I'm begging you right now- and keep in mind that I don't beg… just bear with me. Everything will be fine. I just need you to bite a bullet for a bit longer. After that, everything will be fine and we can proceed as planned."

Before driving further down the street, Jasmine turned her head back to check on the young man. She found him simmering with a large grimace while his bright eyes harshly glared up at her. Shortly after they took off down the road, the young man muttered to himself, "What plan? Didn't that pretty much go out the window?"

Letting out a woeful sigh, a bit more time passed in silence before Jasmine eventually pulled up onto the side of the street. After stepping out and opening the door for the young man, she watched as he tiredly pulled himself up. His mouth was still tucked into a frown but his eyes had lost the lively fire from a minute before. He looked up at her as a feeling of defeat surged through his body before he ultimately took in a heavy breath and pulled himself up. After glancing up at the building they parked in front of, the young man noted, "Back at the restaurant?" before noting, "We're certainly a bit closer than last time."

"There aren't many inquisitors around these parts," Jasmine answered, "and the few in the area tend to keep away since they believe Hanzō and I are capable of watching for danger. Now that we don't need to be wary of the girls finding you, there's no need to worry."

"True… true," mumbled the young man as he began to step ahead.

Oddly enough, Jasmine's arm lurched out and gently took hold of his shoulder to stop him, "Hold up, hold up," and proceeded to carefully scan his face and neck.

"Wh-, what the hell- what're you doing… What're you doing!?"

Jasmine proceeded to lick her thumb and began to straighten the young man's brows. He protested loudly in disgust and dismay as she proceeded to play around with his bangs in order to make them as neat as possible while also putting a few cuts and bruises on display. Then, just when the young man thought his trial had come to its end, Jasmine proceeded to play around with the collar and cuffs of his uniform before shaking her head. In a few swift moves, she unbuttoned and grabbed hold of sleeves on his school jacket before spinning the young man out of it. While he wobbled back and forth on dizzied legs, Jasmine took hold of his arm and hung the jacket over it. Finally, she tugged at his shirt a bit more to put a particular bruise on his collarbone on display before nodding in approval.

Staring up at his tormentor in misery, the young man whispered, "I feel cold and violated."

"Trust me, the smallest details can make the biggest difference," said Jasmine as she urged him on ahead, "Now, get in there and play nice."

Once he took a few steps forward, the young man froze and held up a confused finger, "Hold up," before turning to her, "who's 'them'?"

As mischievousness emanated from Jasmine's resulting grin, the shinobi averted her gaze, "Heh," before stepping past him and rested her hand on the handle of the restaurant's front door, "Smile and greet your guests please," before pulling it open.

There was an ongoing conversation on the other side, "-you look a lot better than last night. A lot less tired- oh?"

The voice belonged to Asuka as she took her turn to greet Yumi, who looked fully recovered from the previous night's ordeal. Though a bandage still covered the wound on her head, her face was lit up and her smile was bright. Then the conversation immediately died down when the door opened and revealed the wide-eyed young man.

Within the dining room, all twenty of the young shinobi were mixed up and gathered at multiple tables. Behind the counter, Rin and Kiriya were apparently helping Hanzō by prepping plates of food before stopping to watch the scene. Unlike the previous night in the gym, there was no atmosphere of hostility as all of the girls slowly turned their heads to face the new arrival and greeted him with silence. The young man looked between Yomi, who was awkwardly glancing back and forth between him and a stone-faced Ikaruga, to Minori, who had awkwardly sucked in her lips, and to Katsuragi, who gave him an awkward shrug.

With a blank look and no words exchanged, the young man reached to the door and gently closed himself out of the building. Jasmine began to protest loudly from beside him, "Get in there!" but he didn't register it. He only knew that there was a room full of shinobi and that he was tired and sore. When the young man faced the same situation the night before, he did so both out of necessity and well-timed boldness. At that moment, the young man did not feel either of those thing.

Thus, when Jasmine popped open the door again, the young man knew where his resolve laid. Even as a few girls like Hibari and Ryōna offered a few encouraging waves, the young man just reached over and closed it again. Under his breath, he proceeded to stammer, "Nope. No. No, no, no, no."

As annoyance resettled onto her features, Jasmine growled, "Would you- what? What is it?"

"Sorry to spoil the dinner," the young man said monotonously as his wide eyes alertly remained on the door, "but I don't have enough energy to get through this. Can I go home?"

The whole conversation could be heard from within the restaurant as Jasmine answered back, "No. Get in there."

Hikage stared at the door expressionlessly before asking Homura, "Were we supposed to say something?"

Outside, the young man could be heard, "No. I'm sore, tired, and am not prepared for what's in there."

Homura slowly replied with an awkward look on her face, "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine."

"You're the sole reason everyone's gathered in the first-"

"Stop right there. You brought me here without warning and expect to guilt trip me? No. You don't have that card. Try again."

Imu commented from beside Miyabi with a tint of genuine commendation, "He's bold if he's backtalking Jasmine. I can offer him that much."

"Quit being a brat. There's things we need to discuss in there and you're the center of most of those things."

"I'm being a brat? I got the hell beaten out of me last night and I just want to rest! If you want to talk things over with everyone else, do so. Let me know how it goes."

"Get back here- For goodness' sake… Your presence is integral to this plan!"

Ikaruga casted a look of doubt to Asuka, who in turn averted her gaze and rested her head onto a hand before proceeding to madly tap away at the table.

"I guess you should have, at the very least, given me a heads-up then!"

"You-," there was a pause, "Listen. Listen to me right now. You're needed in there. I know it's sudden but you have to go in there," followed by another pause, "Besides, you said you need to build trust, right? You need them to absolutely trust you. If you go in there so soon after what you've been through, there's no doubt in my mind that everything will be on the road to working out. Please, can you go in there?"

Second after second passed once the question was raised. All of the girls within the dining room were either anxiously rubbing their chins, watching with alert eyes, or looking between one another. Sitting beside Asuka, Yumi felt her hands clutch onto one another underneath the table in hopes that the young man would concede. Despite her high expectations to have a casual yet meaningful discussion with him about what he'd done for her the night before, she felt that the night wouldn't allow that. Fortunately, a voice broke the deafening silence:

"Give me warning next time you want to pull something like this…" murmured the young man before the front door opened again. Though his eyes were still wide and his mouth was tightly sucked in, he took a breath of air and a few momentous steps into the establishment. However, his steam gradually began to whistle away once he made eye contact with the surrounding shinobi again. There was no doubt in the young man's mind that they had heard the discussion outside and were likely judging him critically for it. As a chill ran down his spine, he began regret not just trying to run away from Jasmine.

Stiffly turning his head back and forth, the young man looked between tables to find a seat for himself. But, just like an outcast in the school cafeteria, there didn't appear to be a welcoming reception aside from the four girls he'd rescued, whose neighboring seats were all taken. So, like an embarrassed dud, he just settled for standing in the center of the room while turning back and forth.

Unbeknownst to him, while there were certainly more critical judgements to the young man's attitude from a moment before, all of the disapproval seemed to wash away once he'd stepped into the well-lit room. Specifically, the girls' eyes went to the welts on his face, scabbed wounds just underneath his sleeve, and to the large bruise just underneath his throat. Once the more apparent observations were taken in, the young man's general state was much more noticeable. He had bags underneath his eyes and his hands were shaking. Other than Yumi, who comforted him while he was on the verge of death, no one had seen the young man appear in such a way. Compared to their witnessing of his defiance at the train station or the tears of relief in the infirmary, the young man was much more vulnerable and afraid than he'd ever come off.

For some people it clicked: he may have been an infiltrator but he was human, just like all of the shinobi.

After letting out a quiet sigh, Ikaruga reached over and pulled over a chair from one table to the end of hers. Though her eyes were still very critical and judging of the young man, she didn't appear to be as wary. More than willing to accept the invitation, the young man let out a quiet, "Thank you," and took a seat. To Asuka, who was watching from the side, it was a sort of positive development that was needed between the two.

At first, the young man continued to look back and forth between the shinobi before raising his folded hands to hide his tightening mouth. But, when Jasmine came by and gently swatted them down, he simply settled for clutching both of his elbows. The growing tension and discomfort threw a splash of itchiness across the back of the young man's head as he quietly asked, "So… what am I… supposed to do?"

Before any other adult could answer, Kiriya advised, "Introduce yourself for a start. Take it from there."

It took a lot more effort than it should have for the young man to hold back a sneer. He wanted to point out the fact that they weren't all a bunch of toddlers in a daycare but, knowing his argument to Jasmine had already likely tainted his image a bit, the young man cleared his throat and professed his full name loud and clear. Once that was out, he ended his statement by saying, "and… I'm an infiltrator. You already knew that but… yeah."

It seemed as though Kiriya and Hanzō were about to encourage him to continue before Ryōbi stole the words from within the young man's mind, "Why're we treating this like we're meeting a transfer student? Could we cut to his explanation?"

Jasmine, Rin, and Miyabi growled, "Ryōbi," in hushed voices while the target of her frustrations recoiled. The young man wanted to speak further but didn't know where to start or what to explain. But just as he went to question what the girl would like to know, a sound of approval rumbled from Imu's throat.

"I agree. Hanzō's letter promised that'd he'd clarify all that's happened and we'd like to hear it."

After scratching the back of his neck a few times, the young man started, "What would-" but was interrupted by Homura.

"Would you two calm down for a moment?" grumbled the girl, "He just got here-"

But, as Asuka and Yomi were nodding in agreement to her defense, Yagyū chimed in, "There's no reason to tarry any longer though, is there? If there's something we don't know, then we could be facing further danger."

Hibari raised a calming hand, "Yagyū, maybe we should just give him a minute."

"Give him a minute then," interjected Katsuragi, "but then he has to tell us what's going on. There's far too much that we probably don't know."

Between all of the voices arguing over what he should be doing at that moment, the young man grew anxious. As Yozakura contested with Katsuragi to give him a moment to breath, he tried to bring the argument to a halt. But every, "Please, quiet down," and, "I don't know what you want me to talk about," came out far too hushed. Amidst the gradually loudening noise circling him, the young man was like a drowning fisherman screaming in the middle of a storm.

"If there's nothing we should be worried about, then it should be fine for him to talk!" declared Mirai who proceeded to aggressively approach the infiltrator.

"Back off from him!" boomed Miyabi as she stood up.

The situation had officially begun to escalate as girls of both teams held the two back. The young man spoke a bit louder, "Calm down," before looking over to the four adults within the room and feeling his jaw drop. Jasmine and Hanzō were just observing off to the side while Rin and Kiriya were still plating food. Silently asking for help, the young man raised the hand scratching the back of his head and gestured to the unfolding scene. But, even when Mirai drew her gunbrella and Miyabi gripped her katana, none of them did anything.

Then something else caught the young man's eye. Staring directly at him with an unreadable face, Ikaruga remained silent through the whole argument and was simply watching the young man. Her eyes were as sharp as when he came in and seemed to observe his every little reaction to the situation. Yet her lower lips were slightly tucked over her upper lips, as though she were uncertain about something. While the young man's own eyes locked onto her blue orbs, he began to realize that there were likely others who were watching. Haruka, Murasaki and Shiki had yet to offer so much as a single voice on the matter.

Looking around once more, the young man confirmed that they were watching him curiously. Unlike Ikaruga, the looks on their faces were much more readable and easily said, "What are you going to do?" They weren't nearly as critical nor did they seem to expect him to go out of his way to stop the situation. They simply watched and wondered whether he'd remain silent or bring the ongoing conflict to a halt. So, after rubbing his forehead in thought for a moment, the young man sucked in a breath of air and let out an affirmative noise. Much to Ikaruga's surprise, the young man stood up from his chair and approached the center of the conflict.

As Mirai and Miyabi were daring one another to make a move, the subject of their disagreement abruptly stepped in between the two. Before either could react, the young man's hand gripped Miyabi's katana and urged it back into its scabbard. For some reason, the intensifying expression of fury on his face made the white-haired girl feel much more ashamed than her father's harsh words from earlier that day. Once he was done with her, the young man stepped up to Mirai as she raised her gunbrella to him. But, unlike he did with the girl who defended him, he just stood and glared her down.

While the rest of the room was still catching up to the fact that he had shoved his way into their argument, Yumi and Asuka were about to dive over their table to pull him from harm's way until they heard him loudly ask, "What do you want to know!?"

Mirai flinched a bit under his gaze and nearly stepped back when he raised his voice, though she still held her ground. Her finger rested on the trigger as the young man faced off against her. The room fell into dead silence as he quietly ordered, "Tell me now. What letters were you guys talking about and what did they say I'd tell you." Despite the rising frustration in his voice, Mirai still remained silent as she kept the gunbrella aimed on the young man. Her immediate fear was that she'd start talking and then the young man would use the opportunity to swipe her weapon away. She knew it was an idiotic fear since she was surrounded by friends and comrades on all sides but, in that immediate moment, it was all Mirai could think about. She knew that he could take on Yumi, thus he could take her too.

Clenching his eyes closed for a brief second before opening them to Mirai again, the young man stated calmly and quietly, "I can't explain if I don't know what you want. Tell me… what do you want to know?"

As her eyes zipped back and forth between her allies, Mirai felt the spotlight shine on her as she asked in a timid voice, "I want to know why you're here."

Even as Homura tried to step in-between them while Miyabi and Asuka were trying to pull him back, the young man spoke to Mirai without a hint of hesitation, "Elaborate."

While her leader slowly lowered the weapon in her hands, the small girl calmly threw back, "Why are you helping us? What do you gain by correcting us?"

Once Yumi finally made it to the young man's side to try and usher him back into his seat, she loudly began, "Let's calm down and slow-" before she was interrupted.

"Yumi," came the gentle rumble of the young man's voice. On turning to face him, the ice queen found that he was looking up at her with a tense but assuring look. Though he was frowning and his eyes were as alert as ever, his cheeks and brows were no longer as intense as they were before. Ultimately, Yumi back off and allowed the young man to face Mirai and answer, "You're right to believe that I'm not some random good Samaritan. I'm not some guy who decided to hop on a train one day, come here, and start bringing a wrench to your distortion."

Once the gunbrella was safely rested against the table, Mirai held onto the young man's gaze and asked, "So, why are you here then? If you're not here to save the day, then why save us?"

There was a brief pause before the young man answered, "Because I'm a selfish bastard who stands to gain the one thing he's been vying for after five long and tiring years." Before anyone could ask for further detail, he added, "Because I want to be free."

A few people blinked in response to his proclamation. Rin and Kiriya grimaced while Jasmine and Hanzō exchanged knowing looks. Once the silence evidently became too much for everyone else, Haruka patiently asked, "Free from what, exactly?"

For a brief moment, the young man's eyes fell down. As everything from the previous few months exploded back into his mind, he held a hand to his forehead before coldly answering, "Free from the bunch of hypocritical half-asses… my blood relatives- no, that's too distant a word…"

While he fumbled with his diction, Murakumo asked, "These relatives of yours, did they hold you captive in some way?"

Not letting a single readable reaction out, the young man monotonously answered, "Yes and no," before pondering how to word his situation. Once nothing came to mind, he knew he'd have to give further detail, "I… This may be hard for you to believe at this point… but I don't want to be an infiltrator."

A few eyebrows went up in surprise. The four girls he'd rescued felt their heads reel back as they tried to make sense of his words while factoring in everything that had happened since they first encountered him. Minori beat everyone else to the punch when it came to asking, "But… then… why are you here, doing that correcting thing?"

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, the young man moved his mouth to answer before firmly closing it. He rubbed his chin a few times before asking back, "I've been told that you're familiar with the oldest of the Mikagura sisters?"

At that moment, Ikaruga stood up from her seat in alarm, "Renka?"

Silent bells were rung all around the room as everyone exchanged dreadful looks with one another, fearing by the young man's tone that something awful had come to pass. "Wh-," Asuka uttered under her breath, "what does she have to do with this?"

Guilt pulled down the sides of the young man's lips as he answered, "She was suffering from distortion until… it was in January, so this took place about three months ago-"

The girls closed in on the young man, giving little space for him as they peered their heads closer and closer in interest. Ryōna asked with a shudder in her voice, "Is she okay?"

"No," the young man answered back, "Not at all…" before his voice died in his throat. From behind the intense faces surrounding him, he could hear Hibari and Minori letting out sobs as they feared the worst. Once he composed himself, he continued to explain, "She suffered a rebound after… my brother… Haruo, that piece of shit… he botched the correction process."

Seeing the girls' faces growing more vehement towards the young man, Jasmine intervened by announcing, "Before any of you go off the deep end, Renka's just fine."

Unfortunately, the young man undid her attempt to placate them by growling, "She's not fine at all!" The girls turned back to find the young man grinding his teeth in complete contempt and fury, "Her mind's gone haywire and she may need assistance for the rest of her life! All because of that worthless fuckup!"

As astonished as Jasmine was by his outburst, she was much more relieved to see that the young man's rage against his brother resonated with the girls around him. Gone were the overdefensive looks which signaled violence and the girls seemed to fully understand that the young man was on their side in the matter. But there were still different thoughts going through their minds. While everyone else nodded in understanding or even approval, Yumi and Asuka looked at the young man in shock as his calm and collected persona went up in flames. Meanwhile, Homura and Miyabi's eyes turned soft with empathy, remembering their own histories with familial hatred.

After seeing that he took a few calming breaths, Jasmine called to the young man, "I'm sorry for my wording."

Raising a hand to wave her off, the young man nodded, "Don't worry. Sorry I overreacted," but still held the unrepentant anger within his eyes, something that Jasmine couldn't blame him for. Once sure that he could continue, the young man spoke, "It was after… Renka's rebound that Hanzō and Jasmine began to pursue my brother. At some point, I guess they got close because Haruo panicked and… namedropped me and the rest of our family… to get them off his tale…"

After the last of his words were uttered out, the girls gave a bit of space for the young man. The wooden floor didn't even dare to creak as the realization settled in through everyone's mind, one that was echoed by Ikaruga, "So… you and the rest of your family were sold out…" Her eyes seemed sympathetic for the briefest of moments before she locked back onto the young man, "But what does that have to do with wanting freedom?"

The young man held up a hand as if to say, "Soon," but remained silent. Those who didn't see his face presumed that he was caught in sorrow for having been betrayed. But everyone who caught so much as glimpse could see the lingering hatred the young man felt for his own blood. Ultimately, the story continued, "You need to know that, around this time, I was working with my grandfather to try and leave behind my practice as an infiltrator. I was getting close too. My mother and father were hesitant but supported me, the rest of the 'web' of infiltrators swore they wouldn't pursue me if I kept quiet, and I had no history with either the law nor other webs. I was set to go… then my family is suddenly greeted by a letter which calls us out as infiltrators."

Through his whole explanation, the young man's eyes drifted over to Jasmine and Hanzō. Neither dared to avert their eyes, regardless of the guilt which had inevitably begun to eat away at them. Off to the side, Rin and Kiriya repeatedly glanced up from the plates they were prepping. While he observed them, the young man's shoulder was grasped from behind by Homura. She nodded at him and, after a pause, he to her.

After clearing his throat, the young man continued, "Fortunately… my grandfather has a history with Jasmine and Hanzō… Same for Kiriya, I believe."

While neatly stacking a plate of sushi, the older man said, "I do."

"Right… so, thankfully they didn't go and immediately attack us," mumbled the young man, "It was also probably around this time that someone noticed your developing symptoms of distortion. So, Grandfather arranged for my parents to meet with them. Strike some kind of deal, I suppose… after some discussion it was determined that I'd be coming here to fix you guys up."

"Wait, what?" muttered Mirai, "So, one moment your family is pursued and the next… what? Where did that jump come from?"

Keeping his eyes on Jasmine, the young man remarked, "From what I was told, my parents were offered an ultimatum: give up Haruo and let him see justice for what he did to Renka or… offer me up… and it had to be me in particular, to see how long I lasted with the wolves… the wolves, of course, being you guys… no offense. And from there… well… you can see what decision they made."

Feeling her strength sap away for the briefest of moments, Jasmine glanced away. She wanted to defend herself and say that it was just an intimidation tactic that went the opposite way as anticipated. She desperately wanted to say it was necessary for curing the girls of their distortion. She wanted to say that she thought no parent would offer up their youngest and most inexperienced child to save one who was responsible for borderline murder. But, as she was told by the old man who once saved her and Hanzō long ago, the young man was on the verge of being freed from a dangerous and ill-reputed lifestyle. He was just about to leave behind the hypocrites and charlatans in favor of something more civil and honest. Then two shinobi were derailed onto him and he was forcefully pulled back in by his collar. There was no defending that. Jasmine could only do right by facing and accepting her guilt. After a few seconds of quiet contemplation, she raised her head back to the young man.

"Now… I'll explain this to all of you," said the young man in a firm voice while keeping his eyes away from the girls surrounding him, "This is not a sob story. This is me telling you the circumstances of what happened so that we can build a very necessary bond of trust." He raised his hand into the air and rested it against his chest, "I'll be frank and honest with you for any question you have. From this day until our ordeal is done, I will do everything I can to make sure your corruption is cleared and that you are all well off for the future. I will honor you and I will never pry into something where I am not wanted. In return for all this, I beg of you to help set me free."

At that moment, the front door to the restaurant opened and large footsteps thundered in. Most of the girls turned their heads before their eyes widened in shock, Rin and Kiriya very nearly dropped the plates they were holding while Jasmine and Hanzō nearly died of simultaneous heart attacks, and the young man felt his eyes bulge out in alarm once he saw what they did.

A massive figure knocked a fist the size of a head against the ceiling before a deep voice called from a hulking form, "Good to see all of… you…" Crouching to get through the front door of the establishment, creaking the floors loudly underneath his weight, and staring with colder silver eyes than else on Earth was Oda, Head of Shinobi Inquisitive Affairs and Other Silent Resource Bureaus.

Hanzō reacted fast to salvage the immediate problem, chipping in with extremely convincing cheerfulness, "Oda, my Killjoy Big-Boy! Wonderful timing! Take a seat."

Looking back and forth between the shinobi, good, bad, and renegade, Oda took particular interest on the young man before pointing to him, "Am I just old or have I not met him before?"

"You haven't met," quipped Hanzō as he introduced the young man's name to the gorilla-framed shinobi, "he's one of Jasmine's tenants at the apartment building that just opened up."

Breathing in uncontrollably heavy breaths as he recognized the name of the official before him, the young man sincerely thought that his life was done for. He believed that, in a few moments, he'd be a splattered mess against the wall. There was only one fork in the road: would Oda figure out the young man as an infiltrator by himself or would one of the girls give him away in either panic or distrust?

Oda narrowed his eyes and studied the young man for a moment before looking to the shinobi around him. His head, proportionately smaller than the rest of his body, bobbed up and down a few times in thought before asking, "Why are some of you crying?"

Taking a second to blink in surprise, the young man looked around to find that some girls had broken into tears. Asuka, before Oda had scared her into a timid silence, had a stream of tears running down her face while Hibari and Minori were still trying to clean themselves up toward the back of the room. Even more surprising was the watery eyes of Homura, Miyabi, Mirai, and Shiki. Then, just beside him, the young man realized that Yumi was irrepressibly shaking. Though no tears were dripping down from her eyes, her lips were parted and her jaw was locked, her nostrils repeatedly flared back and forth, and her hands were practically balled into fists. If the young man had to take a guess, he'd say that she didn't even register the fact that Oda was in the room.

"Is everything alright in here?" grumbled Oda as his eyes jumped from face to face before settling on the young man, "I heard you from outside. Something about helping to set you free?"

Were it not for Rin's quick thinking in that moment, the situation would have taken a dire turn. Calmly placing down the tray of food that she was preparing, she took control of her voice and said, "The boy was giving a grand performance just now. Shush and take a seat."

Internally blessing the Hebijo teacher, the young man kept his cool and yapped to the woman, "There's no need to be rude to him. Besides, I'm pretty sure that was the end of the scene."

A few girls blinked in confusion while Oda questioned, "You're talking about a play of some sort, then? But what does-"

Jasmine leaned herself against the wall before chiming in, "Well, I only just came in myself, so I don't know too much but it sounds like he's thinking about drama club this year."

The young man turned to her, "Then perhaps you didn't hear correctly coming in. Hanzō was mentioning- what, something about school? I don't know. Either way, we were talking about an interest I had in drama some years ago."

Hanzō proceeded to explain the situation away in a tremendous act of his own, "Next thing you know, Asuka's begging him to do that scene from Caged Roman, where Cicero is begging the rest of the cast to set him free. Now, Oda, If I remember correctly, you introduced me to the book. Though," the old man looked down to the boy, "I won't lie, that performance was a bit more improvised than I would have hoped."

Rolling along with the discussion, the young man shrugged before giving a sneer, "It's like I said before: I'm not one for the drama scene nor do I think I'll be taking any other clubs. I think I'd just like a normal school year."

"Oh?" mumbled Oda, "Where do you go?"

"Wakariyasui, sir," answered the young man.

"An impressive school, that," mumbled Oda as he reached into his pocket to produce a cigarette. However, on remembering that he was in a room full of nonsmokers, he put it back into his pocket with a, "Sorry. Anyways, how is Wakariyasui?"

"Eh, it's school."

Ikaruga blinked once and twice at the scene before her. Rolling with Hanzō's lie without a hint of warning, the young man had gone from appealing to the girls one minute to having a casual conversation with one of the most dangerous shinobi alive the next. In the back of her head, she had both respect and fear for that kind of ability.

"Indeed, school'll be school. Boring but bearable, no thanks to principal turd over there," said Oda.

"Oh?" the older man's statement roused the young man's curiosity, "I take it you're not a fan of Principal Shinohara?"

Barely keeping himself from spitting on the floor, Oda complained with a bit more excitement than anyone was used to, "He's my idiot brother. Now, if I'm being unprofessional here, say so. But that fool couldn't hold a job even if he tried. It's only because I put a good word in for him that the board of that school took him."

Before, none of the girls were even aware of the fact that Oda had a brother yet the young man had somehow brought it out by chance within three minutes of meeting the mass of muscle. Like Ikaruga, they weren't sure if they should've been impressed or scared.

At the mention of Shinohara being Oda's brother, the young man iterated, "It may not be too appropriate for me to take part in… that sort of criticism, sir."

"I understand," mumbled Oda as he rubbed his chin and looked back at the once teary-eyed girls, "So, Caged Roman. By the look of it, you played a good Cicero."

The young man looked around before murmuring, "I suppose, but I shouldn't be one to judge."

"Right, right… Imu."

The spectacled girl immediately stood straight, "Sir?"

"What would you say about his full performance?"

Unsure if Oda felt genuine curiosity about the matter, Imu glanced over to the young man before she begrudgingly answered, "He was fine."

"Mm. Asuka?"

The girl was in the middle of wiping her eyes before she jumped and asked, "Ah! He did great, sir! Just like last year's movie."

The young man mumbled under his breath, "I wouldn't take it that far…"

Oda's gaze fell to Yumi before he joked, "I'm not sure I even need to ask you."

Still shaking while on the verge of clenching her fists, Yumi quietly remarked, "It was a beautiful performance… sir."

Emanating a groan from his throat, Oda commented, "I'm hearing too many positive reviews… Ikaruga," the girl flinched, "you're the constructive sort. How would you say he did?"

Ikaruga looked to the young man and he to her. Behind his eyes, looking as casual and laidback as a typical teen, she could see the desperation that he was feeling inside. Though he was rolling with the situation and playing off everything so well, his cheeks were puffed out in the same way as earlier, when he first came into the building fearing for his life. At that moment, something clicked within Ikaruga: she still didn't trust the young man but he had only acted out of necessity. While she couldn't speak for grander acts like his performance above the streets of the city center, everything that he did was done reactively. When he was correcting the shinobis' distortion, ferociously resisting against their urges to comply, or confronted Yumi the night before, he did so because he compelled to by circumstance. There was no malicious act that she could point to. Not even one. So, when the young man looked at her in the way he did, Ikaruga answered Oda's question frankly.

"I'm not much of a moviegoer but… I trust his performance was adequate for the time being."

While the larger shinobi shrugged and asked after the food being prepared, Ikaruga caught the subtle exhale of relief out of the young man's nostrils. His eyes relaxed and he smiled gratefully to the girl who held back from reporting him. Though it was clear enough that there would be issues going forward, at least they had a start.

"Enough of your interrogation, Big-Boy," called Hanzo, "Dinner's ready and is as fresh as ever… oh, and due to lack of seats-"

"Yeah, my big ass will have to settle for standing again," grumbled Oda as he made for the wall by the entrance.

Urging on Rin and Kiriya, the old man sent them out with platters of different foods to set out on the tables. As everyone else proceeded to anxiously take a seat, mumbling under their breaths or reassuring one another, the young man was absolutely stupefied. No one was going out of their way to even so much as hint the young man was an infiltrator. While wary glances were passed at Oda, none of them seemed to even entertain the thought of selling out.

As he smiled a bit more stupidly than he intended, the young man took his seat at the end of the table and looked around for a plate. But, upon seeing Murasaki simply take a bit of sushi off of the platter by hand to munch away, he realized just how casual a setting it was. Glancing to Asuka, who was more than happy to drop the dreariness of the previous situation for a futomaki roll of her own, the young man found her staring at him before giving her own stupid smile as food puffed out her cheeks like a chipmunk.

Reaching for sushi roll, Oda asked with an unreadable gaze, "So, how'd you wind up meeting everyone here? While I, myself, am no regular, I feel like I would have heard about you by now."

Not taking the risk that someone might answer for him, the young man replied as casually as he could, "Ah, strange story. Went for a walk after cleaning up my apartment one day before I found some woods. Wanting to scout it out as a potential exercise area, I explored for a bit before suddenly getting kicked in the face."

Upon hearing that, Imu tried to let out a laugh before promptly choking on her food.

Oda narrowed his eyes, "You… explored the woods at night and got kicked in the face?"

While Imu was still hacking away, the young man quipped, "I know that I'm just stupid. No need to dance around it," before taking a bite into his roll. Once he chewed and swallowed, he continued, "After that, I met those five," and pointed to the girls of Hebijo, who smacked Imu's back until she coughed her sushi up, "we argued a bit, I had just gotten kicked and was effectively pissed, but we came to an understanding. We talked, made friends, and they later introduced me to everyone else and here we are today."

"Friendships start in the craziest ways," mumbled Oda before he glanced to Hanzō, "I still remember how you nearly killed me when we met."

"Shaddup! The pin on that grenade was not pulled and you know it. If nothing else, you were the one who got us kicked off the testing range."

While the two older men bickered back and forth, the young man continued to munch away at his futomaki roll without a care. If Oda dared to turn it into an interrogation at that point, he knew that everyone else would back him up… hopefully. The young man entertained the potential dilemma in his head until he was interrupted by a few pokes to his shoulder. He turned around and looked up to Yumi, "Hullo."

She said nothing and stared down at him with a complicated look. Yumi was smiling but her eyes conveyed all of her understanding and frustration for the young man. Nodding his head up to her once he understood, the young man gave a few awkward nods before giving a thumbs up. After that gesture, Yumi's smile became a bit more genuine. Reaching back to her and Asuka's table, she produced a bottle of soy sauce and offered, "I see you don't have a bottle over here. Would you like some?"

Before the young man could answer, Asuka caught sight of the exchange and nearly shouted, "Don't soil precious food! Futomaki rolls are delicious already and don't need anything else."

"Personally," Yumi spouted back, "I prefer it with mine. It gives a bit more… kick to the flavor."

A furious red glow shined from Asuka's eye, "Coming from the girl who doesn't like to put bigger ones in her mouth-" the young man snorted and snickered into his hand, "-I'm not sure I can trust that statement."

"I agree," Homura smoothly declared from her own table, "when you eat a futomaki roll, you do so because of its salty taste alone-"

The young man pressed his hand further against his mouth "Ancestors, your sacrifices have bred a childish boy…"

"-So, put down the bottle and take it raw."

"Dear Heaven above, do they not hear themselves…?"

Miyabi chose that moment to join into the fray, "I'd say you're both wrong. What's the problem with someone else adding soy sauce onto something they want it on? It's not like it's your food."

The young man sighed in relief as he stopped giggling to himself. While Ikaruga stared at him with a degrading look, he could only mutter, "Okay… that was tame. I think I'm good…"

"Besides," Miyabi added, "I find it easier to slide it in when it's wet-"

A burst of laughter resounded through the room and everyone turned to find the young man out of breath and clutching his stomach. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes as the girls continued to go back and forth with one another, their arguments accruing more and more interpretive comments. Looking over at him before flicking her hair over her shoulder, Mirai smiled contently before going back to her own sushi. Ikaruga, on the other hand, could only glare while the young man succumbed to her friends' immature antics. But, seeing as he was leaning over the table and out of breath while mumbling, "… that caught me by surprise…" she decided against scolding him.

Considering everything, she believed that it was the least she could do after all that he'd done. Even if she didn't trust him, Ikaruga didn't believe that he was a bad person.

**Gray city ninjas leap…**

**Loose Fit of laughs and weeps.**

**Grudge-built young in by train!**

**Role mis-judged,**

**Bound be-loved,**

**Fate be-reaved,**

**ONE CHANCE ACT – MAKE IT COUNT!**

**Bland walk and low talk,**

**His intent seeps through,**

"**I will straighten you…"**

**Emboldened pulse beats.**

**Pristine and scratched deep,**

**They sought past the start,**

"**Bring rest to our hearts…"**

**New-eyed shadow feats.**

"**Be true,**

**Be you,**

**That's all I ask."**

"**Work fast,**

**We'll last,**

**Until the end."**

**Newborn agreement's foundation.**

**Sucker PUNCH – What a surprise!**

**That's the LIE – Those golden thoughts!**

**Can't he SEE! – Flaws only hurt!**

**Just as argument comes,**

**Fierce words of rebuttal,**

"**One is one of all,**

**All are shines and scopes,**

**But each life's a gem…"**

**By accepting love's connection,**

**For the familiar lost warmth,**

**They take it in,**

**Vowing to protect that smile!**

**Then there's no umbrellas in the rain,**

**Loud splashes and laughs together,**

**Paint runs wet on forgotten gray!**

"**Life isn't for our perfection."**

"**It's our loves and times to cherish."**

**Minds united,**

**The hearts set out against the world!**


	21. Chapter 21: Let Loose

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 21: Let Loose

**Life can and will be Hell.**

**You'll be made to suffer things you don't deserve.**

**You'll be hated casually because you are simply you.**

**There are periods when you're forced to a knee and want nothing more than to cry.**

**But there are in-betweens.**

**Times that either bring us relief from an exhausting day.**

**Times that bring us to laugh, smile, and embrace one another.**

**During these periods, we're free to unregretfully be ourselves at our best and worst.**

**Here's to the celebration of your coming in-between!**

**Please, make it count in the best of ways!**

Yawning from the backseat of Jasmine's car, the young man stared through the window to the sidewalk. It was all just a fuzzy daze at that point. The last couple of days had been an absolute nightmare and it all seemed to have come to a rest. After racing above traffic, getting captured, and fighting off a distorted shinobi, the young man no longer had to be as aware of his surroundings and could relax.

Then he remembered that life wasn't that easy. Jasmine was the first to speak about it from the front seat, "You know that Oda is suspicious of you, right?"

The young man closed his eyes, "How couldn't he be? I was the only non-shinobi in a room with twenty-four other people. Plus, with the bruises and cuts across my body… He didn't even offer a hint of interest. If he wasn't suspicious, I'd be questioning why tax dollars were going into his salary." His eyes glinted knowingly as he caught a piece of the night sky in-between a couple of buildings, "No. He held back tonight because there's a process at hand for dealing with this kind of things. He's suspicious… More than, I'd wager."

Mumbling a small noise of acknowledgement, Jasmine looked into her rearview mirror and glanced at the young man. His face was glum and conflicted, but mostly tired. Seeking to lighten his mood a bit, she stated, "Well… at least Hanzō dropped a good enough excuse… Hell, now we have something to justify why you're in my backseat."

"Yup," uttered the young man, "at least there's that."

The gloominess in his tone ate at Jasmine just a bit and she found it mildly irritating. But, before she could snap at him to lighten up, she reminded herself of the young man's ordeal. If she really wanted him to ease up and look for a bright side then and there, she'd have to provide it. Jumping back and forth between tones of cheery and awkward, Jasmine quipped, "Well… on the upside, Haruka will probably be able to give you back your phone tomorrow…" before she sucked in her lips to silence herself. Her words didn't sound as uplifting as she was going for. She tried again, "It was a good thing she held back on giving it you tonight too… uh… Oda would have… been suspicious… as to why she had it…"

One glance at the rearview mirror proved too much when she saw that the young man was staring at her with droopy eyes and a slacked jaw. Slowly, he uttered, "That is… indeed, a good thing…" before averting his gaze back to the window. Jasmine desperately did not want to go for another verbal bout to start a conversation. She was an elite shinobi built for combating dangerous forces, not for interacting casually with sulky teenagers. Fortunately, the young man gave her something to work with, "Does she, or anyone else for that matter, have my glasses by chance?"

Pursing her lip in thought, Jasmine responded, "Well… honestly, not that I know of," before scratching her forehead, "I told everyone about the purpose of the lenses but… No, I don't recall anyone bringing it up. Though, we haven't really had the time to trade information on everything since before your capture. Since then, we've either been… fighting distortion, coming up with cover stories, watching for Oda…"

"Interrogating me and eating sushi," added the young man with a devious smirk.

Jasmine raised a disciplinary finger, "You're allowed to call it sushi in your private time but, if you say that in front of Asuka, prepare for a world of hurt… Futomaki rolls are her words. But, yeah. Then we interrogated you and ate," before bringing her hand back under her chin, "But, other than all that, we've just-"

"Don't forget watching for Oda again," continued the young man, "then watching him and you threaten Hanzō with a knife."

She waved her hand, "Right, right," before finishing, "but, my point is that we've had a busy time since we've last convened." Jasmine took a final turn toward the young man's residence before offering, "I'll definitely have the opportunity to talk with them about your phone and glasses later tonight or tomorrow. In case all goes well, keep yourself available after school for a special delivery from them."

Eagerly watching his apartment come into sight, the young man had a pleased face before it dropped into confusion, "Why not just take them when you talk to the girls? It'd be a bit easier if you just left the glasses in the apartment."

"You're forgetting," Jasmine sternly asserted, "Oda's seen you all together and we gave him a story that you're all buddy-buddy. If I keep playing intermediary between you all, he'll actually have a warrantable reason to act on his suspicions against you. If you guys hang out, chat, play- whatever you guys want to do- then those suspicions can be killed over time."

While she parked the car, the young man considered Jasmine's statement thoughtfully before letting out an affirmative noise. They gave the shinobi official a story and they all had to stick to it. Especially since all available eyes would be scrutinizing all suspicious actions for the time being. In a quiet mumble, the young man asked, "Is it really so suspicious for a civilian to be hanging out with a group of shinobi?"

"Well, were it just one or two shinobi, then not at all," Jasmine retorted as she exited the vehicle, "But twenty-plus shinobi? No, that's weird."

The young man grumbled as he stepped out after her, "Oh well. There's no point in worrying now," and proceeded toward the stairs to the second floor, "I'll keep available after school. If nothing else, it'll be a good opportunity to build that trust we'll need."

Jasmine's eyes lit up as she watched him from the vehicle before calling out, "I'll send over some of the girls tomorrow. Think up something fun to do."

Immediately, the young man whirled around and exclaimed, "Wait, what? Hold up, what're we doing?"

Smirking at him mischievously, Jasmine only shrugged and spouted, "You said it yourself: it's a good opportunity to build the trust all of you need. I'll send some of the girls, you find something to entertain them, you guys proceed to have some fun, and… voila~. Trust is built amidst all the chats and laughs."

As his lower lip quivered in anticipation for what was to come, the young man shakily pointed his finger and sputtered, "Hold on, timeout-"

"There are no timeouts, bub."

"-I don't remember agreeing to… entertain twenty people. Never mind how expensive that'll be, I'm not sure I can handle hosting for so many people who were just trying to kill me a couple of days ago."

Jasmine cut him off with a dismissive wave, "I said 'some' of the girls, stupid. I'll talk to the four you corrected and have them bring a plus one. From there, the plus ones get more comfortable. Then we bring in the others. After them, whoever remains. Eventually, we'll have a nice web of trust."

The young man's eyes narrowed, "That still leaves me trying to entertain eight people… with extremely short notice… and a thoroughly limited budget… Plus, these eight people are going to be really attractive girls that I know next to nothing about. Whaddaya want me to do!?"

For a moment, the shinobi before him seemed as though she was about to casually retort before freezing. Then Jasmine's eyes sharpened right back at him and grumbled, "You cannot be telling me that you're nervous because they're attractive girls."

The young man crossed his arms, "That's part of it."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "You, yourself, suggested taking them all on in a fight but eight in a social setting is suddenly too much now?"

He didn't bend, "Being social with people I hardly know is much harder than fighting."

After taking a few seconds to process what he said, while silently agreeing with him, Jasmine clenched her eyes closed before mumbling, "Then… bring a friend or something and make it a mixer. Either way, you'll be having eight girls meet you after school," and proceeded back inside her car, "Good luck!"

"Wait," the young man called, "are we going to be having a meeting another time soon? There's still some questions-" but his landlord had already closed the door and was rolling off, "Hey! Haruka said something confusing on the train yesterday! How will we be planning our approach…!" He was simply left to stare after the Jasmine's rear lights as she picked up in speed and disappeared around a street corner. He silently grumbled to himself for a moment before sputtering loudly, "Where and when the hell is everyone going to meet me after school tomorrow!?"

Thus, alone and tired, the young man complained to himself a bit more before heading back to his apartment to shower, do his homework, and sleep. Ultimately, he had no idea how to approach the situation to come. Certainly, he'd made friends and hung around with them during his earlier years. But those people were usually related to fellow infiltrators or people affiliated with illegal activities. The young man's company would, in stark contrast, be government or corporate sponsored shinobi who he knew little about on a personal level. Throwing in the fact that they were all attractive girls didn't help matters either.

Lying on his futon, the young man sleepily mumbled to himself, "Screw it… Baby steps… One at a time…" and drifted off into sleep.

**April 15 – "If you can't let loose around your friends, you don't trust them as much as you should."**

When Miki arrived at school the following day, everything seemed to be following its usual routine: Ebi was mouthing off with her clique and showing off the new phone stickers she'd gotten, two of the new transfer students were off in their corners of the classroom and were remaining as silent as ever, and Miss Osatani was tiredly yawning as she filed through some papers. While some people were disheartened or bored of seeing the same usual sight day in and day out, Miki would smile and take comfort in it. After all, if nobody was running around in a dramatic huff or was anxiously anticipating tragic news, then almost everything was right with the world.

Thus, when the young man walked in with his standard blank face, Miki was more than happy to greet him. Internally, he knew he'd have to tone down his talkative nature since the young man had, quite apparently, taken a vicious beating the other day. The only problem was Miki's inability to keep on a comprehensive subject. It was a saving grace that the young man always appeared to have patience for his rants, even if he would cut them off harshly whenever he was in a mood. But, for his sake, the shorter boy was going to play it safe that day and focus on keeping to shorter sentences.

"Yo, you feeling alright?" said Miki with the most casual look he could muster.

The young man looked to the dork, "Define alright."

"Are you less sore than yesterday?"

"Sort of. Still stings in some places but the bruising is dying down."

Internally, Miki was celebrating both his friend's steady recovery and the fact that the conversation started without a hitch. Though there was still ten minutes before class started. During the previous week, Miki started each day off pestering the young man with inane rants that either went in circles or into a brick wall. Miki couldn't let that happen again.

"So, those two bombin' girls from the other day… Did you happen to go to the police about them? You know, file a report, note what they stole, etcetera, etcetera? If not, I hate to break it to you, but you may be screwed since so much time has passed. Hell, I know you're screwed because you're not wearing your glasses again today- did they break your glasses? Do you think they did that just to be dicks- I mean bitches- I, um, no, that's a bad word… bad people…? Do you think they did that just to be mean? I mean people don't act without reason-"

"-Circumstances can drive people to do some pretty weird shit all the time. I mean, look at my uncle… Okay, he's not my uncle but I call him- no, I don't call him uncle either… Well, I regard him like one. But my point is that he's Russian… No, again. My point is that he's weird and he's from Russia- no, I'm mucking this up. He's my uncle who's not my uncle who's from Russia and he's done some weird things-"

"-Next thing you know, the cat jumped through the bonfire and proceeded to claw the dude's eyes out. So, naturally, my uncle- damn it, no. He's not my uncle- is trying to pry this thing off and is tripping all over the place. But, hilariously, he refused to put down the potpie! He's wrestling the cat off with one hand and is trying to stuff the pie into his mouth in the meantime. Then the coffeemaker exploded inside the microwave, big surprise, and everyone's going apeshit-"

"-At that point, this drunk guy from Florida comes in and just sucker punches my uncle in the dick. Just pokes him on the shoulder with his hand- which was a hook since the Florida guy was also an amputee- and whirls a brass knuckled punch into my uncle's dick. Now, the cat's pissed off and hissing like a tire with a hole in it, my mom's running around yelling about the coffeemaker while the back of her dress is on fire, my dad's laughing his ass off with a two-year-old waving around a grappling gun on his back, and I'm trying to make sense of why a grizzly bear is just watching us from the tree line with the most dead look on its face. It deescalated once the police threw in some tear gas and dispersed the rest of the crowd. In short, that is how my family and I almost got extradited during our vacation last year. Also, what were we talking about?"

Standing beside the blank faced young man was a crowd of students who were looking at Miki bewilderedly. Immediately, the talkative boy knew that he had broken his goal of keep the sentences short and sweet for the day. Worse than that, five minutes hadn't even passed. He wanted to mutter the word, "Damn," under his breath.

"Nothing terribly important," said the young man without further comment. Though his face quirked to the side during the tale's recounting, he'd mostly maintained an expressionless face. In fact, Miki was almost sure that the young man had smiled humorously at certain points through the story.

While the looks and gossip from the rest of Miki's classmates made his stomach queasy, he took solace in the fact that the young man didn't seem to judge him so harshly. So, the shorter boy just asked, "Before I forget, do you wanna hang out after school today? We did that all last week but then you got mugged yesterday and that threw a wrench into our plans."

From her desk, Ebi suddenly turned her head and sneered dismissively, "He didn't even get mugged. Quiet ones like him are always vying for attention and make up stupid stories like that."

Miki's instincts caught him first, "No one asked you, you cow-tittied drama queen!"

Miss Osatani pretended she didn't hear any of the drama exchanged between the two. She'd come to get used to their innumerable escalations and pranks through the previous year and had come to learn that getting involved seemed to only spur their hatred for one another. In the particular case of Miki and Ebi, she'd learned to just let them vent their frustrations and let bygones be bygones. After letting out another yawn, she continued to file through her papers until she found the pop quiz from the week before. "More studious than he comes off…" she mumbled under her breath before glancing over to Takatsukasa Sugiyama.

While his friend continued to argue with Ebi, the young man looked up to Miki and remembered Jasmine's words from the previous night. Though he felt guilty for even considering the prospect of involving a friend with the shinobi, the young man reminded himself that it would just be a night of fun to help break the ice. Plus, he had no idea what places there were that could accommodate ten people without reservation. Miki, being a local, would have to be consulted one way or another and, not wanting to be left out, would undoubtedly ask for an invitation either way.

After debating with himself just a bit more, the young man settled to ask during lunchtime. While the argument before him continued until the bell rung, he just remained silent and tried to consider the easiest approach to the situation.

The wonderful thing with Miki was that anyone could just speak frankly with him and he'd take it like a champion.

"I need your help with something," the young man quietly mumbled as he stared down to the bread he bought.

"Speak," Miki uttered in a semi-serious tone with a mouthful of ham.

After ruffling through what words to use, the young man proceeded to slowly explain, "I've been put in charge of a… gathering of sorts."

"Short notice?" Miki asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Very," said the young man with a nod before he continued, "Now, I need to find a place that can accommodate eight people plus myself… and you, if that look on your face means you're interested."

Miki's eyes bulged out in surprise at the thought of the young man apparently making other friends besides himself. While it, by all means, wasn't a problem, it was just baffling to think about how his straightforward and curt friend had apparently found others he clicked with. As questions asking what sort of people the young man had met began to arise, the boy swallowed his food before sputtering, "Ye-, yeah, I don't mind. One phone call and I can open myself up, though… I'd have to ask who these other eight people are," and proceeded to take another bit of his food.

"Girls," the young man answered immediately and with a bit more urgency than intended.

Miki did a doubletake as the ham he was eating got lodged in his throat. He coughed a few times, accepted a milk carton that the young man offered, and chugged it down before dramatically asking, "Girls…? Who are they, when did you meet them, and why wasn't I there!?"

"I met them when I was mugged Monday," came the straight-faced answer, "I know you'll have seen one of them already, the tanned one."

Desperately needing to take a moment to process what he was being told, Miki held up a finger before pausing and bringing it up to his lower lip. Taking a few more seconds to think while his friend continued to stare at him, Miki shakily asked, "Just to clarify… she's one of the girls who mugged you on Monday… yes?"

The young man quietly cursed himself for giving the explanation that he did the other day. Still, knowing that rolling with it would be a lot easier than trying to explain away his previous words, he simply answered, "She is, though I should clarify that we talked it out yesterday. We're cool now."

The disbelief in Miki's eyes couldn't be measured, "What, did the United Nations intervene and stage a summit for you two? How in the hell do you go from 'she mugged me' to 'she mugged me but it's cool' in-" before he broke off into a tangent of muttering to himself. After nearly a minute of hanging his face into his hands, Miki asked, "Could you explain how that works? How are you two cool now?"

His friend's resistance was anticipated and the young man knew that he couldn't just explain the situation away. Even if he gave a speech to rival Mark Antony, Miki would be flabbergasted and would further press the inquisition. Thus, he had to divert the attention from one place to another, "Listen, I understand you're confused-"

"What gave you the hint?"

"-and I, myself, can't fully explain how the situation turned into what it's become. But all I do know is that she apologized and has offered to make amends on a night out with seven of her friends."

Miki raised up his hands, almost as though he intended to strangle the young man for his stupidity, "And what makes you think that these seven other girls, if they even exist, aren't just going to drag you into an alley and beat the shit out of you?"

"I've met them, they've apologized for their actions."

"That doesn't mean that they're not going to kick the shit out of you again! How can you be this stupid!?"

Staring at Miki intensely, the young man grasped his shoulder and uttered in a low voice, "I know how it sounds. It looks crazy and sounds crazy. It is crazy and there's no doubt about it. But I can assure you that this offer is true. There are eight women, eight beautiful women of diverse interests and weird personalities, who have left it up to me to arrange a spot for us all to hang out." The young man sighed, "But I'm no local. I don't know what places are popular or trendy or even decent… That's why I'm turning to you, Miki. You can save me here. You don't need to show up if you don't want to but I need your knowledge of the local area… Can you help?"

Blinking a few times as his jaw went slack, Miki pointed his finger straight at the young man and monotonously said, "Every other day, you're ice-cold and levelheaded. Throw beautiful girls into the picture, suddenly you're as big a drama queen as Ebi and you're thinking with your dick."

The young man blinked right back at him before mumbling, "If nothing else, you told me yesterday that you wanted me to chat you up to the tanned girl if I got the chance. How about I do so tonight?"

Despite all common sense having held onto him through the entire exchange, the thought of being publicized to a hot girl caught Miki's attention. Even if she was a bit more dismissive of him on Monday, there was something to the young man's words that conveyed his willingness to do so. Images began to assault Miki's mind, featuring the tanned girl's face smiling sweetly and laughing with him, pouting cutely as he teased her, and conveying all of the warmth that could possibly be conveyed under the sunlight that she certainly dwelled under. Even if she was a mugger, why should he give a damn? If he had a mugger girlfriend, he'd love and cherish her all the same as any other girl around the world.

Clasping his hands together thoughtfully and taking on a scholarly look of seriousness, Miki uttered in a deep voice unbefitting of his shorter stature, "Certainly, you make a case that I can consider taking… I'll look into certain spots which would be suitable for the beauties that you boast."

Suddenly, the young man lost a bit of faith in Miki as he caught the glint of a white knight in his eye. Drooping his eyelids doubtfully, he asked monotonously, "Oh? I'm glad and all but… if you're worried about the dangers…"

Miki puffed out his chest boastfully before haughtily saying, "Your words have convinced me that there is some truth to what you've said. While I still have some… many… a whole lot of reservations about how dangerous this is probably going to be, the potential reward is all too great to be ignored. Thus, in the words of a famous poet somewhere out there…" before locking his eyes onto the young man's to utter, "Fuck it."

While Miki continued to laugh at himself and fantasized about the romance he envisioned for himself, his friend just sighed and muttered under his breath, "I may have sparked a disaster…"

At the end of the day, the young man went out to the school gates to wait for his plus one and the shinobi. Still having absolutely no idea where they intended to meet, he sighed impatiently while glancing back and forth across the sidewalks and streets. After a bit of time, he even started glancing up to the tops of buildings surrounding him only to find birds flying overhead. Just as he was beginning to be fully mesmerized by the soaring wings above him, someone had suddenly bumped into his side with a surprised yelp.

Turning with a bit of evident confusion on his face, the young man found himself facing Sato Hazuki. The quiet girl was looking up at him through her round glasses with wide-eyes before she squeaked, "Sorry…" and scurried off like a tiny mouse with her head hunched over. Part of the young man couldn't blame her. Sato knew as well as he did that they were both aware of the shinobi. Whether she was like the young man and was an infiltrator had yet to be seen. It wasn't impossible to run into other webs and cells without warning, considering the overall lack of communication between infiltrators. But she could also be something much worse. Something terrible enough that the young man would sooner try his luck in a fight with Yumi again. But, whether or not Sato was that terrible thing, a dignitary, had yet to be seen.

Having just finished up his business in the rest room, Miki tumbled down the stairs in fright and very nearly crashed into his friend. As the young man went to catch him from what he thought was a fall, the smaller boy began to erratically rant, "Alright, I've found a few places that I thought would be best but- and here's the tragedy- they're all booked!"

Feeling his eyes widen a bit at Miki's revelation, the young man stared a bit in silence before asking, "Are there any alternatives? Even if they're subpar, something is better than nothing."

In response, the brown-haired boy ruffled a hand through his bangs and said, "The only other places I can think of have had numerous health code violations. Unless we want to risk someone going to the hospital, we've got nothing!"

At that moment, as the young man brought a hand up to his chin in thought, he heard one of many dreaded voices from behind him. It called him out by name and sweetly proclaimed, "We're ready for some fun!"

Miki tried to glance around his friend, "Is that them?"

But the young man just took hold of his shoulders and spun him around, "Plan B. We make a run for it and change our routes to and from school."

Teary brown orbs looked back up at him, "Bu-, wha-, huh!? Can't we just explain the situation?"

Blinking in realization of just how panicked he was by the prospect of eight girls and failing to arrange a proper outing for them, the young man had to take a moment to inhale and exhale before muttering, "Sorry… You're right. Let's just tell them I failed to come up with a place."

Nodding in solidarity to one another, the two boys turned around before their eyes opened widely. Unlike all of the previous times when the young man had seen the girls in their school uniforms or, in the case of the renegades, standard outfits, the eight girls before him were dressed in a much more casual attire. Asuka smiled cheerfully in a white off shoulder top with a black skirt while Ikaruga, dressed in a pink floral print blouse and skirt, casted an alert look from behind her. Off to the side, Homura was nodding toward the young man while her hands dug into her jeans, inadvertently pronouncing her breasts as her arms squeezed against the gray t-shirt she was wearing, much to Miki's excitement. Beside her, Hikage was staring off into space while Shiki, dressed in a trendy black jacket and short shorts, caressed a finger through her friend's red sweater weaves. Off to the back, Yumi and Miyabi were exchanging pleasantries and greetings, wearing a white shirt dress and a polo shirt with a jean skirt respectively, while Imu, wearing a surprisingly feminine summer dress, sternly glanced between Miki and the young man. Overall, the combined amount of diverse beauty in one place was a sight which would complement Heaven itself.

It was too much for the shorter Wakariyasui student to handle.

The boy pulled his friend's shoulder and chattered through his teeth, "Okay, we make a run for it, skip town, adopt new names, and live out our lives in peace. On three, we run. Ready?"

The young man did not take his words kindly. He took hold of Miki's arm and growled with a red face, "What was all that talk before? I'll take the heat for not coming up with a venue. So, just stand by and be cool."

"The situation has changed!" Miki hissed as he slapped away the young man's hand, "There are eight goddesses walking the same sidewalk as us. None of the venues I had in mind were good enough in the first place. Where do you get off in suggesting we bring them to a lesser joint?"

Grinding his teeth and pressing his lips together, the young man had no immediate words. He looked between his friend and the girls who were staring at them with complete confusion. Even for someone who prided his ability to be bold and straightforward, he was also tempted to run away and make an excuse. After all, those girls had gussied themselves up beyond beauty and walked casually on the same sidewalk as other mere mortals. To not be better prepared and treat them to a night out when they expected it felt like one of the worst sins imaginable

Then, the young man took solace in his grandmother's words of advice.

"**If you can't say what you think, stand for what you believe in, nor defend your values… Can you consider yourself a human of equal standing with the rest?"**

He couldn't say he fully understood what his dear grandmother meant at the time, but the young man knew that those words changed his grandfather as a man years ago. He'd be damned to say that those words hadn't also resonated with him. Turning away from his friend and facing the girls with a loud thud of his foot meeting the pavement, the young man briefly glanced back at Miki, "Watch what I say… and remember it… Listen to my words and remember them beyond this moment…" and turned back to his newfound allies. By that point, they were glancing between one another with wide and confused eyes. They looked like they wanted to laugh or back away, save for Hikage who was completely detracted by the birds the young man was looking at before. Those intimidating looks, however, wouldn't throw off their newfound friend, the infiltrator who conquered and corrected four cases of distortion. He, a normal young man who had stood up and won against a shinobi, would not back down. After one final deep breath, the young man clenched his eyes closed and opened them with a glimmer of resolve.

He proceeded to bow his head until his upper body was parallel to the ground, "I'm sorry! I couldn't find a venue for the ten of us!"

Keeping his eyes to the ground as the world around him fell in silence, the young man was prepared for whatever punishment was to be meted out against him. His only regret, for the immediate moment, was that he couldn't bring himself to gaze upon the unworldly beauty of the girls who had troubled themselves to meet with him.

"Oh…" came Asuka's voice, "Well, if it's all the same to everyone else, I know a spot that we could head out to… And who's your friend?" As much as she was a naif, the two Wakariyasui students considered her to be a blessing to the world.

Thus, before the young man registered the fact that he was still alive, he found that both he and Miki were sitting side by side in a karaoke bar. Fortunately for the lot of them, Miyabi and Imu had brought their I.D. and, by the look of it, were old enough to count as chaperones for the whole group. While Asuka was thanking both of them, having forgotten that Daidōji wasn't present to get them in, the young man mumbled with a straight face, "Miki…"

"Yeah…?" came the quiet voice of his friend.

"This day, I thought I knew the power of being frank and speaking honestly to a group of people…" uttered the young man with a grim look, "I thought I understood how powerful it was and what limits it could reach…"

"You don't need to finish," whispered Miki, his voice soft and understanding, "I know what you're about to say."

"But it still needs to be said…" Thus, while the girls were looking at the karaoke machine and taking awkward glances back at the two, the young man finished, "Today, I've learned that I know nothing. For if we, two mere men who had failed in our duty to provide an establishment of fun, can be forgiven by the women before us… perhaps honest apologies are far more powerful than we can possibly measure…"

Clasping his shoulder assuredly, Miki finished with a tearless sob, incoherently sputtering the young man's name, "Your words… are just too true!"

Imu glanced back at the two, "Would you two thespians knock it off and help us work this damn thing?" and pointed her finger to the machine. Homura and Ikaruga were both pressing buttons and flipping through digital menus but couldn't bring themselves to understand as they were driven around in circles.

Both of the boys proceeded to quietly apologize and stood up to help with understanding the machine. Fortunately, after nearly fifteen minutes of pushing random buttons and observing the consequences, including a sudden visit from management once the emergency button was unintentionally pushed, they were given a written guide on how to work the karaoke machine and several complementary glowsticks. From there, they should have been prepared to continue the night with laughs and fun to be had.

Then everyone in the room came over with a severe case of stage fright. While Asuka had suggested the idea, her own personal outings consisted of those only within Hanzō Academy. To sing in front of a new group of people, even close friends, was nerve-wracking to an extreme. Everyone else also appeared to share her sentiments. Throwing Homura, whose teasing could very well be brutal and relentless, into the mix only further complicated the issue.

Looking around tensely as everyone nervously twiddled their thumbs or casually suggested for one another to go, the young man found himself in another dilemma. While, by no means, was it something as frightening as what he faced on the sidewalk earlier, he was still anxious about what he could do to resolve the situation. As the stock music, which could be commonly found in elevators, continued to hum along like nothing was wrong in the world, Miki patted the young man's back and whispered, "Okay, I think it's time…"

Narrowing his eyes at his friend, the brighter eyed student asked, "Time for what? If you have a suggestion on how to fix this, then speak."

"I have a solution in mind," uttered Miki as his eyes fell, "but you won't like it."

Glancing back to the girls and watching as Shiki was trying to find a song that she recognized so that she could sing without risking embarrassment, the young man felt his heart cringe at the awkward sight before him. Exhaling a breath of air out his nostrils, he said back, "Name it. Anything to turn this into something more… lively."

Nodding his head with a bit of admiration, Miki quietly declared, "If you get up there and sing something, you'll rev this party up into something passable."

Flinching his head back, the young man felt his face heat up and scratched at the back of his head before muttering squeamishly, "I hate to say it… but… embarrassing as it is, I'm too shy."

Looking at him in disbelief, Miki grumbled, "You?" before raising his eyes up to the ceiling, trying to find the Heavens so that he could pray for salvation, "Of all the people in the world, the shy guy is the one who so boldly speaks his mind to me and others with a plain expression on his face…"

Taking on an annoyed expression, the young man retorted a bit louder than intended, "You see those eight angels over there?" and continued as everyone else's ears caught his comment, "Imagine the looks of disappointment when I get up there and make an ass of myself."

Miki crossed his arms and threw back, "Wouldn't you shame and prostrate yourself before said goddesses? Regardless of how bad you sing-"

"It's not that I think I'm a bad singer…"

"-don't you think the prospect of them either clapping or laughing along, whether with or at you, would be worth it?"

The young man had nothing to retort back with. He looked over to the girls, of whom four of their faces were reddened by his comment, and he locked his eyes onto the karaoke machine. After taking a breath, he reached down to the booth and took out a box of electric glow sticks to distribute. He wordlessly handed them to each of the girls without any readable expression on his face. Once everything was handed out, he pointed to Miki, "You're doing backup vocals. Don't fail me on this, friend," and strode over to the karaoke machine. As his friend was processing his forced nomination, the young man hunted through the catalogue of songs until he found his choice. He tapped the button and the countdown appeared on the screen, synchronizing with his beating heart.

He straightened his back on three, held the microphone a bit off from his mouth on two, and took a deep breath on one.

Then the guitars blasted their surprise entry and the music video was pumping itself up behind him. As everyone looked on bewilderedly, the young man's stone-cold face was one of fierce determination. His decisive moment to spark the night's enjoyment had come. If he failed, his hopes for interacting with the girls around him would be crippled and it'd be supremely more difficult to gain their trust. If he succeeded, their joy would pave the way to building trust.

As the guitars began to slow and their rifts began to dwindle, the cymbals and drums began to tap and hype up a beat. Tapping his foot along to maintain a rhythm, the young man took a quick breath away from the mic before singing the opening verse: 

"**The Earth burns beside her glow~,"**

Every syllable came out calm and clear, reflecting a slow and baritone harmony coinciding with the music. While the girls reeled their heads back in anticipation of a complete and utter crash, Miki stuck a thumb up and whispered under his breath, "God's speed…"

"**But shouldn't stars get so clo-ose?"**

The young man outstretched his free arm and let it rise and fall with his pitch. From what everyone could tell, he was already getting into it. Suddenly, Miki understood exactly what his friend meant when he expressed worry about making an ass of himself.

"**Lest she yearn a public eye~,"**

Of all the people shocked by the sudden display of energy and enthusiasm from their host, Shiki was among the top. From her observations and the few interactions that she'd had with the young man, he always came off as the strong silent type who'd spend a night studying rather than having any real fun. Of course, the new development wasn't a bad thing.

"**Shall I claim her brand new sky-y?"**

When Shiki turned on her glowstick, Asuka followed suit enthusiastically and rose hers as far as her arm could lift. Even if what was happening wasn't expected, she knew that the display would prove very humanizing to Ikaruga. But, one glance at the slack jawed class representative told the girl that there may be a way to go yet.

"**Loud and sweet lips sing: YES!"**

Mirroring everyone else as they turned on their glowsticks, Homura continued to watch with a completely baffled look on her face. Looking to Hikage, who was rocking her head back and forth with the steadily intensifying rhythm, she was struggling to fathom how the once therapeutic and gentle toned young man was harmonizing with a metallic song in a baritone voice.

**As her mouth flares its brightest!**

Imu glanced at Miyabi, who was losing herself in the rhythm and rocking her glowstick back and forth, before turning back to the young man. The person who had brought the topmost elite of Hebijo to lie to her own father and shinobi authorities was pumping his fist upward like a simple punk. While Imu was considering how such a feat should have been impossible, the rhythm briefly stopped before rapidly flaring back up with the guitars:

"**LIEU!"**

The sudden blast was enough to make Imu jump back into Miyabi, knocking them both down into a laying position in the booth, something the spectacled girl relished happily. While her leader and center of devotion picked them both up and straightened herself with an awkward smile, Imu found herself praising the young man's choice of song. Even if she still held a bit of a grudge against him for Miyabi's change in behavior, there did appear to be benefits to keeping him around.

"**The Earth has only Sol!"**

As the drumbeats began to get louder and more violent in volume, the young man pointed to Miki before beckoning him to get up. Jumping at the opportunity to join in with newfound excitement, the boy left behind his own glowstick and stood next to his friend as the normally levelheaded man sang:

"**I have only one request…"**

As the two stood shoulder to shoulder with one another and rocked side to side, something clicked with Miki. The young man addressed him as a friend when assigning him to backup vocals. For nearly a week and a half, Miki was wondering if the singer before him was just being tolerant of his chatty nature or if he actually considered him as a sort of friend.

"**All the same, she'll have my best…"**

When the prompt came up on the karaoke screen for the two to sing the next verses together, Miki no longer had any doubt in his mind. The young man trusted him enough to stand on a figurative stage beside him in front of eight beautiful goddesses. If that wasn't what friends did with one another, Miki would declare their case the exception.

"**Dim world-,**

**Unfilled-,**

**Grim times foretold~!"**

As she swung her glowstick along with the song's rhythm, Shiki found herself curious about how Yumi was reacting to the situation. Back at Gessen Academy, loud displays were more often squelched by the ice queen than they were supported. Yet, from what Yozakura and Murakumo implied, Shiki knew that Yumi had some sort of crush on the young man. Thus, she glanced over at her sister just as Miki carried the vocals for a slow verse:

"**Lead me a-way! Lead me a-way~!"**

Shiki braced herself to see either a sincerely cheerful smile or a tired look of disappointment. She was prepared for an extreme reaction from Yumi, considering her crush was either about to be enhanced or shattered. What Shiki didn't expect was to find the normally cool and curt shinobi looking at the young man with starlit eyes as both he and Miki sang together.

"**One sight-,**

**Lone thought-,**

**Blight what they've taught~!"**

The sheer amount of admiration and delight in Yumi's features couldn't be described with normal words. Her eyes locked and narrowed on the young man's actions, whether he was raising a hand with his pitch or maintaining his expressionless face. Her nostrils repeatedly huffed and puffed in excitement, synchronized with the song's percussion. But most surprising was the U-shaped smile on her face. Whatever silent expectations she'd set for herself in regards to the young man, he had apparently blown her away.

"**Lead me a-way! Lead me a-way~!"**

As Miki finished another background verse, Miyabi found herself in a comfortable position after Imu's fall. The booth itself was comfortably fit, not too stiff nor too soft, and the man that she admired was giving a fine performance in front of her. She would have been content to smile and wave around her glowstick if she hadn't caught sight of Yumi's affectionate smile.

"**Please don't say~,**

**I must stay~,**

**Gone your days~!"**

Even when Miyabi tried to focus on the duet between the young man and Miki, her attention kept getting forcefully drawn to Yumi. She felt vigilant and protective, jealous even, over the fact that Gessen's leader was flooding attention onto the young man. Then Miyabi took a mental step back and analyzed her unconscious reasoning. It wasn't as though she was worried for the young man's safety, since Yumi already had her distortion corrected and seemed happy to protect him from Oda. Then it registered in her head as the young man proclaimed the song's climactic verse:

"**Please… Lead me and take my hand…"**

As the guitars and chimes began to ring all around her, Miyabi found herself realizing a crush of her own on the young man. It wasn't hard to see why she had one, seeing as he had saved her from an invisible force despite taking an obliterating punch to the face. Never mind the rest of the girls he'd saved, his ability to hold his own ground against stronger forces warranted more than admiration. Still, there was not one person in her life whom she could say she awarded that kind of affection to.

"**Rays outshining Merc-ur-y,**

**Her beauty surpassed Ve-nus,**

**Beckoning goodbye to Earth~!"**

Even more baffling was the fact that he should have come of as her anti-thesis to a worthy man. He was significantly weaker than her, took repeated beatings, sang songs when he should have been training to get stronger, and refused to throw even a punch in active combat. If someone had suggested that kind of person to her a few weeks before, Miyabi would have punched that person in the mouth. Yet, there she was getting jealous over the fact that Yumi had an obvious fondness for him.

"**Warmed amidst the cool of Mars,**

**Held from Jupiter's po-wer,**

**Saturn's ring bent to ride home~!"**

Then, like a child who wanted to demonstrate why she deserved a toy, Miyabi found herself standing up from the booth and proceeded to energetically shake her glowstick back and forth. She didn't know what point it would prove other than her enjoyment for the song but she still did it anyway. Unfortunately, her action initiated a domino effect of every other girl, save for Imu and Ikaruga, standing up and waving along their own glowsticks.

"**Uranus' winds whis-tle cheer,**

**Neptune passes our re-gards,**

**And Pluto's the last sa-lute!"**

As the young man and Miki rose to the height of the song's climax, Miyabi found herself getting more and more frustrated by Yumi's blatantly admiring stares. Even Asuka and Homura had turned their heads over and took notice as Shiki hid her mouth to stifle a giggle at her sister. Fortunately, Imu grasped onto Miyabi's free hand in confusion before the situation could escalate. Thus, the whitehaired girl simply continued to wave her glowstick, unsure of what action she would take if she got heated over the matter.

"**Yet, the Milky Way's too small-…"**

As the song began to near its end, the young man balled a fist and extended a bent arm toward Miki. The confused boy really couldn't process the situation amidst all of the fun he was having. Less than a few minutes before, they were stressing to one another about how to start the party and, at that moment, they conveyed enough energy to bid the room to rise. Wondering how they both had that kind ability almost left a feeling as though they were cheating at life. Yet, he wouldn't complain.

"**Due to be fully surveyed…"**

Miki didn't even care about the fact that the young man probably wouldn't actually be talking him up to Homura. But, so long as he could enjoy himself and enjoy night's like the one that they were having, Miki could carry on with life for years to come. With a wild grin on his face, he balled up his own fist and crossed his arm with the young man's.

"**We'll traverse past the long dark,**

**And claim her lot of unseen space,"**

To finish their duet, the two of them parted their arms away from one another before whirling their enclosed fists around. As their bodies spun along with the rise of the guitars and bass in the song, they turned to face one another once more. Miki continued to give a toothy smile while the young man's face remained as fixed as stone and the former wouldn't haven't any other way. He didn't need smiles or flattery from his friend. He only wanted someone he could openly talk to and hang out with. In one final and synchronized act with the end of the song, they both threw their fists forward and connected them with a roar of thunder and ringing of chimes:

"**Within the Andromeda!"**

As the song's tempo began to slow and the guitars began to quiet, the two kept their balled hands connected for a moment longer before the young man backed away, stepped in-between the girls, and sat in the booth. After raising up his hand to cover up the heated red on his cheeks, he pointed over to Hikage and muttered, "Your turn. Pick a song."

As the metallic song's rhythm died off and Hikage stepped up to the machine to take a pick, Miki had to take a moment to process the turn in the young man's mood before smiling simply. However, he looked at it, his friend managed to start up the party's fire. Whether or not he was actually shy to perform didn't matter. Miki had a friend who acknowledged himself as such and he needed nothing else out of the situation. The warmness of the situation would have lasted a bit longer had Hikage not chosen a hardcore rap song for her turn.

Still, as Miki went to his seat with a smile, there was still a fire within the room. Miyabi locked onto Yumi, who had closed her eyes in rapture of her crush's performance, and proceeded to plot out her next move. If the topmost of Hebijo's elite really had a crush on the young man, she had to be prepared to act fast to squash the competition. But, before she could act, Homura decided that was the moment to reach into her pocket and extend a phone to its proper owner. As the young man took notice, the tanned girl stated, "Here, Haruka told me this was yours. Sorry I didn't pass it on sooner."

Staring down at the device with a bit of surprise on his face, the young man replied, "Ah… thank you. Truthfully, I wasn't thinking I'd be getting it back."

"Oh?" Homura tilted her head, "Why's that?"

With a shrug, the young man answered, "I thought it got broken in our… scuffle, we'll call it."

At that moment, Miki overheard them and decided to obnoxiously declared, "You guys really did mug him, didn't you? Jee-heez… The way some friendships form…"

While Homura and the rest of the girls glanced at him in confusion and the young man pinched the bridge of his nose, a large figure stood just outside the room with an empty glass cup up against the door. After listening to the resulting banter between all of the kids inside, Oda grunted a bit before shaking his head and marking up his notepad. Beside him, the karaoke manager gestured to the door, "Well? Is it like I told you, Mr. Agent? Just kids being kids?"

"In a way. I'll be in contact with you in the future," grumbled Oda.

"Like hell, you will," grunted the owner as he prepared to walk off.

Irritated with the little man's apparent defiance, Oda said in a low voice, "You've seen my badge. I'll let you guess just what I'm capable of."

At that threat, the manager felt his blood run cold before he turned around and bowed his head, "So sorry, sir. I meant no trouble," and scurried off.

Oda watched after him before cringing a bit at the rap music coming in from the other side of the door. While he couldn't hear everything perfectly, missing most of the exchange between the young man and Homura, he could make out a few of the louder boy's comments. In a quiet mutter under his breath, Oda spoke to himself, "Being mugged? I wouldn't put it past most renegades to mug a civilian… But someone like Homura? The others? No. That's a cover story."

Despite his large and heavy stature, the man managed to quietly step out of the joint and disappeared into the crowd. Just looking at the young man's bruises the other night, he could tell that he was, in some way or form, involved with shinobi affairs. However, Oda was a man who believed in due process. He'd gather up solid evidence and would prosecute his target with the full weight of the law. If there was any threat of either an infiltrator or dignitary placating young shinobi then that threat would have to be dealt with in the severest way possible.


	22. Chapter 22: Train Wreck

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 22: Train Wreck

Miki found a seat at the bus stop and waved one final goodbye to the group, "It was both fun and terrifying to meet you all. Get home safe, have a good night, don't let the bed bugs bite, and let's get tight…" before awkwardly pausing and adding, "That is, let's hang out again sometime."

Looking at his friend's nervous grin, the young man held onto his blank face before a puff of air blew out his nostrils and a small smile was adopted. Raising his fist and extending it forward, he answered back, "You too. Be safe and I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Seeing the offered gesture, excitement lit up Miki's eyes as he raised his own fist and pumped it against the young man's. Overseeing their gesture from afar, Homura smirked knowingly with Hikage at her side. The latter girl looked back and forth between her hand and the boys' fist bump before asking her leader, "So, he does like those kinds of things?"

Broken from her train of thought, Homura turned her head over with a quirked brow, "What do you mean?"

"At the train station the other day, he didn't give me a high-five when I offered it."

Tilting her eyes down to her plain faced comrade, Homura replied slowly, "Well… we were pretty much kidnapping him at the time. Something tells me that he wasn't in much of a mood for a high-five."

Hikage blinked up at her before murmuring, "Too confusing…"

Once their farewell had finished, the young man stepped back to the girls before asking, "Well… it's getting a bit late. Do your routes home head down to the train station as well or will we be parting ways here?"

Eagerly jumping to his side, Asuka chipped, "We'll be heading that way too. Would that be alright, Ikaruga?"

Knowing for fact that a faster route home was in the opposite direction, the third-year took a deep breath before waving her hand, "Indeed, we'll be heading way."

Asuka turned her smile to everyone else in the group, "How about you guys?"

There was a short round of nods and affirmatives from everyone but Hikage, who was staring up and down the illuminated streets of the city's nightlife. For Shiki and Imu, it was a matter of safety and propriety since, as a group of shinobi, it was best to stick together until they came upon a fork in the road. For everyone else, the nods were more of a desire to remain close to the target of their affections. Thus, once Homura slung a casual arm around Asuka's shoulder to lead the way, the nine of them went off to the train station.

Along the way, Shiki trailed a bit behind the rest of the group along with Yumi before throwing out a smile, "Thanks for bringing me along for this. He's totally a lot more fun than I thought he'd be."

Suppressing the urge to chuckle at the remembrance of the young man's surprising performance, Yumi answered back, "I'm glad you think so. To be honest, I was a little worried about what impressions you'd make of him, considering how we met… Speaking honestly," before she brought a hand up to whisper into the blonde's ear, "I was still worried even after his song. I thought you'd think he was some weirdo or something."

The young man halted his conversation with Asuka, Homura, and Ikaruga to call back, "You two realize that I'm right up here, yeah? It isn't that hard for me to hear you."

From beside him, the fairer-skinned brunette chimed, "Eh? I thought you were listening to us."

At that, the man with a blank face replied, "I was. It's just that I heard the word 'he' and, considering how I'm the only guy here, assumed it was me."

At that, Asuka retorted with a pout, "That doesn't mean you can ignore us."

While the two went back and forth, Shiki snickered at Yumi's flushed face before she replied, "I'm surprised you'd be worried about my thoughts. I'd think you'd be more worried about Yozakura. If I'm being honest, when Jasmine called us and announced the get-together, I was sure it'd be her you'd be taking."

To her sister's thoughts, Yumi shook her head and said, "Well, with some exceptions, she isn't exactly one for many… activities… in regards to meet and greets, at least. While I didn't really know where we'd end up, I had a feeling that she wouldn't be having nearly as much fun as you. Plus, everyone knows that you're the most observant of all of us."

The lighthearted smile on Shiki's face fell in moment of confusion before a more flustered one overtook her features, "What makes you say that? I'm no more watchful than you, Yozakura, even Murakumo. Heck, Minori has her moments where she thinks faster than I do."

"Oh, don't talk so foolishly," Yumi said as she raised a hand to gently take hold of Shiki's arm, "Of all of us, your literacy and general knowledge trump my own. Never mind the fact that, even amidst all of the fun we tend to have, you're often the one who's the first to catch trouble on the horizon." At one point, Yumi began to guiltily scratch at her cheek while averting her eyes, "If I'm being honest, that's one of the core reasons as to why I brought you… My thought process was that if everyone saw you and heard your praise for him… then they'd also be more trusting later on when the time comes to clear their distortion." Before Shiki could respond, Yumi turned back to her and lightly bowed her head, "I'm sorry. It was selfish of me to try and exploit you in such a way without telling you."

But the youngest sister simply replied by waggling her finger side to side with a smile, "There's nothing to apologize for. I had fun and, once I tell them that Stone-Faced McGee up there is human like the rest of us, everyone will be a bit more at ease around him." Once Shiki was done speaking, she pulled up the arm that Yumi was gripping to softly hold her shoulder, pull up, and whisper into her ear, "Truth needs to be told though, Yu-and-mi, I never would have thought you'd be so interested in a guy that's shorter than you."

Yumi's already pale skin turned even more white before her face heated up and she clutched a hand over Shiki's mouth, "Don't talk so loud!"

In-between her fingers, Shiki sputtered in surprise, "I was- Hey, knock it- I already- Ow, I was whispering! I- Yumi! I can't breathe!"

While the two sisters scuffled with one another, the young man's eyes were wide and alert. As Asuka said something that he wasn't paying attention to and their shoulders continued to bounce with their walk, his head turned back to narrow his eyes on Yumi as she was strangling Shiki. Then, before he could properly process what he'd heard, the girl beside him suddenly raised up her hand to flick him on the side of the head. The young man turned back to her without much reaction and asked, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Crossing her arms at that point, Asuka stated, "Your glasses. Grandma asked about them and Ikaruga had some information."

"Oh? What information?"

Turning her head away, Asuka muttered, "Well, maybe we don't want to tell you since you keep ignoring us," before turning back to the young man to stick out her tongue comically.

Her assailant looked down with evident annoyance. But where there was a stubborn brat, there was a way to get them to talk. In dire need of an entertaining distraction, the young man cracked his knuckles and lowered the tone of his voice before uttering, "Asuka, are you ticklish?"

Dropping her look of defiance, she innocently blinked at him and scratched the side of her head, "More than a little. It's actually a little hard when Katsuragi- wait, what's with your voice? And… your face! What's wrong with your face!?"

Glaring with the most intense eyes that Asuka had ever seen, the young man's features were dark, shadowy, and murderous. His brows were low, his nose was flared, and his mouth was pulled into a large motionless scowl. Without uttering a word, he slowly raised a flattened hand into the air before splitting the fingers from one another and making a grasping movement. As Asuka looked on like a doe in headlights, Homura had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing while Ikaruga watched bemusedly from the side. After a calculated pause the young man growled ominously:

"Speak."

Sending shivers down his poor target's spine, he slowly creeped his hand toward her. Never once did he blink nor was there any sign that the young man was breathing. The only function he acted upon was to reach forward menacingly to Asuka. She stuttered a few times, "Hey… there's no need- what're you going to do?" before looking to Homura and Ikaruga for help, "Please, I, I need- I really need help here. I don't know what to do or how to react!"

"Nothing short of a god can help you now… and they're all vacant in your desperate hour," came the demonic groan. Asuka's sweating neck turned to find the hand a finger length away from her face.

In a moment of panic, the poor girl's arms raised up to cover her head as she cried, "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Giving a thumbs up, the young man's features jumped back to their naturally blank state before he replied casually, "Thank you very much. Let's hear it."

Having overlooked the entire scene from the middle of the group, Miyabi stared with an equally blank expression. Too much had happened in the prior minute for her to comprehend so quickly. She wanted to laugh at the cartoonish stunt, flinch when she saw just how the young man could contort and shift his demeanor so rapidly, and question just what Asuka was about to say… But, for a reason she knew very well, she was more focused on what she'd heard from Shiki's mouth behind her before the scene got as animated as it did.

Miyabi had already mentally jotted the fact that Yumi had feelings for the young man. But something about hearing it out loud felt like a call to arms. Just when that weight hit her head, Miyabi also saw the young man turn back to eye the two Gessen girls with a serious look on his face. That was evidence enough that he'd also heard Shiki's teasing.

Venting a breath of frustrated air, the white-haired shinobi let out a loud groan that made Imu jump to attention, "Is everything alright?"

With an expression that nearly rivaled the young man's demon face in severity, Miyabi replied, "I don't have an answer for that right now."

Meanwhile, Asuka was explaining, "-and after landing a surprise hit on Ikaruga, the girl apparently made a getaway before anyone else could stop her." Beside her, the aforementioned girl and Homura were watching to see if the young man either recognized or had any insight on the affair.

Meanwhile, the gears in the young man's head were still turning. He tried to process the information that there was a threat at hand who'd stolen his glasses… but he was much more transfixed by the fact that Yagyū could apparently summon a giant squid. Initially, the young man raised a finger to question Asuka's legitimacy on that fact before the seriousness of the situation caught up to him. He'd already seen and heard about other wild things in his short time with the shinobi, so something as crazy as a giant animal shouldn't have drawn as big of a reaction as it almost did.

Fixing his head onto the issue at hand, the young man briefly scratched under his chin before something else clicked in his head. After putting two and two together, he asked, "This girl… Ikaruga, what did she look like? Was she wearing glasses too? Round ones?"

Blinking down at him, Ikaruga lowered her head briefly in thought before nodding, "She was and… yes, they were round. Otherwise, she also had darker hair, but it was too hard to tell the exact color. A rounder face with a squeaky voice too… her breasts were also on the larger side."

Before she'd even finished the explanation, the young man muttered the answer under his breath, "Hazuki Sato…"

"You know her?" asked Homura with a grim look on her face, "Is she an infiltrator too?"

"I don't know her personally," came the quiet answer from the young man, "but she's a classmate of mine at Wakariyasui… I don't know what she is for sure but I know for fact that she isn't a civilian."

"What makes you so sure?" asked Ikaruga as her brows fell into dead seriousness.

The young man turned his eyes to her, "On Monday, when Asuka and Hibari invited me up to the roof, Hazuki reacted to their sudden presence. She squeaked, loudly, and excused it as her spotting a bee but she kept eying you two. Asuka, do you remember?"

After taking a moment of thought, her eyes lit up and she replied, "That girl with the pretty hair who sits to the back right of you? I remember- oh… I see."

Nodding to her knowingly, the young man turned his eyes forward, "Spread the word once you get back home: do not trust or approach Hazuki Sato. Describe her appearance and make sure everyone stays the hell away."

Silently nodding along, Asuka, Homura, and Ikaruga continued to follow along after him. They couldn't fully comprehend why the young man was so anxious but they also were aware of how little they knew about infiltrators, and their methods. Their silence, however, came from the implication that Sato potentially wasn't even an infiltrator. If she wasn't then just what was she and why did the young man seem to be put on so much of an edge? Those questions scared them, regardless of whether or not the three of them were willing to admit it.

Hidden from sight far above them, Oda dangled himself off of a balcony like a gorilla. In his freehand was a listening device that he kept pointed on the group religiously. Having heard the whole exchange, he shook his head and let the headphones he was wearing slip off. Under his breath, he muttered, "An infiltrator after all," before snorting out a breath and pulling himself up. Once his legs landed on solid ground and he checked to make sure that the conversation was recorded, Oda grumbled to himself, "Sayuri… Hanzō…! What in the hell did you invite into our home? What demon have you summoned? Fucking hell…" His eyes turned up to the night sky.

With only the sound of the city all around him, Oda took a heavy breath before falling to a knee and pinching the bridge of his nose, "After all of our years together, Hanzō… Yet, there goes your walking lie. All of our time in the Secret Service… all of the lives we've saved… all of the times you saved me… and all of the times you've made me stronger… It's all lead to this, you lying bastard…"

Once Oda realized that he was clenching his fist, he released it and took another breath before standing himself up. He began to stride away as he furiously vowed under his breath, "Answers. I'll get answers."

Not too long later, the young man and his entourage continued to walk until they were on the same block as the train station, the very same where he was cornered a few days before. Walking behind him with a face that looked more and more stressed by the minute, Miyabi was pondering what action she should take. Even if her thought process was focused on the two sisters bickering behind her and the statement one of them made earlier, she also had overheard the young man's warning to Asuka and Homura. Evidently, the appropriate thing to do was to keep alert and plan out a program to watch Sato's movements… but there was still something that made her feel indignantly competitive against Yumi.

Since the ice queen had evidently developed a crush which wouldn't easily subside and the fact that the young man was very likely aware of said crush, a move between the two of them would be made soon. In fact, with Yumi's reputation for proactiveness, it was more than likely that it would be within a week's- no, a few days' time. After that, if a relationship was started, Miyabi's own opportunity would be gone and squandered. But she was like Yumi; they both hated the thought of wasted chances and openings. Thus, Miyabi needed to act. Even if her own stages of admiration and, dare she think it, affection were very early, she wouldn't live with either a "What if…" or "What would have happened…" in her head.

Amidst her pondering, the trio in front of Miyabi conversed nonchalantly.

Curiously, Homura asked, "So, are you just going to go on without your glasses from here on out?"

"Hell no," the young man immediately answered, "Even if we're all… eh, what's the word?"

Asuka's eyes narrowed up at him, "You don't mean to tell me that you're not familiar with the term 'friends' or other like words, do you?"

Taking a surprised look onto his face, the man shook his head and defensively raised a palm, "Of course not. I… if I'm being honest, I just didn't think we'd consider ourselves as such so soon after all our drama."

Snorting out her nose, Homura pointed a finger at him teasingly, "You're such a drama queen! C'mon, don't be a dickhead-"

"I'm a dickhead?"

"-We're a straightforward bunch and we already know that you're no threat to us. And, if tonight's anything to go by, you're fun to hang out with. Call us friends and be done with what happened."

While the young man sucked in his lips for a few gentle thoughts, Asuka asked, "So, what were you saying before?"

Jumping a bit as he was pulled from his mental hurdles, the young man answered back with a blank face, "Ah, sorry. Even if we're all acquaintances now-"

Ikaruga snorted at his dry joke while Homura sighed, "…such a dickhead…"

"-it'd still be good for me to know whether or not shinobi barriers are being put up around me. You know, make sure no authorities are popping up and spying from some vantage point somewhere."

From behind, the spectacled Hebijo girl remarked, "Well, we'd be able to sense any barriers, provided they aren't from powerful shinobi like Hanzō. If at least one of us is close by or you're keeping to yourself, then you'll be just fine without them."

Only blinking a few times and scratching the back of his head shyly, the young man murmured, "But I liked my glasses too…"

"Won't they be difficult to replace?" Hikage interjected as she suddenly popped up beside Homura, scaring Asuka since the green-haired girl's presence had mostly been nonexistent through their entire walk, "Shops probably don't sell those… and making them is probably a pain."

Without need for a second thought, the young man replied, "It's a bit of pain to put together, sure, but I could go to a convenience store with the parts with fifty thousand yen and come back with change."

Upon hearing just how cheap it was to make a tool capable of trumping shinobi stealth, Asuka turned over to him and stuttered, "That, for, tha-, wha-, you mean that your glasses with those same lenses cost about as much as my grocery list…?"

Having finally ceased their bickering, Yumi and Shiki were still blinking and processing the young man's statement before their eyes widened in alarm. With a bit of a twitch to her brow, the former faintly slumped her head, "It's actually cheaper than mine…"

After settling herself from hearing the surprisingly low cost, Miyabi suddenly realized something that rang as an opportunity to her. Just as the idea settled into her mind, she turned and found that Yumi had brought a hand up to her chin to think as well. Realizing that her silent rival was likely about to come upon the same conclusion, Miyabi smiled devilishly and took in a satisfied breath while Imu eyed her curiously. Once she was sure that the smirk wouldn't show on her face, the white-haired girl straightened herself and asked as casually as she could, "Would you go shopping for them tomorrow?"

Hearing the few off-notes in her voice, the young man turned his head around to eye Miyabi suspiciously before facing forward again, "Yeah, probably… why?"

Feeling the brows on her face rise as she speculated what her leader was up to, Imu continued to watch her leader in silence as the woman suggested, "Well, I'd say tonight's get-together will probably be good enough for the rest of my team to be at ease around you. We could come along with you, make it a bit more interesting."

Having finally arrived at the train station, the young man turned around and felt his upper eyelids droop wearily as he cautiously mumbled, "Usually, when someone says they'll make something more interesting, that'll mean I'm probably going to be at risk of getting hurt… physically… and painfully."

While he finished the sentence, Miyabi restrained her nervousness and comically shook her head before assuring, "No, no, you won't be hurt," and briefly caught the surprised look on Yumi's face, "I was just thinking we could turn it into an activity of sorts."

Still thinking over the offer critically and wary of whatever ulterior motive Miyabi had in mind, the young man blinked once and asked her while she was looking between him and Yumi, "What'd you have in mind?"

At that moment, the leader of the Hebijo elite realized that she didn't think her plan through. Her initial idea was to just offer company while the young man did his shopping but, seeing as Yumi was likely to offer the very same thing, she decided to up the ante by turning it into a group activity. The confusion showed on Miyabi's twitchy face while everyone else continued to stare at her before she eventually turned to Imu and said, "We were ordered to train by our principal, yes?"

"Wha-," the spectacled girl reeled her head back before stumbling out, "I, I don't know. He's only spoken to you and, and he, well as far as I know, he hasn't sent any notices-"

Miyabi then realized that she was the only one present to hear his orders and mentally smacked herself in the face. But, putting a confident smile on her embarrassingly red face, she declared, "Hebijo's principal has put us on leave to train and hone our skills because of the incident at Hanzō Academy."

While Asuka and Homura traded befuddled glances with one another and Hikage stared off into space, the young man quietly nodded his heads a few times, "I see… well, I won't be able to help out too much with sparring-"

"We'll be starting with cardio tomorrow!" Miyabi announced with wide eyes and a forced smile, "We can meet here once you finish classes and can jog to whatever store you have in mind!" before realizing her voice was much too loud to be considered normal. Looking to the side, she saw that Yumi and Shiki were staring at her with awkward smiles, apparently sympathizing with her nervousness. Looking to her opposite side, Miyabi found Imu looking up at her with a look of apparent realization. For some reason, a pang of guilt rang through the white-haired girl's heart. Finally, her eyes went to the young man who was arcing his body away in fear of the girl's uncharacteristic manner of speech. Knowing that she needed a moment, Miyabi took a deep breath, clenched her eyes shut, before looking back down to ask, "Would you like to take part?"

At that point, the young man was more than a bit thrown off by Miyabi's unnatural behavior. He wondered just what had happened inside her head to turn such a forward and dignified character into such a red-faced mess. Then his eyes sharpened and narrowed on hers as a few particular thoughts hit him like a train. But, even still, he had to give an answer. Having not thought of a potential excuse while he pondered Miyabi's behavior, the young man murmured as his cheeks began to heat up, "I wouldn't mind coming along…"

It took all of Imu's strength to keep her jaw from hitting the floor as Miyabi nodded, "Very good. I'll meet you here about an hour after school tomorrow," and turned on her heel to stride down the sidewalk before walking face first into a street pole. Without any reaction, she stepped out of the way and mumbled incoherently under her breath before marching away. Imu followed shortly after once she recovered from her shock.

Remaining as still as stone for a few seconds more, the young man uttered under his breath, "Sounds good…"

All was silent as everyone looked between one another. Shiki peered up to Yumi and watched as the girl's face turned from thoughtful to a look of shock before one of dejection, realizing very quickly just how similar her idea from earlier was to Miyabi's. Meanwhile, Ikaruga patted Asuka on the back and stated, "It'd probably be best if we head home too."

"Ah… alrighty," murmured Asuka before she turned to the group, "Good night, everyone!" and followed after her upperclasswoman.

Beside Homura, Hikage asked in a quiet voice, "Are we going to talk about Miyabi-"

"Not tonight," the tanned girl immediately answered before she turned to the young man and dug into her pocket. After a moment, she produced his phone and said, "Jasmine's already given us your number so… we'll reach out to you to arrange an activity or, when the time comes, a correction."

Nodding his head slightly, the young man replied, "It'll probably be a while before that. We still have to build trust and keep our heads down until the heat from your higherups passes over."

Homura remained quiet for a moment before straightening her face, "We'll hang out then…"

Her quiet was equally reciprocated, "I look forward to it…" With that, Homura patted Hikage's shoulder and gestured for her to follow. Once they both began to walk away, the latter turned and offered the young man a wave, to which he waved back. Once they were beginning to disappear down the sidewalk, he turned to Yumi and Shiki to offer, "You two also make sure to have a good rest of your night."

Jumping a bit after having been left to her thoughts, Yumi bowed and said, "You too have a good night." Once she turned her head to the side, it took everything within the girl to hold back from smacking Shiki as she gave a thumbs up. Before too long, they turned and went off. The young man was alone with his thoughts on the sidewalk.

Idly, he stood and just stared off in the direction where Miyabi disappeared before turning to the opposite sidewalk where Yumi and Shiki had gone. Then the young man sucked in a breath and took hold of the sides of his head. Violently shaking it back and forth, he eventually grumbled under his breath, "Shit… and shit…"

As he swore, a tiny old woman walking into the train station swatted the side of his leg with her cane, "Mind your mouth, you little cretin!"

The initial strike itself didn't hurt and the young man was about to turn to face the woman. Then his shin began to flare up into a stinging sensation. He immediately clenched his eyes closed, bit his lip to keep from yelling, and barely managed to hold back from cussing the wrinkled old bat out. Between the way she moved and the searing pain eating away at him, the young man knew very well that everything about her strike was very deliberate. Still, if only to avoid further wrath from her cane, he held his tongue and wondered just how his situation had gotten so messy.

**April 16****– "Flimsy plans without a second thought will crash and burn. Know the difference between decisiveness and foolishness."**

Narrowing her eyes in a mix of confusion and irritation, Ryōbi took her umpteenth glance at Miyabi before asking in a deadpan voice, "I think you're going a bit overboard…" as she followed after her down the sidewalk.

"What're you talking about?" replied Miyabi in a low tone as she kept her eyes averted.

After taking a moment to wipe a hand across her forehead, the twintailed girl grumbled, "First, you suddenly spring it on us that your father wanted us to train. Imagine how we must have looked yesterday, relaxing and lazing about as we were."

Behind the two of them, Murasaki murmured as she clung her stuffed bear, Bebeby, to her chest, "He won't say anything to me. I'm always in my room anyway, so… can I go home now?"

"No," rebuked the plush, "If they're going to suffer, so will you… and by the look of those gelatinous masses of fat, you could use some jogging…"

The purple-haired girl self-consciously raised an arm to hug her large chest, "Jogging hurts. Can't we just walk or… do something else that'll be less bouncy?"

From beside her, Imu sighed and stared forward at Miyabi in silence. As she continued to dwell on her best friend's erratic behavior, Ryōbi groaned, "You know what? That brings me to point two. Miyabi, in all seriousness, what are you wearing?"

Looking down at herself as she continued to walk to the train station, Miyabi blew out a breath of air as she was reminded of her current display. Were it any other day or occasion, Imu would have been bleeding complete excitement and arousal in response to the girl's particular choice in wardrobe. For their exercise routine that day, nearly everyone else remained in their Hebijo uniforms while Miyabi had chosen to wear a tight black sports bra and matching spats that cut off at the knee. There was a massive show of skin and, much to her silent dismay, some of her thigh fat was subtly pushed in by the band of her shorts. Overall, as her reddened face would imply, she was more than a bit bashful as she continued to stride down the sidewalk.

"I find it comfortable for running," Miyabi lied as she turned her gaze to the train station coming into view, "And… I figured it would… be a nice change of pace… that's it…" The truth of the matter was that she had no idea how to properly compete with Yumi. While the young man was aware of the ice queen's affections, Miyabi's own attraction was left in the dark and entirely unknown. For some reason, the white-haired girl decided to go through her clothes and found the revealing sportswear that she'd grown out of. Shameful as it felt for her, she had no other idea than to just rely on sex appeal to convey her interest.

Much to Miyabi's relief, the title for the most skimpily dressed of the five went to Ryōna and her tube top and short shorts, which were far too small and far too tight to be considered either comfortable or appropriate. The chipper blonde kept quietly gushing, "Look at me, world… Notice me with your leering and tempted gaze…" and moaned loudly when Ryōbi told her to pipe down.

At that moment, Miyabi's phone vibrated in her pocket and she turned to find a text from the young man. When she read that he had just come onto the station platform, part of her got excited for the rest of the day to come. After all, she wasn't only planning to get ahead of Yumi in their silent race for the young man's attention nor were her teammates just going to be building a bond of trust with him. No, something far more exciting awaited her.

As Imu said something that Miyabi wasn't paying attention to, the latter checked back on one of the young man's earlier messages. The one which announced he'd head home first to change into something much more suitable for jogging than a school uniform. Considering the fact that the only time she'd ever seen his body was under significantly embarrassing circumstances which forced her to rush through the process, Miyabi had never really gotten a closer look at the young man physique. She had no idea about whether or not he had a strong muscle tone, if he had body hair or not, or if he had any scars. To that end, she envied Asuka, who had extra time to see him once he was unbundled from the blankets back in Hanzō Academy's infirmary.

Miyabi's imagination burned multiple images into her mind relentlessly. Perhaps, he'd wear a tracksuit as tight as her own clothes to show off what his sharp uniform covered. Even better, perhaps he'd come in a tank top and shorts that revealed all of the muscle that he normally kept out of sight. However he dressed, Miyabi's hopes and expectations were high. She wanted to know if the young man's body matched the mix of cute and handsome in his face.

Just then, Imu called with a bit more irritation than she intended to let on, "Hey, are you alright? You're spacing out."

With droopy eyes and a faraway smirk on her face, Miyabi turned to her friend, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Letting out a frustrated breath of air, the spectacled girl ran a hand through her light brown hair before asking dejectedly, "Please… be frank with me. What's gotten into you? First there was your scene from last night and now… you're dressed like I've never seen you before and you've sprung us into this training session for no better reason than-"

"Imu," Ryōbi called as she was in the middle of pinching her sister's cheek, "at this point, I think it's fairly obvious." Though it didn't show at all in her words or tone, there was a part of the girl that really sympathized with what must have been a complete letdown for Imu, even if it was her own fault for not making her feelings known sooner.

Blinking a few times, Murasaki began to state, "It… does play out a bit like a dating sim I played last-" before Ryōna decided to spout.

"Miyabi wants to get in bed with her hero~! Oh~, let me in too! Let's all get rough and dirty- ai-aie~"

In Murasaki's arms, Bebeby chipped, "Put the blonde one down. She's getting too wild."

Before her sister's shenanigans could go any further, Ryōbi took hold of the back of Ryōna's hair before growling, "Sit down, bitch. We're having a serious discussion right now."

Amidst the turn of events that drew the eyes of nearly everyone else walking on the sidewalk, Miyabi's face had turned beet red. Once the group's scrutinizing gaze fell onto her, she didn't really know how to respond to what they were insinuating. As her frazzled head began to fry, she proceeded to stutter out, "I, I don't, really don't, there's no, I have no idea-"

Looking at her with dull eyes, Ryōbi shook her head before crossing her arms, "For the love of- just fuck the guy and see if he's a keeper."

Steam blew out of Miyabi's ears as she fell into panic, "THAT ISN'T AT ALL WHAT THIS IS! PLEASE, DON'T MISUNDERSTAND!" before she was reduced to a huffing and puffing mess.

As her flushed face heaved back and forth in embarrassment, Imu just stared up at her before her eyes fell to the sidewalk. Murasaki reached over to offer her sister a comforting pat but her hand was immediately slapped away. Overlooking the dramatic scene, Ryōbi murmured an empty apology while Ryōna sat on the ground with the sides of her mouth sucked in. The silence that followed extended for nearly a minute.

Fortunately, breaking the tension before it got any heavier, the young man's voice rang, "Oi! I'm coming over!"

Anticipating the images of her fantasy from earlier, Miyabi turned around with a bit more eagerness than she intended. Her eyes first fell on the young man's face, bearing the same blank look he always had. Then her eyes fell to the rest of his body and clothes before a thought suddenly crossed her mind. It took a moment to process it but she eventually said under her breath, "You look surprisingly ordinary…"

Wearing the tank top and shorts that Miyabi had daydreamed about, the young man's body was not at all what she had hyped herself up for. He was strong-looking, without a doubt, and he didn't lose any of the toughness that his stoicism built up. Yet, when it came down to it, the young man's body was no better than the next high school student. He had muscles but they weren't as emphasized as Miyabi had hoped. His chest was a bit pronounced but it was far from any of the fighter's she'd seen on television. As a matter of fact, if she paid attention, she could see a few spots where the young man appeared ever so slightly flabby. Perhaps she was stuck in her delusions or she hadn't minded their age gap in the way she should've, but the young man was not the strong and muscly superhero that she envisioned him to be.

Meanwhile, as Miyabi's eyes continued to scrutinize him, the young man moved to retort to her previous statement before feeling his face drain in discomfort. There before him was a beautiful woman shamelessly looking him over and silently critiquing him. As his head shrunk timidly, he could only muster himself up to say, "Well… you look nice…" before turning to everyone else, "Are you guys ready to do some running?"

Catching herself, the white-haired girl took a moment to recompose and nodded, "Yes, uh… do you have the address of the store that you wished to visit?"

Keeping his eyes sharp and trained on her face, the young man nodded his head and answered, "Yeah. If you'd like, I can text it to everyone in case we get separated in the crowds," while Ryōbi questioned Miyabi as to why they were heading to a store.

While the twintailed girl got her answer, a whimper came from Murasaki before she uttered, "I don't want to get separated… people are scary…"

Bebeby shouted in her arms, "Quit whining! We both knew that you should've stayed in bed today but you went against better judgement. Now look at where you are and what you have to deal with!"

Unsure of what to say in response to the suddenly talking stuffed bear in front of him, the young man glanced at an unresponsive Imu for help before shrugging his shoulders and stating, "Well… we'll keep close then…" Hoping that it was enough to calm Murasaki and her plush, he proceeded to pull out his phone, "What're your guys' numbers? I'll send the address… ov-… -er…" but trailed off once he found the girl sniffing at him.

Just when the young man began to wonder if he had a stench, Murasaki nodded her head affirmatively before murmuring with a small smile, "I'll follow after you. Let's avoid the crowds."

While the young man pondered what her train of thought was, Bebeby commented, "Slut."

Realizing that the doll was not talking because Murasaki was pulling off some kind of ventriloquist-type trick, the boy looked around and asked, "Wait, is anybody else hearing the bear talk?"

Ryobe responded plainly, "She's a bit of a bitch. Ignore the bear and it'll ignore you."

Reduced to nodding his head blankly again, the young man turned his head to Miyabi for assistance. Seeing his silent plea, the leader of the Hebijo elite finished looking at the address he'd sent before announcing, "Alright. The journey shouldn't be too long. We'll run to the store and back, taking the suburbs and parks nearby as an alternate route so that we can avoid busier areas. Any questions?"

Feeling a tinge of loneliness and the bitter slap of inadvertent rejection, Imu only sighed as she gave a nod along with everyone else. But when Miyabi began to take the lead, a thought appeared in the spectacled girl's head: what if she proved herself stronger than the young man? Would Miyabi think about her in such a way that her eyes would be as spaced out as she was earlier? Perhaps Imu would finally get the romance she'd envisioned for herself since childhood?

As the six of them began to take off to the park, the young man felt a pair of eyes burn into him and turned to his side before flinching, "Ngh?" Staring at him far more intensely than he stared at Asuka the night before, Imu's eyes practically emanated green flames as an evil smile ripe with smugness spread from ear to ear and faced off against him. As he averted his eyes from her and looked to his side to find Ryōbi dragging Ryōna by her hair while Murasaki huffed and puffed exhaustedly with Bebeby in her arms, he couldn't help but feel as though he'd entered a minefield.

**Goal: Jog to the store and back**

**Ready, set, go!**

**Block 1 – Overenthusiasm**

As Miyabi led the pack into a parkway off from the train station, she continued to mull over her disappointment. While her feelings hadn't changed by any means, she still couldn't help but feel dispirited over the fact that the young man wasn't the rocking hunk that she imagined him to be. Perhaps her thoughts had gotten carried away by the fact his uniform left too much to the imagination while simultaneously sharpening his appearance all for the better. In addition to that, his ability in combat and merit in defeating Yumi only solidified her imaginings. But he was very ordinary. He had muscle and fat, features chiseled and soft, points narrow and wide; he was the epitome of an average high schooler.

Much to her own surprise, Miyabi was still okay with that. A strange thing since, on the few occasions where she'd considered romance in her life, she could only see herself with someone who looked and was as strong as her.

"Miyabi," came the young man's voice from behind.

The girl didn't hear him as her legs continued to kick herself forward into the park. Instead, her mind dwelled on trying to explain itself. It strived to answer her newfound question: "How can I be attracted to a guy who looks and probably is weaker than me?"

A few things immediately popped into her head. She started listing off things like the young man being cute at times, handsome in the heat of a serious moment, accepting and nonjudgmental of those around him, and otherwise fun to be around. Miyabi already knew all of that though, since they were the very things that sparked her interest while she watching his and Miki's karaoke performance the night before.

As she delved deeper into understanding her attraction, the young man called again, "Miyabi, stop for a second."

Still, the girl's thoughts were too loud for her to notice much else. She had to know why she was so attracted, despite one of her finer expectations of his body being shattered. Then, as quick as a snap of her fingers, Miyabi believed she found the answer: The young man was the perfect anti-thesis to her expectations.

The strong Veronica-esque young man with a stoic face and chiseled features was what she originally imagined. She foresaw a comrade who'd take to the frontlines with her and would break through any danger to complete the mission with Miyabi at his side. Together they'd cut down their target and pose like an attractive couple on TV before he'd coldly offer a few words of love that held a higher and more heartfelt meaning.

"Miyabi, hold up!"

That just wasn't the young man though. From what she'd seen, he was much more of a Betty than anything else. Even if he was less expressive, he threw no punches and only fought to bring the fight to an absolute end while restraining himself from striking his opponents. Rather than cut down his enemies of the moment, he stopped to talk with them until he could help and become their friends. At the peak of this romantic vision, Miyabi fantasized herself being the sworn protector of that earnest soul. Rather than have him be some kind of action hero, he came off more as someone to save and protect or, in a different scenario, await her return with a warm dinner at home: the perfect caretaker for the perfect bounty hunter!

"Where the hell are you going!?"

Miyabi smiled to herself as she easily made sense of everything. Despite what she'd thought about as her ideal partner before, she was coming to like how well everything fit in her new vision of romance. Between Miyabi being both taller and stronger than the young man, him being much more of a comfort to her, and his more pacifistic nature, it all just seemed to tie together!

At the height of her daydreaming, she finally heard the target of her affections distantly cry out, "Miyabi! Please!"

She turned around to face him with an enthusiastic smile, "Yea- eh?" before her face fell.

It was at that moment that Miyabi realized she had sprinted through the entire park while leaving everyone else in the dust. Despite giving it their all to keep up, the rest of the group had fallen far behind and were stricken with a shortness of breath. Upon meeting Miyabi's awkward smile, the young man wheezed a few breaths and asked weakly, "Let's keep it to a jog… please…"

The girl stared silently before shamefully mumbling, "Right…"

**Block 2 – Strikeout**

As the group ran together down the next block, Imu couldn't shake the feeling that Miyabi's apparent distraction was, once again, caused by the young man. Glancing over again at her newfound rival, she could see a few of the things about him that could be deemed attractive. His face had plenty of handsome features and his body wasn't bad to look at. Even his dry humor could be very endearing at times. But she couldn't see why Miyabi had grown so attached after only knowing him for a little less than two weeks.

As if to show her displeasure, Imu turned her head to the young man and waited until he looked back at her. It didn't take long and, after he reacted with a bit of a flinch and quirked a brow, she proceeded to stick up a middle finger to him to convey all of her displeasure for his presence. While Ryōbi stifled a chuckle from behind, the young man did a doubletake before furrowing his brow and grimacing. Not a few seconds later, he stuck up his own middle finger at her before facing forward to focus on their jogging path.

Imu blinked once before determining that her attempt to belittle the young man didn't seem to faze him. It wouldn't be nearly as insulting if he maintained his irritated grimace but, once his eyes were off her, he just took on his blank face and kept his eyes forward. For him to be so dismissive just served to piss Imu off further. Then, just as she was getting internally heated over the matter, Ryōbi prodded her shoulder with a single finger before smugly whispering, "You know, he's probably been checking out Miyabi this whole time. He does have a fine position to get a look at her ass."

Immediately, Imu glanced at the young man and watched his eyes to see if he dared to so brazenly check out her love. But he'd either taken notice of her watchful gaze or hadn't been checking Miyabi out in the first place. In fact, he appeared to be actively diligent in keeping his gaze far away from any of the girl's curves or skin, opting to only eye the back of her head and the sidewalk in front of them.

As much as Imu should have been grateful for him respecting Miyabi's body, it just served to piss her off even further. After all, he had a bombshell of a woman standing right in front of him who'd dressed in such a way just to provoke his eyes into leering at her. Of all people for his optics to reject, how could he dare to not observe the finer features of the beautiful woman in front of him!?

Then a new thought occurred to Imu: Miyabi was wearing sexy sportswear that put a great emphasis on her rear. Why in the hell wasn't she burning the image into a memory to last forever?

Forgetting her rivalry with the young man and settling for a draw, Imu proceeded to glance at the butt of the girl in front of her. With how tight the spats were, she could even make out the edge of the panty line underneath. Feeling more brazen than ever, Imu dared to step off to the edge of the sidewalk to try and get a look upon the holy grail of Miyabi's body. Once she caught sight of it, she happily basked in the sight of the woman's bouncing breasts underneath her beautiful face from a great angle. Just as she was beginning to really enjoy and look forward to the jog to come, Ryōna decided to titter at that very moment, "Oh~hu-hu-hu~… Imu has a dirty look on her face again! It's been too long since I've seen it!"

Feeling the color drain from her, the spectacled girl turned to face the rest of the group and found herself balking at their variety of expressions. Murasaki looked unsurprised but disapproving while Ryōbi covered her snickering mouth with a balled fist. Before long, a "Ku-ku-ku" sound came from Bebeby before she said, "Pervert."

Shaking a bit from the judgement, Imu looked from Ryōna as she skipped happily and worry-free to the young man, whose face remained as blank as ever. As much as anyone could try and look into his mind to see what his impression was, there was no hint of either endorsement or reprimand. Just a plain face as its eyes narrowed on Imu curiously. Fearing as though she were being judged critically by her romantic rival, the girl began to stammer, "No-, I wasn't at all-" before she ran straight into a streetlight sharing the edge of the sidewalk with her.

Having gotten used to ignoring Ryōna's comments and not having heard Ryōbi's admonishment, Miyabi stopped upon hearing the crash to turn around and inquire with a bit of worry, "Are you okay?"

Imu said nothing as she laid on the ground, vowing to not run and check out her childhood friend at the same time ever again.

**Block 4 – Overcritical**

After having run farther than she had in any of the previous few months, Murasaki was ready to throw in the towel for the day. Gradually, she began to slow in the middle of the suburbs until she was trailing a few meters behind the group. Catching wind of her impending withdrawal, the young man called, "Rein in, we're losing one," before slowing his speed so that he could run beside the purple-haired girl. With slight concern evident in his features, he asked, "You alright?"

While pleased with the more comfortable pace as everyone pumped their brakes for her, Murasaki was quick to say, "Go on without me… this is starting to hurt…"

Bebeby jabbed, "Her fat ass is weighing her down."

The young man pointed to the bear, "Shut it," before looking at Murasaki sympathetically. Eventually, he offered an encouraging smile, "It may hurt now, but maybe bear with the burn for a bit longer. In no time at all, your legs will adjust-"

"Her breasts are what hurt, dickhead," called Imu from ahead of the two.

At that moment, the young man took notice of how much they were bouncing and, by how erratic they were, how little support Murasaki's bra was offering. In response to his half-second-long gaze, the poor girl's face flushed in embarrassment before the young man jumped away, "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" and proceeded to crash straight into a mailbox and fell on his face, bringing the group to another halt.

As Imu and Bebeby took the time to relish in his failure, Ryōbi snorted before haughtily proclaiming, "You two back there are nothing more than a couple of duds. If you can't handle the jog and all the risks that come with it, you should- well, I'd say you should but you clearly can't- take a note from my book. I'm the best shinobi here and I'll be able to get through the rest of this jog without embarrassing myself like the four of you."

From beside her, Ryōna pursed her lips in confusion before asking, "Wait… Imu, Murasaki- who's the fourth one?"

Maintaining the uppity smile on her face, Ryōbi happily smacked the back of her sister's head to emit a pleased cry before answering, "You, my dear slut, are an embarrassment by default."

"Yay!"

Towards the back, the young man picked himself up while cringing from both his injury and from witnessing the blonde's perverse behavior in person. He heard the stories from Jasmine and saw the skimpy tube top but couldn't believe how far gone Ryōna's sanity appeared to be.

**Block 6 – Insufficiency**

Exhaustedly throwing her arms up and down while trying to maintain her momentum toward the back of the group, Ryōbi huffed and puffed as everyone else gained a significant lead on her. As much as she tried, she was the ranged expert of the group for a reason beyond that of her capabilities with a sniper.

From ahead, the young man took notice of their weakening link before calling, "Slow down, again. We're losing another."

Immediately, the brunette called, "We're not done yet… We just need to make it to your store, yeah?" After a few coughs, she stated loudly, "I don't need us to stop! Full speed ahead!"

Silently praising her comrade, Miyabi solemnly nodded her head before whispering under her breath, "Even when you're so tired, you're so ready to press on. Keep going, Ryōbi. You can do it!"

Meanwhile, the young man looked back at his dishonest companion as she continued to struggle to run. Unlike with Imu before, his gaze was much more judgmental. Still, he'd remain silent and let things work out.

**Block 10 – Prostration**

Actively heaving and fighting for her breath at that point, Ryōbi screeched, "Dear God, where the hell is this place!?" before tripping over her feet and surrendering herself to ground with a loud smack.

As the rest of the train came to a stop, the young man let out a sigh before hurrying back with Ryōna to pick her sister up. Things had worked themselves out.

**Block 11 – Dead on Arrival**

"How can you call yourself a man if you give up so soon?" jabbed Ryōbi.

"This isn't going to work," groaned the young man as he carried the girl on his back, "For jogging, you're far too heavy for me to carry."

Releasing her hold around his neck and leaving him to carry her only by her legs, Ryōbi crossed her arms and growled, "I'm practically royalty to you, what with me being a shinobi and you being a you," before she took hold of his hair and pulled, "Now mush, slave! We ride forward to the store!"

As the others awkwardly looked back and forth between one another, the young man bore with the pain on his scalp until it became too much for his patience, "Ah- If you keep yanking on me, her royal highness is getting dropped to the pavement and will be left for the dogs!"

Silence rang throughout the group. While Murasaki smirked in the satisfaction of the girl's threatened comeuppance, Ryōbi released her hold on the young man's hair and quietly clung her arms back around his neck, "Sorry…"

"It's okay," grumbled the young man as they continued to trail behind the rest of the group.

For a bit longer, there was a quiet between everyone. Looks were exchanged and a few attempts at conversation were made but, ultimately, nobody dared to utter a word. Then Imu took a glance at her phone and exhaustedly stated, "Not to be a mood killer but I'm pretty sure we overshot our destination…"

Bebeby muttered, "Shit…" under her breath.

**Block 15 – Chaos**

After what turned into a complete disaster of a jog, the six of them proceeded to retrace their steps until Ryōbi called from Miyabi's back, "I'm exhausted… and starving…"

The white-haired girl grumbled through her teeth, "You haven't even moved in over-"

The audible groan of a stomach rumbling interrupted her and brought the whole train to a stop. All of the girls, save for Murasaki, narrowed their eyes on the young man, to which he comically shook his head, "Wasn't me. I snacked before we started."

Eying the next most likely culprit, Imu caught Murasaki by the back of her hair as the girl tried to distance herself off to the side. The older sister asked threateningly, "Didn't you eat the food I left you in the fridge or did you stick to your junk again?

Sucking in her mouth and widening her eyes in fear, the poor girl stuttered a few incoherent syllables while Ryōna stepped to her side. While no one paid too much attention to her, the blonde rested her head against Murasaki's stomach and listened as another rumble cried for food. Feeling herself lighten up while Imu berated her sister, Ryōna straightened herself and proclaimed, "We should all head to a place to dine out!"

Feeling his upper eyelid droop, the young man started, "While food is tempting, I don't think we're… that is you, Miyabi, and I… we're not dressed too well for a restaurant," while gesturing to all of their sportswear, trying to keep his eyes off of both of the ladies' bodies.

From atop her leader's back, Ryōbi puffed out her cheeks and quipped with a smirk, "Especially since, from what I saw while climbing up here, one of your ass cracks are visible."

While the young man and Ryōna twisted their bodies to see if either of them were who she was referring to, the latter grinning lewdly at the thought of unintentionally exposing herself, Miyabi quickly threw Ryōbi over her shoulder and slammed her into the ground. After pulling up her pants with a flushed face, the girl sputtered in a low voice, "We can eat once we get home…"

Immediately, Ryōna threw herself at the girl and clung onto her sports bra while begging, "No! Miyabi, don't be like that!" and let herself fall to the ground while kicking her legs.

Surprised by the sudden attack, the white-haired girl's face heated up as she struggled to pry the girl off while trying to keep from exposing herself, "Get off- what're you trying to do!? We still have leftovers from a few nights- gyah! Let me go!"

Averting his eyes from the display, the young man turned around with Murasaki and cleared his mind of all temptation to watch. While Ryōbi continued to lay dazed and semi-conscious on the ground, Imu approached the scuffle and pretended to help while secretly feasting her eyes on Miyabi's skin all while Ryōna continued to plead, "Please, please, please, plea-ea-ease! I know a food truck nearby and their food is so good! I'll never ask for anything else again, I swear!"

Her leader just continued to cry and yelp, "I already said no! Now, get off! Imu, for the love of God, actually pull-" before her eyes turned to the young man and called him out by name, "Please! Get this thing off of me!"

"Trying to dehumanize me by calling me a thing won't appease me! I wanna eat!"

The young man kept his back to her and responded, "You realize I'll be at risk of seeing something you probably don't want me to see, right?"

"Don't ignore me! It's right around the corner!"

Miyabi responded, "JUST GET HER OFF! I TOOK ONE FOR THE TEAM WHEN I SAW YOU NAKED ONCE! REPAY THE FAVOR!"

As a few passersby scurried away from the group, the young man steeled himself and turned around. Feeling his face heat up as one yank from Ryōna nearly popped out Miyabi's breast, he took a meditative breath before approaching and quickly wrapping an arm around the blonde's neck. He muttered, "I'll do my best to not hurt you," and proceeded to try and gently choke the girl until she released her hold. At that point, Imu had also shifted from marveling in Miyabi's display to also trying to pry Ryōna off.

Much to the three's dismay, she kept her hold and continued to desperately yank while yapping, "This won't work on me! I've already choked myself enough times to be immune! Try a taser! That might erotic enough for me to go on without food!"

Bebeby grumbled from Murasaki's arms, "I told you all earlier that we had to put this one down. Now look at her."

Feeling his face contort in disgust, the young man only applied further pressure against the girl's throat while spouting, "Miyabi! She's still resisting! Just tell her we can get food already!"

Biting her teeth down and clenching her eyes closed while trying to bring up her knee to pry Ryōna off, the white-haired girl finally gave in as she yelled, "We'll get food! We can get food!"

Not a moment later, Ryona released her hold and proceeded to cling to the young man in thanks, "Oh~ thank you, thank you, thank you! Certainly, I'll repay you," before her lips turned coy, "If you'd like, there's a back alley nearby~…"

Pushing himself away, to which the blonde offered no resistance, the young man was about to comment before his eyes fell on Miyabi. He stared for a moment and blinked before a puff of steam blew out his ears. While everyone else looked at him curiously, he wordlessly took off his tank top and extended it to the girl. After blinking a few times, Miyabi looked down to her chest and found that Ryōna's repeated tugging had stretched the band of her sports bra far past its limit. She immediately took the tank top and threw it over herself to cover her exposed breasts. Trying to suppress the humiliation she felt, Miyabi despondently asked, "Where is this food truck you mentioned?"

Ryōna chipped happily to her blushing leader, "Not far at all."

**Block 20 – Sucker Punch**

Everyone, save for Imu, Ryōbi, and Ryōna since they'd gone to get food, was sighing in a mix of exhaustion and defeat as they sat on the curb of a side street. By that point, the young man had realized that he wasn't going to make it to the store that day. Beside the boy as he closed his eyes in contemplation of how everything had become such a mess, Miyabi repeatedly took glances at him while keeping her arms wrapped around her breasts.

There were many times where she had her body exposed in life. Her clothes had been torn up in fights with the others, soaked through by the Peach Beach Splash event's water cannons, or sometimes exploded amidst further humiliation during the Kagura Millennium Festival. However, that instance before was one of the few times where being exposed had mortified Miyabi beyond belief. Just as she had seen the young man in his nakedness, he had seen her breasts without any hindrance.

Strangely enough, there was an upside to everything that had happened. Miyabi got to wear the young man's top and was able to look at him much more closely than before. While there was a part of her still disappointed by the lack of a barrel-chested hero underneath his usual attire, there was still something attractive to the young man. Part of it, for sure, was a few of the defined areas on his body in addition to the bit of extra skin over his stomach. But the best part of her observations had to be just how soft his skin looked. Amplified by its complexion and tone, there was a sort of glimmer that told Miyabi that skin was as welcoming as a pillow and that it was begging to be touched. But just as she was reaching her hand over from her chest to act on her urges, Murasaki's quiet voice surprised her to retreat, "Will you be fine without a shirt or… something to cover up with?"

As Miyabi cursed her normally quiet friend in silence, the young man turned his head to look at the girl sitting on the other side of her, "Probably. I'll get some weird looks at the train station, sure, but I'll be able to ride home."

Seeking to hijack the conversation and turn it into something more intimate for herself and the young man, Miyabi interjected by lightly bowing her head, "Thank you again… I don't think I would've handled that… situation, we'll call it, very well if you hadn't given me something to cover myself… I'll get it back to you when I can."

The young man shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, "Take your time. Something tells me it'll be a while before our next jog."

Before Miyabi could get another word in, Murasaki interrupted again, "If you don't mind me asking… and not to dismiss whatever we'll do to try and have fun… but when are you going to try and correct us?"

The young man responded, "Well… it ultimately depends on your guys' level of trust. It'd be pointless to try now, considering how little everyone must have at the current moment, but we can probably start trying in a couple of weeks' time."

Miyabi raised her hand to try and grasp his shoulder in order to assure him before she was once again cut off by the girl beside her, "And… if any of our distortion acts up in that time, what'll you do then?"

Without blinking, the young man answered, "I'll be there. From that point on, I'll just work to assure them and pray to Heaven that enough trust is built before it's too late."

"Liar," grumbled Bebeby.

"Shut it, bear."

Desperately wanting to say, "Okay, enough with the game of Twenty Questions! I want to have a romantic moment to salvage this day!" and seek out an opportunity to at least rub a hand over the young man's skin, Miyabi was once again cut off.

"How will you know if our distortion acts up in the first place?"

While the white-haired girl beside him puffed air out her nose, the young man rested his head against one of his hands before shrugging, "I suppose I'd just have to take note of everyone's individual facial cues. When small habits or mannerisms begin to change without prompting, it's usually an indicator that something wonky is going on in the head. Other than that, though… it'd honestly be up to yourselves and everyone around you to take notice of things like changes in behavior or rationale."

Feeling her eyelids droop for a moment as Miyabi surrendered herself to silence, Murasaki shook a bit when she realized just how subtle the power of distortion worked. Seeing her fearful behavior, the young man was about to say something but silenced himself once she uttered, "It's… scary to think about. Today, as far as I can tell, I'm me… But years from now, or in months, weeks, a few days- tomorrow, even… I rapidly and suddenly take a turn for the worse… and I wouldn't even notice…"

Gazing at the girl sympathetically, the young man and Miyabi exchanged glances with one another before the former stood up. Once the other girl slid aside for him to take the seat she once occupied, he slowly patted Murasaki's shoulder while sitting himself down, "I won't say there's no need to worry. There very much so is a need. But I'd like to offer some assurance. At this point, you won't be so quick to develop, provided your mind was corrupted at the same time as everyone else and you haven't shown too many outward signs." His patting quickly turned into an comforting grasp, "In addition to that, you're not alone. Everyone will be looking after you and watching for any changes. When the time comes and people assume you've begun to take a turn, believe them and let me come to you. If you don't trust me by then, I'll be with you until you do. After that, you'll be free of it forever."

Murasaki had kept her gaze off of him through the entire address. Once he was finished and had no idea whether or not she intended to look at him, the young man stood from his seat before her hand wrenched out and took his wrist. He blinked down to her, his eyes watching curiously until Murasaki looked up at him. While the expression on her face couldn't be called happy, especially with her prevalent frown, there was evident relief. Her usually baggy eyes seemed a bit more awake but were still relaxed. Ultimately, Murasaki said nothing but there was enough of a communication between the two that told the young man that she believed him. Unsure of how to respond, he nodded his head down and gently rubbed his thumb over the hand clenching onto him to soothe her.

Off to the side, Miyabi almost regretted moving to the side since Murasaki had taken her romantic spotlight and was cashing in on it to a ridiculous degree. But she couldn't bring herself to be all that angry. After all, one of her closest friends had been worrying all the while about the distortion and she never took notice. Miyabi could never fault her for seeking comfort for those troubles, especially from someone as gentle as the man before her.

By the time Murasaki released her grip on him, the young man was shyly scratching the back of his head. In an attempt to break the silence, he muttered, "I'll be back in a moment," and proceeded off to a public toilet down the street. Just as he left, Ryōna, Ryōbi, and Imu came back with armfuls of chikuwa and onigiri. The older man running the food truck waved happily after them before closing the window and heading out the side toward the same public bathroom as the young man.

The three girls distributed their goodies and Miyabi took one of the rice balls before munching into them to find that they were surprisingly tasty. After swallowing, she commented up to the Ryōna, "It's pretty good… though I'm not sure if it was worth stretching my bra over…"

Upon hearing that, Ryōbi snorted before almost choking on the food she was eating. After clearing her throat while everyone turned to her, she loudly declared, "Don't be too serious. We all saw just what you were trying to do."

"Oh?" Miyabi uttered, "Just what was I trying to do then?"

Not backing down despite the growing tension in the women before her, Ryōbi stated, "You dressed up to deliberately show that guy some skin. I think it's obvious you've got the hots for him."

Upon hearing that, Imu puffed a bit of air while trying to keep from clenching her fist. In the meantime, Miyabi took a proud bite out of her rice ball before declaring, "While I wouldn't say my intent was to simply show my skin, I won't deny my attraction," before swallowing and pointing up, "Well?" When the twintailed girl quirked her head to the side, the white-haired girl defensively shouted, "Is there something wrong with that!?"

Ryōbi flinched under the sudden rise in volume, "What…? Wait-"

But she was interrupted as Miyabi aggressively stood up and towered over her, "Is there something wrong with me being attracted to him? Be honest!" When the girl under her slowly moved to answer, she was cut off again, "No, that actually doesn't matter at all! I'm an adult and can make what decisions I want to make! He's… got the maturity of an adult… Regardless of our few years in age difference, I don't see any issue with me pursuing him!"

From behind her sister, Ryōna said with a smile, "Miyabi, you're so cute right now! Your face is all red and your instincts are probably building with lust! Oh~wa~oh~! Please, Miyabi! Please! Let it all out and let me join you in jumping him!"

Yellow eyes locked onto the blonde, "Shut up! This isn't the time for your antics and I am not filling with lust or whatever the hell you just said!"

Imu calmed herself down from the previous declaration before managing to croak out with twitchy eyes, "Miyabi… don't you think you're moving a bit too fast for yourself? You've just met him-"

But her words only enraged the girl further. Clenching onto the sides of her hair, Miyabi nearly broke out into a meltdown, "I am not moving too fast! I've already considered everything! I've thought it through, I've looked at and have observed him- stop giving me that look, Ryōna! I only looked at him because… ngh…" Miyabi pulled at her hair hard before shaking her head around like a child throwing a tantrum, "He's cute, that's all! No, that's not all! There's much more than that! But it's my business and none of yours! So, regardless of whether or not I do pursue him, you can all mind your own damn business and leave me be!"

Having finished her tirade, Miyabi was huffing and puffing while everyone stared past her with wide-eyes. Being the only one daring to move, Murasaki pointed with one of her fingers to behind the flustered girl. Blinking once, twice, and fearing for the worst, Miyabi's head cranked around to find the young man standing not too far behind her. His face was blank and his expression did not reveal how much he'd heard. Miyabi's eyes narrowed and she sucked her lips into her mouth in fear. Fearing that she'd just ruined everything, she braced for whatever he had to say.

"I heard something about minding our own business. What'd I miss?" came the young man's words.

While everyone else let out breaths of relief, Miyabi's face shook a bit before she answered, "Oh… uh… Everyone wanted a taste of… my onigiri," before she looked to the smooshed rice ball in her hand.

With a still unreadable face, the young man replied, "Well… aren't there others they could try. It looks like Ryōbi and Murasaki are hoarding a small pile over- wait, no don't eat those."

Not taking in his last few words, Miyabi let out a fake laugh, "Yeah, I pointed that out to them too," and moved to take a nonchalant bite out of her crushed food before the young man smacked it out of her hand and to the ground. Feeling her eyes widen in confusion, she looked to him before mumbling, "What? What is it?"

Looking over to Imu, Ryōbi, and Ryōna, the young man asked in a low and dangerous voice, "All of this food… you bought it from that guy over there, right?" and pointed to the man in the food truck, who was humming a chipper tune without reservation. The three girls nodded their heads, much to the boy's horror. After nervously swallowing the spit welling his throat, the young man, "Well… I was in the restroom and that guy came in, did his business- Ryōna, stop eating that!"

The girl was happily munching away on her chikuwa, "Why? I already know that he doesn't wash his hands," before continuing to chew. Everyone around her froze in horror before looking down to the food they were previously chewing on. The delicious chikuwa and onigiri that they had all, save for the young man, taken bites out of were tainted by a foul cook who didn't wash after his time in the bathroom. Beside them, Ryōna swallowed before asking, "Didn't I mention that? His food's renowned for its food poisoning. For someone like me, that makes it all the better~… Why're you guys looking at me like that?"

Cracking their knuckles and necks, balling up their fists, and growling like a bunch of wild animals, the rest of the girls looked to Ryōna with sheer murderous intent. From beside them all, the young man looked to her and said, "I know you're one to enjoy pain but… you may want to run."

**Block 21 – Aftermath**

"I WILL FUCK YOU UP!" cried a green-faced Ryōbi as she chased her sister down the street, picking up and throwing whatever debris she could get her hands on.

"No~!" cried Ryōna as happy tears trailed down her cheeks, "Not like this! Something as dear as this, especially if it's between two sisters, should be reserved for the bedroom!"

"YOU'RE DEAD! YOU ARE SO DEAD!" declared her twin as they disappeared down the street. Behind her, a pale Miyabi was jogging to try and keep up with the pursuit while waving around a bit of plywood she found. Ultimately, she wished she'd just stayed behind with Murasaki and Imu to throw up in an alleyway but she couldn't let that last display of humiliation go unavenged. Meanwhile, not too far away from where the bomb was dropped, the young man was holding the hair of the two sisters as they puked up the contents of their stomachs.

While disgusted by the noise of their vomit hitting the pavement, he simply drowned it out by murmuring a tune with Bebeby to soothe themselves, "Let it out, let it out… Please, for the love of everything, let it out… It will suck, you'll say fuck, you could try out your luck, and kill that bastard sitting in his filthy truck… but first you need to let it out…"

The day hadn't taken the turn that the young man expected. He was hoping for a simple jog from the train station to a particular convenience store. Instead, he got to see a beautiful girl in revealing sportswear, watched as another ran straight into a street pole, jumped himself into a mailbox, carried an unfit girl on his back, oversaw her getting slammed into concrete, soothed another of her worries, and had finished his day by seeing off a blonde in what he thought for sure to be her last moments.

It could have taken a much different turn though. He wasn't sure if anyone believed him when he said he didn't hear Miyabi's fit, but he was just glad that no one was questioning it for the moment. As he closed his eyes while Imu and Murasaki hurled another round, the young man swore at how good and bad his luck was to have the attraction of both Yumi and Miyabi. To have two beauties vying for him was flattering, if a bit baffling considering the young man was far from what he'd consider to be worthy of the two. But, as an infiltrator, that still left a major problem for him. If he didn't handle it carefully, the young man would find himself in the center of a disaster.


	23. Chapter 23: Different Lens

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 23: Different Lens

Dragging Ryōna by her shoulders back to where they left the rest of their group, Miyabi and Ryōbi still looked pale and sick to their stomachs. Their backs were hunched over in exhaustion while they firmly kept their mouths shut, fearing that even letting their lips part would bring forth another round of vomiting. It was fortunate that Miyabi's hair was so short and that she somehow managed to take hold of Ryōbi's twin tails. Otherwise, they both would have been violently sick and shampooing their hair through the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Ryōna had a face of pure bliss after facing the consequences of her own self-inflicted food poisoning and the beating that followed after.

"So happy… this was a good day…"

Miyabi took one glance back at the blonde before looking to Ryōbi to mutter, "I'm sorry to say it, but I kind of regret the day your sister was born…"

Without blinking, the brown-haired girl grumbled, "Trust me when I say I'm with you on that one. I'm her twin and I wish that day never happened."

"Hue-hue-hue~… you both are wonderful… I love you both…"

Both girls turned back to Ryōna as they continued to drag her and growled under their breaths, "Shut it."

While continuing to traverse the sidewalks and streets back to their friends, Miyabi couldn't help but lament the waste of all her efforts for the day. Originally, she just wanted to spend some time with the young man. Then her attempt to one-up Yumi by inviting everyone else to come along bit her hard. Instead of running side by side while making pleasant conversation, everyone in the group was walking away with bruises and food poisoning. Whether or not Miyabi would have had as comfortable a moment as Murasaki had with the young man would forever remain unknown. Too much had gone chaotic and there was nothing left to salvage.

Upon seeing Miyabi's disgruntled face, Ryōbi was about to have a go at her before deciding to shut her mouth. There were times to not hold back and unleash all of the sarcasm and belittling that came to mind but insulting her leader in the midst of romantic turmoil was not one of them, if only because it was a situation that Ryōbi never thought she'd find herself in. It wasn't as though it was hard to believe that Miyabi found someone to crush on… or love, if the feelings she had were really that strong. In fact, it wasn't too hard to believe that the young man was at the center of those feelings, considering what he'd done and strived to do. But there was just something so weird about seeing Miyabi, the serious honor-bound leader of the prideful Hebijo Elite, working hard to make herself known as an interested woman to him.

The whole situation reminded Ryōbi about the time during the Kagura Millennium Festival, when she got all giddy and childlike to go see her mother. Upon making her connection, the twin tailed girl looked to Miyabi perplexedly and began to wonder if there was some sort of connection. But, upon spotting the woman glancing down at her, Ryōbi decided to drop the subject for the time being. The sidewalk in the middle of a suburb was no place to be asked about a deceased loved one. She knew that very well.

Having taken notice to her friend's eyes looking up at her, Miyabi thought to herself quietly for a moment before sighing, "You'd better not be judging me too harshly…"

Having been yanked away from her train of thought, Ryōbi stated the first thing that came to mind, "You expect me not to after that tantrum of yours?"

A guttural groan came in response to her question. While her eyes fell and her neck itched in embarrassment, Miyabi proceeded to mutter, "That wasn't my best moment… Make of that what you will. But I'm serious in my pursuit… so don't judge that."

Ryōbi's response was immediate and tinged with sharpness, "There's the problem. See, I judge anything that anyone does." Upon hearing the resulting grumble from her leader, the twin tailed girl rolled her eyes before lightly offering, "Don't worry too much about it. Whatever I say about you won't be anything different than what I say about anyone else. So… just proceed as you would."

At first, Miyabi's yellow eyes narrowed down on her comrade in confusion. Then, as two and two came together, they briefly widened before settling into a relaxed state. After a few seconds, the girl answered back in a barely audible whisper, "I'd appreciate that. Thank you."

Scratching at her cheek as the situation got too warm and corny for her liking, Ryōbi simply glanced away as her twin began to mumble, "Ah-ha~… you two are having such a sweet moment while I'm right here… It's like I don't even exist to you two and I'm like some kind of inconspicuous presence… Oh~, it just makes me so happy…"

Not even daring to retort to their teammate's perversions, the two girls at the front grunted, "Shut up," as they turned the final corner to where the rest of their group was.

Sitting on the curb of the side street, the young man was patting the backs of both Imu and Murasaki with a nonchalant expression. At their feet were multiple water bottles and crackers that he'd bought from a pair of vending machines nearby. Once he looked up to see the returning trio, the young man moved to stand up and greet them before he was stopped by Murasaki's hand gripping his own. Once he turned to her with a questioning gaze, she simply mumbled, "Thank you again…" before letting him go.

While Miyabi gave a jealous stare at the handholding, Ryōbi tugged her sister along before gripping the blonde's hair and loudly presenting, "Peasants, I bring you the bitch who has so cruelly wronged us… whaddaya wanna do to her?"

Ryōna moaned at the pain of having her hair pulled, "The worst things! Do the worst things you can think of to me!"

From beside Murasaki, Bebeby called, "Heed my earlier advice and put the broad down."

Ignoring the stuffed bear's comments, the young man knelt down and took hold of a pair of water bottles before offering them to Miyabi and Ryōbi. While the latter immediately took it without a word of thanks, the white-haired girl looked down before nodding her head, "It's appreciated…"

Once he let out an affirmative noise, the young man gestured his hand to the curb, "Perhaps we should all take a rest for a while."

From where she sat, Imu held up a hand and muttered as her stomach rumbled, "Weren't you supposed to get to a store to buy whatever you needed to buy? It won't be closing for a while, sure… but you'll be cutting it close if you wait for too long."

The young man's eyes turned to her and he said without much thought, "I can do that tomorrow. For now, let's make sure that all of your vomiting has subsided."

Just as the spectacled girl moved to retort, she made a gagging sound and covered her mouth. She flapped her free hand around to try and stand herself up and, reacting immediately, the young man pulled her up and helped her toward the same alleyway that she and her sister had puked in earlier. The sound of Imu hurling echoed out to the rest of the group, forcing everyone but Ryōna to close their eyes and try to zone out the noise. Once the last round and a few coughs were heard from the alley, the young man and Imu came back out. She mumbled, "Thank you…" and sat herself down on the curb to hug her stomach while Ryōna began to whisper about the masochistic joys of stomach cramps.

"Keep hydrated," responded the young man before pointing to the blonde, "Does she need a water?"

The towheaded girl closed her eyes and smiled, "I'll stick to dehydration, please."

Feeling his eyes narrow down while everyone else sighed in the face of their comrade's complete shamelessness, the young man asked in a low tone, "Do you feel warm and lightheaded?"

Ryōna happily swung around as her sister continued to grip her hair, "Yes to both."

Swiping up one of the water bottles, the young man pointed it to the blonde before ordering, "Then you'd better drink."

Clenching her eyes closed and pulling her head away, Ryōna cried, "No-ho~ don't force me to drink your fluid!"

Ryōbi let her sister fall to the ground with a loud crash so that she could pinch the bridge of her nose, "Oh my God…"

At the same time, the young man felt his eyelids droop as he retorted, "Stop and drink the water."

"Help me, Miyabi!" sniffled Ryōna as she rolled around and kowtowed at the woman's feet, "He's going to defile my throat with that long bottle-shaped thing of his, forcing me to kneel and submit to him while he fills my mouth with the seed of all life."

Stepping away with unblinking eyes, the young man mumbled under his breath, "Okay, I don't want to help anymore…"

Miyabi, however, simply gave one of the coldest stares she'd ever given in her life before bending down to grip her friend by the shoulders. While Ryōna blinked in confusion, her leader got up in her face and growled menacingly, "I expect you to kneel and submit to him."

The young man called over, "No… wait, what are you doing?"

"Once he brings you that bottle-shaped thing, I expect you to take it."

"It's an actual plastic bottle of water. Seriously, listen to yourself talk."

"Even if he needs to stuff it in, I expect you to accept and savor it."

"Stop talking."

"And once you're made to guzzle it down your throat-"

"Miyabi!"

"-then maybe you can you can think of all the trouble you've put us through!"

By the time the woman was done threatening her subordinate, the young man had already stepped a couple of meters beyond the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Ryōna was still trapped in her grip and made a few squeaky sounds with teary eyes before she was released and turned around. As everyone eyed her warily, she suddenly knelt down to lustfully cry out while lewdly waggling her tongue around and about, "Do it to me! I want you to stuff that thing in me!"

Grinding his teeth together and regarding Ryōna with wide eyes, the young man yelped, "Miyabi! You've made it worse!"

While Imu and Murasaki stared on in disbelief, Bebeby began to shake back and forth while yelling, "The end is here! She who will be our destroyer has been summoned to full power!"

Allowing her upper body to land on the ground while she wiggled her butt back and forth in the air, Ryōna moaned something along the lines of, "Do it… I want it… I want it! Bring me the liquid! I'll savor it… I swear… Just promise you won't be gentle!" though, her words mostly came across like an animal in heat.

Crossing her arms while putting on a satisfactory grin, Miyabi closed her eyes as she nodded, "Very good. Weird way of putting it, but very good. You can bring her a bottle now."

Pointing at the white-haired girl with a shaky hand, the young man exclaimed, "Oh bull! You bring her the water! I'm staying over here!"

But Ryōna was already stalking forward on her fours, breathing hotly under her breath, "You can't turn back now… You've already gotten me all riled up! No, you're not going anywhere! I'm claiming that savory seed of all life! And I want you to shoot it down my throat!"

Instinctively adopting a defensive stance, the young man raised his arms as he prepared to intercept whatever offensive Ryōna was thinking to launch against him. He glanced helplessly at Ryōbi, who was still content to just suckle on her own bottle of water and ignore the present situation. The young man's eyes went to Imu and Murasaki next. Just as he was about to call for help, he realized that the two were still cradling their stomachs. Finally, he turned to Miyabi and silently pleaded to her with a quivering chin. Her only response was to say, "Just give it to Ryōna. What's wrong?" Realizing that he had no present help in the situation and feeling more fear than he had in his fight against Yumi, the young man was about to let out a defensive yell before a pair voices suddenly came from behind him:

"What did I just hear?"

"Ryōna's making a scary face!"

Turning around to face the new arrivals, the young man found himself face to face with Yagyū and Hibari. Startled and thrown off by their sudden presence, he was about to say something before a sudden sensation shocked him from his rear. Immediately, he shot up into the air with a shriek and proceeded to try and scratch his way up a nearby street pole. Once the young man calmed himself down and his eyes glanced to the ground, he found himself looking down into the eager eyes of Katsuragi. The girl in question threw up a fist before letting out a triumphant laugh, "Hurrah!"

While still clinging to the pole like a cat in a tree, the young man huffed a few times before breathing, "Eh?"

Before he knew it, he was sat back on the curb while Ryōna chugged down the bottled water beside him. To his other side, Murasaki was clinging onto Bebeby as the bear ranted on about needing to euthanize the blonde. As the young man settled on listening in on everyone else around him, Imu summoned the strength to stand up and explain to Miyabi the implications of the prior conversation. While the latter occasionally let out a squeak of realization in the background, Ryōbi continued telling the girls of Hanzō about the jog and all that transpired. To the whole of the story, between crashing into street poles to an unintentionally sexual choice in words, Katsuragi could only let out howls and wheezes of laughter. Beside her, Yagyū had finally uncovered Hibari's ears and casted judgmental eyes on Miyabi. To the entire scene happening all around him, the young man could only sigh in defeat as the day only further convoluted itself.

After so much mental exertion that had started when he'd heard about Yumi's feelings the day before, he felt numb to the whole variety of conversations around him. It wasn't as though he wasn't used to chaos, especially considering his upbringing as an infiltrator, but the girls before him were a different form of crazy than anything else he'd ever experienced. Where he was adjusted to keeping his cool in anxiously silent or bombastically loud environments, the young man couldn't find a proper way to keep his sanity amidst the shinobi who were always either doing something crazy or mocking one another. Even more insane was the fact that, if they weren't doing their usual slapstick or giving verbal jabs, they were either trying to actively kill one another like the night he'd met them or were hanging out in restaurants to chat casually. They were enemies and friends at the same time, only seeming to attack one another once things got heated or, if Asuka's account was to be believed, if they were just getting to know one another.

At some point in the middle of his train of thought, Miyabi took notice of Yagyū's scrutinizing gaze and stepped away from Imu, "Have you got something to say?"

"I'm just taking notice of the fact that you had to take someone's tank top to cover up. Have your flirtations gone too far?"

Turning beet red in the face, Miyabi turned her eyes to see if the shirtless young man was any paying attention. Of course, he'd just kept his eyes forward and to the ground to make it seem like he was staring off into space. After a breath of relief, Miyabi turned back to growl, "You're one to talk. What about all of the times you've gone too far with Hibari?"

"At least I start out innocently enough. Even then, that isn't relevant to my observation that you deliberately dressed-" Yagyu covered Hibari's ears, "-slutty-" and then released her, "to provoke a certain someone's attention."

Knowing that a pop word like 'slut' was an unmistakable attention grabber that no one would believe he hadn't heard, the young man acted as though he had only just started paying attention, "Watch your choice in words there."

Miyabi turned her head over and asked in a stutter, "Wai-, hold up, hold on, how long have you been paying attention?"

"For about two seconds," said the young man as his face remained blank and unreadable, "I heard a particular word and thought I'd play referee… Though, I'm more curious about who you're trying to impress."

He had to ask that question to maintain consistence in his story: he heard Yagyū's insult and he had to have heard everything after. Therefore, like any other person, he'd have to question what he'd heard. The only real risk would be the small chance that Miyabi would use his question as a basis to confess to him, though that chance was so miniscule that he didn't even need to consider it. Lo and behold, his lie and gamble seemed to pay off once she averted her gaze and simply mumbled, "I'm not trying to impress anyone."

With a simple nod, the young man went back to his thoughts while Miyabi and Yagyū got back into it. To his side, Ryōna finished her water before cradling the bottle and nuzzling the top of her head against the young man's back. Beside Murasaki, he could here Bebeby's voice, "She's gone on the attack! Counter and make an immediate retreat!"

"Calm down…" uttered the purple-haired girl's voice, "You're being too loud today…"

"I'm only too loud because you're too quiet," came the reply.

Ignoring the sensation of Ryōna rubbing her head into him, the young man debated what he should do to make a retreat for the day. Keeping silent would only delay the inevitable for so long but he truly had no words that would naturally interject himself into a conversation without making him sound like an interruptive and attention-grabbing ass. Part of the young man vied for a time like before his arrival into the city, when the groups of friends that he'd accumulated were much smaller in size and had fewer voices contesting against one another. But, just as he was considering that…

"Wait, how'd you end up on Miyabi's back?"

"The dickhead over there got too tired so she took over."

"Why were you on his back?"

"Katsuragi, you're being too nosy! Let her tell the story."

"Hibari, I don't want you to hear whatever else she may have to tell."

"Wait! We're not done talking here!"

"Let it go, Miyabi."

No… the scenes that the young man had witnessed with the girls were extremely prone to getting downright wacky really quick. It wasn't as though it was just the sheer number of people, seeing as concert venues had more order than what he 'd often witnessed between them. The fact of the matter was that the girls were just crazy in their own unique ways, each one animated to fit a completely different perspective than the next. It was those mixes of perspective combating one another that made everything too loud and hard to predict. The young man, for all of his experience and ability in reading people, couldn't predict what they were going to say next. He couldn't just mentally examine everyone's words, read their facial cues, and then say the right words to maintain a friendly conversation… and that was completely frightening…

The young man's thoughts were interrupted once he realized that Katsuragi had finished listening to Ryōbi's account of what had happened and proceeded to stand in front of him. Once he looked up to her conceited face and blinked, she snorted and said with a grin, "You've had quite the day."

Keeping his tone level and unattached to his previous thoughts, the young man replied, "Yup…"

"And, by the sound of it, you didn't wind up getting the things you wanted to buy?"

"Nope…"

Katsuragi's initially smug and brazen features gradually began to fall away in response to the young man's cold answers. After taking a moment to awkwardly rub the back of her neck in reflection of the fact that he was a newcomer to her antics, the blonde proceeded to ask, "You're not angry, are you?"

"Nope, just trying to keep an eye on your hands."

Pleased that he wasn't too frustrated by her smack to his tush, Katsuragi blew out an exaggerated breath of relief before saying, "Well, I'm glad that's all it is. Will you be doing your shopping later tonight?"

After trying and failing to provoke Yagyū into arguing back at her, Miyabi turned her attention to the blonde of Hanzō before a panging feeling in the back of her head ordered her to intervene. As she approached, the young man took a moment to think out his answer before replying, "Nah, I'm a bit tired after today. I'll probably head home, do my homework, and fall asleep to some music."

Before Katsuragi could inquire further, Miyabi peered up from the side and asked with an innocent smile that reflected none of her desire for attention, "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of music do you listen to?"

While the blonde beside her did a doubletake at her abnormal behavior, the young man replied without too much consideration, "Anything good. Name the genre and I've got something to either dance or listen to."

The white-haired girl nodded her head as a thought came to her: just like how he'd accepted the flaws in the people around him, the young man was indiscriminate in his choice of music. Despite the fact that her logic was a bit off, seeing as the young man certainly did imply that there were songs that he didn't like, Miyabi could only find herself sticking by her initial thought. As a result, she unknowingly closed her eyes amidst her fantasy and smiled down to her object of affections. Meanwhile, the young man did a bit of shudder upon seeing the girl's reaction and proceeded to scratch at his shoulder. Having just been blocked away from him by Miyabi, Katsuragi looked on with her jaw to the floor before shaking herself and mumbling, "Ryōbi wasn't kidding…"

Miyabi's expression immediately did a one-eighty as she turned away with an impartial expression, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The blonde felt her mouth straighten in annoyance before an idea clicked in her head. Seeking to test just how strong the Hebijo leader's feelings were, Katsuragi turned to the young man and asked gently, "Could you do me a favor?"

Still trying to grasp Miyabi's reaction to what he thought was an innocent question, the boy in question responded in a daze, "Depends on the favor."

"Say something cute."

Feeling the three white dots of silence poking themselves above the young man's head, he tilted his head to the side before blinking at Katsuragi and asked, "Wait, what? Hold-" as he flushed red and sharply leaned away, "What!? Did I miss a part of this conversation? Where did that request come from?""

"Humor me," said the blonde as she took hold of the young man's shoulders and picked him up from his seat on the curb. After turning him to face Miyabi, she asked, "Just say the cutest thing you can think of in the cutest way possible."

As everyone else's eyes fell on the pair, the boy felt his eyelids droop and declared in a low and dangerous tone, "No. I don't know what you have planned but there's no way-"

"Do it or there's another ass-smackage for you."

"Meow!" screeched the young man in response, his eyes terrified and his lips tight. Based on the off-pitch yowl and the silent exchange of looks between everyone else, there seemed to be unanimous agreement that what he'd done was not even slightly cute. He muttered under his breath, "Can I go now?"

But Katsuragi's grip remained firm as she further dug her fingers into his shoulders. Using her little bit of height and strength over the young man to her advantage, she slid her hands to his armpits and hefted him into the air while asking, "More energy, more sincerity, and much more cuteness! C'mon or I'll use this position to take your ass from behind!"

Clenching his teeth together as he continued to dangle in the air, the young man cried out, "Mind your words, woman!"

Feeling her face fall a bit, Katsuragi muttered, "Yeah, that didn't come out like I wanted it to…"

Still, as all of the eyes in the group fell onto one target, there was an evident problem with no easy solution. From what he could tell, there were two ways the situation could play out for the young man. He could either make a run for it and hope to escape or he could drop all of his dignity and comply. Unfortunately, circumstances were veering toward the latter. Provided that no one else joined in on the pursuit to humiliate him, the young man still had no hope of escape considering the fact that Katsuragi was, according to the girl's choice in weapons and Jasmine's information, one of the fastest runners among the entire group of shinobi. Without any grappling tools to get him off the ground, the young man would only be made to suffer the violating feeling of the blonde's fingers striking his rear again. However, the thing that left the plan dead on arrival was the fact that there was no way the young man could get out of her grip without kicking her in some way. Seeing as he still was a bit angry with himself due to the injury that Yumi took to the head in their last fight, there was no way he'd be hurting someone else so soon. Ultimately, there was no choice for him to make.

Feeling his face heat up, the young man's jaw went slack as his eyes narrowed on the surrounding crowd in a silent plea. But seeing as no one was responding to the call, with Miyabi, Murasaki, and Hibari actually seeming to look forward to what was to come, a silent prayer was made by him before he closed his eyes. Once he was sure that his pupils had dilated wide enough and felt his eyes water just enough from the embarrassment, the young man braced for the disaster to come.

He opened his sparkly and beautiful eyes that complement his reddened face well. With an embarrassed frown, he mumbled in a voice that was a pitch higher than usual, "I don't know what I'd do with-meowt any of you… nyah."

While Hibari, Murasaki, and even Ryōna let out a simultaneous, "Aawwww~," and approached the young man as his brain proceeded to shut down from heat exposure, Miyabi's hand reached for her nose before she fainted backwards with a smile. While Katsuragi proceeded to lay her limp victim to the ground with a triumphant nod, Ryōbi and Yagyū exchanged befuddled looks as Imu caught the white-haired girl in her arms with an irritated look of jealousy.

That event spelled the end of the night for everyone. The young man hobbled himself home in complete silence with a shattered ego while refusing to meet the eye of anyone who had witnessed his embarrassing display. The girls of Hebijo excused themselves with Miyabi at the front, smiling with reddened cheeks as she swore that she had no regrets for how the day turned out. While Bebeby repeatedly ordered, "Lay claim to the lands that we decree to be our own!" and wobbled back and forth, Murasaki had a rarely seen smile on her face while Ryōbi and Ryōna followed off to the back. The only one who appeared dissatisfied was Imu, who strangely continued to make cat puns for the rest of the night to a mixed reception.

Meanwhile, as the three girls of Hanzō marched home on the tide of victory, Hibari also began to repeatedly gush, "I'm meowk-ful… no, that's not catchy… I'm so meow-d of him for… no, no…"

Beside her, Yagyū took in all of her best friend's cat puns in stride while praising the young man under her breath, "You hero… You damn superhero… Because of you, I will have a Cat-Hibari for the rest of the night… A thousand blessings to you for this bountiful, albeit unintentional, cuteness you've bestowed upon me… Thank you."

Ignoring the shenanigans of the first-years behind her, Katsuragi fully affirmed to herself a suspicion that she had about Miyabi. Based on her reaction and the unnatural smiles she'd seen associated with the young man, there was no doubt that she was crushing hard on the boy. She wasn't terribly surprised, considering Asuka's confused description of the night before, but she still couldn't say she fully expected it. The stone-cold leader of the Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy had a crush on an unexpressive student-terrorist hybrid.

Part of that thought process resonated well with Katsuragi, seeing as an evil shinobi and an infiltrator would probably make a good pair due to their legal status. However, the blonde had also taken notice to two other things. One was the fact that, by both Asuka and Hikage's own recollection of what had happened, there was roughly three other rival contenders to Miyabi. One for certain was Yumi, who apparently had an awed smile and starstruck eyes through an entire night of karaoke. In fact, according to Ikaruga, Shiki had even teased the girl about the matter. Then there may have been Homura, who had nothing negative to say on any occasion about the young man. While that itself wasn't much of a giveaway, the few times she'd spoken his praise with Katsuragi present left the implication that there was much more behind her words. Even Asuka claimed that there had been something strange in Homura's usual behavior in the prior few days. Ultimately, the results would be inconclusive due to potential human-reading errors and a lack of solid evidence… but Katsuragi would still keep an eye on her.

There was one other who had a definite crush on the young man. By the way she spoke of her attraction, how devotedly she defended his actions, and the unmistakable trust that she had for him, there was no doubt in Katsuragi's mind that Asuka also had solid feelings for the young man. Whether or not she had fully realized it for herself was unclear but, from numerous observations from multiple people, it was beyond definite that she had that kind of affection. However, that raised a problem.

In the past, when Katsuragi suspected that Asuka considered reciprocating a guy named Suzuki's feelings, the blonde would have encouraged the girl to go to the ends of the world to achieve romance for herself. But the young man was much different. Perhaps he had the same elements of manliness, perhaps he had his moments of cuteness, and perhaps he was- no, he was definitely being honest when he had spoken to the shinobi. But he wasn't a civilian. By the government's own labeling, he fell in line with a terrorist group whom he, himself, declared had done damage to Renka… How could Katsuragi support that kind of romance when there were still so many unknowns about him? How could she support him when her parents, wherever they continued to hide, were still being hunted by the government as renegade shinobi? What would she do if he was discovered? Would she step up to defend him?

The definite answer was easy: no, she wouldn't. Katsuragi had invested too much time in becoming a top tier shinobi, a Kagura, to sacrifice it all for a guy she'd barely gotten to know. Even at the cost of her mind to the distortion, she couldn't so easily sacrifice the progress she'd made in trying to atone for her parents' failure from years ago. Katsuragi wouldn't sell the young man out but she wouldn't defend him either. It was definitely selfish, she wouldn't deny that… but what did that imply?

Did trying to defend her dreams at the cost of someone like him make her a bad person? She didn't know… Thus, as the two first-years behind her were going back and forth with cat puns, the smile that Katsuragi had on her face became more and more fake by the minute.

**April 17 – "In regards to determining sincerity, look someone in the eye. If someone continues to stare right back at you, they're either a capable sociopath or a person who'll always be willing to give you their honest thoughts. It will be up to you to make the gamble and see which one they are."**

The following day, after having successfully suppressed the embarrassing memory from the night before, the young man attended school and made his way out with Miki at his side. A few times throughout the day, he'd spotted Sato peering from around corners or through crowds of people at him. Still, just like the previous day, the young man didn't mind her. So long as she kept her distance and made no aggressive moves, he'd let her be.

After stopping by a bus stop and waving goodbye to Miki, the young man proceeded to walk his way towards the convenience store. Unlike the day before, there was no commotion across the whole journey, save for the uncomfortable feeling in the back of his head that he was being watched. Occasionally, he'd turn around to try and eye the offending party but he ultimately found no visible person to be around. It was jarring and even a bit scary but he ultimately wrote it off as one of two things: the girls or Oda. Either way, he wouldn't break character would continue about his day in an apparently unobservant silence.

From afar, a massive gorilla of a man peered around a corner and watched as the young man continued on his way. Despite the innocent appearance of his shenanigans from the previous day, Oda knew that his target was out and about to collect the parts for his tools. He heard the conversations and was well aware of how deep the girls were imbedded into the young man's present activities. At that point, he only needed to wait for the admissible evidence to be constructed. While he could just put out a warrant through the secret service for some false charges, Oda was a man of integrity. He'd continue to watch and wait until he could argue with a clear mind that the young man was an infiltrator deserving of death.

Even remembering the secretive terrorist group's name put Oda into a quiet rage as memories ripped into him. As though it were happening again before his very eyes, he remembered the bloody crime scene of a little boy missing half of his head, killed by one of the men who shared the young man's name and blood. The demon whom all shinobi in the know referred to as the Scourge of Modern Shinobi: Tsao. So long as that monster of a man still walked the Earth, there couldn't be any forgiveness… regardless of whatever stories Hanzō and Sayuri had boasted in their earlier years.

As the young man did his shopping and Oda continued to watch him from afar, Asuka and the rest of the Hanzō elite made their way through suburbs that were extremely unfamiliar to them. The second-year leading the way continued to smile as chipperly as she had been that same afternoon while Yagyū and Hibari were eagerly following right behind her. A few meters behind the three of them, Ikaruga and Katsuragi were staring on with faces that reflected pure exhaustion.

At one point, Asuka called back to the two with a smile, "C'mon, keep up!" before swinging up one of the bags of food she was carrying.

Blowing off her remark, the blonde third-year turned to her best friend, "So… do you think if I promise to not grope her for a week, she might call this off?"

In turn, Ikaruga sighed, "You know as well as I do," before turning to face Katsuragi, "that she's unstoppable once she's gotten riled up. Do you remember how she was during the Millennium Festival? When she, Homura, Miyabi, and Yumi got into an argument about who would make the better heroine?"

"Right…" came another sigh, "they kept going on and on until late at night… Jasmine had to throw a couple pairs of her shoes at them… too bad she gave Asuka the address in the first place… If not, maybe we could've call her to talk some sense…"

There was another call from the front, "It should just be this last corner and then we'll be there."

Katsuragi reflected on her thoughts about Asuka's crush on the young man. Originally, she was only worried because of the latter's place as an infiltrator. But, after a bit of probing about her surprise encounter the night before, Asuka then took it upon herself to ask her grandmother for his address so that they could offer an apology dinner. "After all," she had said, "you did take it upon yourself to disrupt the fun they were having."

To Katsuragi, calling the events that transpired 'fun' for Hebijo and the young man was a bit much but she could accept responsibility for being a bit disruptive. In her and Ikaruga's mind, Asuka was just going to get some frozen foods from the grocery store and offer to eat together… But, no… that wasn't what she was doing at all. Instead, knowing that the young man would be out, Asuka had taken it upon herself to gather up a bunch of fresh ingredients to cook in his home. She'd have Yagyū pick the lock to get inside so that they could all prepare the table as Asuka and Ikaruga prepared a small platter of meat, rice, and futomaki. If it were an expected home call, it wouldn't be terribly strange. But the young man had no knowledge of their presence as they intruded upon his sanctuary. They were going to be breaking and entering so that their friend could entertain her crush.

Katsuragi and Ikaruga simultaneously sighed as Asuka swung up one of the bags of food she was carrying and pointed ahead, "There! That's the building."

As her everlasting companion remained expressionless, Hibari looked on in a brief moment of awe before her face fell. As Asuka carried on like nothing was wrong with the world, the pink-haired girl said, "It… kind of looks like a rundown motel…"

Seeing that bits of rubble and wooden debris were strewn about all over the lot and that the whole area was colored a dull mix of gray and dirty brown with filthy decade-old bricks, not even Asuka dared to disagree. It wasn't as though it looked like it should have been foreclosed but, based on the fact that a fox and a litter of her kits were taking refuge in a tire toward the corner of the empty parking area, there was certainly a strong need to get the area cleaned up.

Still, after needing to take a moment to remind herself of their objective for the day, Asuka awkwardly mumbled, "Maybe we can offer to help cleanup sometime…?" before taking in a breath and pumping a fist into the air, "Alright. Let's not forget why we're here. Onward!"

Standing beside her at that point, Katsuragi only whispered to herself, "Breaking and entering… I still say that this is one of the creepier things you've ever done."

The brunette turned and glared at the blonde with a red face, "It's not creepy at all!"

Beside her, Hibari nodded while her lips were tucked into a cute pout, "You see it all the time in cartoons. It's actually really cute!"

"Eh…" Asuka turned her head to her supporter, "whoa, we're not trying to be cute!"

To that weak defense, Katsuragi replied with a tinge of exasperation, "You know what's also in cartoons? Scenes where the protagonist just wakes up and finds a sexy girl waiting for them in bed but, surprise, surprise, I'm still waiting for that to happen to me."

Defiantly huffing and crossing her arms, Asuka proceeded forward as she stated, "This isn't about TV, this is about trying to properly apologize for your intrusion the previous night."

Ikaruga blinked before throwing a bit of hair over her shoulder, "So, why don't we just apologize like normal people?"

"To be fair…" Yagyū started while her gaze continued to marvel at Hibari's cuteness. As the pink-haired girl silently lost herself in her gushing over cartoon fantasies, her companion explained, "It wasn't like we just stumbled upon Hebijo and hit it off. Katsuragi wanted to see-"

Realizing she was about to be ratted out, Katsuragi pounced on the girl and began to shake her back and forth, "It's like I told them last night! It was an accident, right!? I'll promise you and Hibari immunity for a week if you say we accidentally stumbled upon them!"

Perhaps Yagyū would have taken the deal and lied to Ikaruga and Asuka if the exact same promise hadn't been made a few times before. On each of those occasions, Katsuragi's sanity snapped and she proceeded to break her promise by aggressively targeting Yagyū and Hibari's bodies for a couple days without rest. After remembering just how little self-control the blonde had despite however earnest her promise was, Yagyū turned to Ikaruga to say, "She wanted to see if a guy's butt was as gropeable as ours."

Sucking in her cheeks at having been contradicted, Katsuragi sighed as she felt the judging eyes of Ikaruga eat into the back of her head. It wasn't so much that she was ashamed as much as it was a matter of violating an agreement the two had made shortly after Yagyū and Hibari's arrival into Hanzō Academy. Unfortunately for the blonde, that agreement was fully remembered by Ikaruga.

"Do you happen to remember what you said you wouldn't do anymore?"

Katsuragi answered quietly, "I said I wouldn't grope anyone who wasn't familiar to us."

"What did you do?"

"I groped someone who wasn't familiar with us."

After having the last of her energy sapped and depleted, Ikaruga couldn't bring herself to oppose breaking into the young man's apartment. Instead, she let out a downtrodden sigh before following after Asuka to the stairs, "We'll apologize properly then…" If nothing else, the raven-haired girl wouldn't label the brunette to be the creepiest member of their group, considering how depraved Katsuragi's sexual harassment had become.

As everyone trailed after Asuka, the blonde groaned before letting her arms dangle, "Right… let's go apologize properly…"

However, just as Katsuragi made it to the stairs and proceeded up to the second-floor landing, Asuka let out a yelp as she dropped her bags. Upon hearing their teammate, the rest of the elite immediately zeroed straight on the girl before spotting her cause of alarm. The front door to the apartment had been busted in with its knob missing entirely.

Fearing that they were happening on a break-in, the five of them exchanged knowing looks and nods with one another before taking position to charge. After each of them pulled their ninja scrolls from theirs busts to transform, the five of them surged inside to see if the burglars were still on sight. Fortunately, the place was very empty and lacking any other presence. On the downside, the place was very empty and lacking any items besides the futon, appliances, and a bag of clothes in the corner. There weren't any electronics, pictures, nor anything else strewn about the spotless floor.

Fearing that the worst had come to pass, Asuka's eyes fell as a hand went up to her mouth to say, "There's… nothing in here. Nothing at all…"

As Ikaruga searched the bathroom to make sure no one was hiding, she came back out and eyed her surroundings. For some reason, she didn't feel as though there was much cause for alarm despite the empty environment. While she tried to figure out her thoughts and observations, Ikaruga spotted Katsuragi standing with wide eyes in the corner. In fact, if the class representative looked closely, she could even see a quivering lower lip. After a moment of thought, she figured out her friend's feelings.

The two of them had and probably still were suspicious of the young man, opposing Asuka's notion to forcibly visit to keep him some company. In the meantime, it appeared as though the poor boy had every possession that could be considered dear taken away. After seeing him treat four of their friends' distortion, how could one not feel guilty over their doubts after seeing the sort of thing that the world was subjecting the young man to outside of his work?

As Katsuragi's spirit fell amidst her self-reflection, Ikaruga rested a hand on her shoulder with saddened eyes before she quietly declared, "We'll wait for him… and once he gets here, we'll apologize."

The blonde nodded before clenching a fist, "If bastards that walk the earth beneath us can so cruelly punish someone like this… then we need to balance out that sorrow with an act of kindness…"

While the two looked at another, assuring themselves of the good deed they'd do later, Yagyū called over, "I don't think this place was burgled at all."

The two teary-eyed seniors turned around with a mix of surprise and confusion as they both simultaneously uttered, "What?"

Seeing their evident confusion, Yagyū gestured to the door, "If someone broke through that door," before waving her hand at the floor, "then why aren't there any splinters? Or a doorknob? In fact, while I'm no expert on cleaning, this place looks like it was recently mopped."

Ikaruga and Katsuragi blinked before they exchanged looks and separated themselves. After a moment of thought, the latter thought aloud, "Well… maybe one guy broke in… then he felt guilty and cleaned up the mess… then another guy came through the open door and took everything in the apartment because he's much more mean…"

It was an extremely unlikely scenario. That sort of convoluted domino effect would only be seen in comedies. Not once had any of them ever heard about such a case. In fact, the five of them were sure that such a thing was completely implausible. There just couldn't be such a case without every star in the sky aligning to grant the laws of possibility such power. But then they looked around again. They saw the lack of decoration, the lack of pictures, and the overall lack of anything that could be considered sentimental or valuable. Save for the uniforms and clothes which wouldn't serve much purpose to the average burglar and a few towels, there wasn't much else in the room.

The five girls of the Hanzō elite looked to one another and blinked their silent thoughts. Not two seconds after, the five of them were teary-eyed again and crying into the air:

Asuka spun herself around dramatically, "This world is horrible… I'd heard of horrible things when I became a shinobi… and I knew I'd see something like this firsthand one day…" and proceeded to cover her face, "I just didn't think it'd be so soon!"

"Mean! Cruel! Awful!" cried Hibari, "How could anyone do this and walk away with a clear conscience!? It's just a one room apartment! What could be so valuable for them to steal!?"

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

As the pink-haired girl fell to her knees, Yagyū approached with open arms, "Come here, Hibari… Don't look anymore. It'll just taint your pure heart! Don't let yourself fall to the grief that this horrible sight beholds…!" before she paused and blinked her eye, "Wait, who just said-"

"How could I as the senior-most member of this group lead by such a horrid example?" bellowed Ikaruga as she clasped her hands over her chest, "I've been too cruel… Not as cruel as the monsters who rendered this place into such a sickening display of humanity… But still! I've been too cruel…"

"Wha-, wait… is this place really that bad?"

Most dramatic of all was Katsuragi as she pounded a fist against the floor, "I've made him suffer my grasp last night, I've held him in nothing but a suspicious regard since before we met, and I've told nothing but cruel jokes and rumors to Ayame about him-"

"What jokes and rumors?"

"-when explaining what we've been up to this last week! But that was wrong… So, so wrong…" She stood herself up and raised a fist into the air as tears trickled down her eyes, "The next time I see him, I'll apologize. I'll look him in the eye and tell him that I'm sorry for what he's lost here today and that I'm sorry for how hurt he must've been if he ever caught wind of how much I distrusted him…"

"Well, I know now."

"But I'll apologize and begin to trust him for real!"

"I doubt that."

"And, I, wait… who was…"

Amidst her tangent of woe, Katsuragi turned to find the young man at the door before feeling all of the color drain from her face. As all of the other girls stared with shock and uneasiness, the blonde looked into his unreadable face before murmuring, "Hi…" All of the sorrowful emotions that she and the others had felt were washed away once they realized how unalarmed the young man was.

In turn, the boy blinked before saying in a voice that reflected how muddled he was, "Hi, what the hell is going on?"

Looking back at the last fifteen minutes of their lives, the girls had no idea where to even begin.


	24. Chapter 24: Bubbling Havoc

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 24: Bubbling Havoc

After the third day of enduring her punishment, Yumi finally began to settle into her routine as the de facto janitor of Gessen Academy. Of course, it sucked the heart right out of her on the two previous days. One could only stand mopping hallway floors, scraping the grease out of stoves, and polishing toilets for so long. But, once she'd finally solidified a schedule for herself and got around to truly appreciating the bell at the end of the day, Yumi ultimately bit the bullet and took all of her new duties on in stride. Even when her sisters offered to help, she politely turned them away and went about her work without a second thought. After all, in her mind, it was not only a start to making right of all the wrongs that her distortion caused… but it was a point of justification for her to pursue her interest in the young man.

"I don't get it," mumbled Minori shortly after school had ended. Beside her sat Yumi, who'd given a halfhearted explanation as to why she wasn't accepting help.

"Sorry, Minori," the older sister said with a cheery smile as she polished all of the smudges on a window away, "but I'm not very sure how else to put it to words."

Tilting her body to the side, the pigtailed girl scratched a bit at her forehead before clasping her hands together and swiveling her arms back and forth in thought. Once she found what she wanted to ask, her innocent voice came, "Why not just confess to him? I don't think you need to clean toilets alone just to date him."

Once the first few words came out of the girl's mouth, Yumi immediately began to shake and fidget before rushing out her words, "Because these things take time!" But, after taking a moment to breath and hearing Minori's second sentence, the girl cooled her head and replied in a much calmer manner, "It isn't so much that I think doing all of this cleaning means I can date him… It's more a matter of… proving I'm… responsible, I suppose?"

Minori's eyes drooped as she tentatively uttered, "Responsible?"

"Oh, you know what I mean," chattered Yumi as she turned back to the window, hoping to starve the discussion.

"No, not really…"

After letting out a brief sound of frustration, Yumi sucked in some air before she set down her towel and stated, "Well… okay, maybe it's not so much to prove I'm responsible as much as I am… accountable."

"I still don't get it."

Blowing a humored breath of air at her little sister's response, Yumi said with a steadily growing smile on her face, "Bear with me for a moment. You agree that people like honesty, right?"

Nodding her head, Minori began to say, "Uh-huh, that sounds right-" before clapping her hands together and shouting the young man's name, "That's part of the reason you like him, right? He seems pretty honest."

Nodding along as her sister seemed to catch on to where she was going, Yumi closed her eyes and cheerfully enunciated, "Indeed, he is," and began to cheerfully gush, "Even if it was a rough start, his intentions and efforts never bore us harm."

Bobbing her body up and down in agreement, the shorter girl froze for a moment before quirking a brow, "But what does that have to do with you doing all the cleaning by yourself?"

"As an honest person," Yumi started as the smile on her face only bolstered, "I've no doubt that he believes in people being accountable for their mistakes. So, if he hears about or somehow sees me taking on the punishment I've been doled-"

"I see now!" cried Minori as her face beamed in enlightenment.

"Not so loud."

"He'll see you being responsible and he'll like you for it!"

"Not so- oh well, you're done yelling. Anyways," Yumi said as the smile reignited itself on her face, "You're not far off. He'll see me fulfilling the tasks I've been given and, yes, see that I'm being responsible and accountable. By that, I'll probably be fitting one of his ideal imaginings of a desirable woman. Now to say someone, let's say Asuka-"

"According to Shiki," Minori interrupted with a raised hand, "she was pretty clingy during your guys' sing-a-long session."

Remembering for herself just how much the brunette kept vying for the young man's attention, Yumi's eyes briefly turned dull and lamenting before she shook herself and stated, "Maybe a bit, but that's just Asuka being who she is: welcoming and loving," before averting her eyes and continuing, "But, let's say that she held an interest in him. Do you think he'd reciprocate any advances she'd potentially make? She, who combated him and likely is on a pedestal of uneasiness for him? But, if I made an advance, I think he would be much more comfortable. After all, by taking on this punishment by myself and refusing help, I'm fully accepting that I was in the wrong despite how heavily distorted I was… in a way, I'd be saying 'You were right in coming after me the way you did, I hold no ill will against you' and such. Don't you think he'd be much more open to me?"

Minori had to take a moment for herself to put all of the logic together before scratching at her chin, "Well, I guess when you put it that way-"

"It's pretty irrelevant."

Yumi and Minori jumped from their spots with loud yelps of surprise before turning to the doorway to find Yozakura with a dubious expression. The former took in a breath of air before turning back to wipe the windows, "Try not to scare us like that in the future, please…" before she began to process what the blue-haired girl said. After a quick moment of thought, Yumi turned back and asked, "And what do you mean? Does my logic not make too much sense?"

"Well, there's that…" Yozakura shrugged before bringing up her phone with a pitying frown, "But, your primary concern may be a couple of texts I've gotten…"

"Oh?" Yumi turned back with a curious glow to her eye before asking, "Could you read them?"

As the two were talking, Minori peered her eyes onto Yozakura's phone before her face fell into confusion. She blinked a few times and turned up to her sister in order to ask, "Why is Ryōna almost naked in this picture?"

Having failed to realize the smaller girl was so close, Yozakura shrieked a short noise of embarrassment before pulling the phone out of view, "That's Ryōna being a perverted Ryōna! Never mind that. Yumi, your primary concern will be what she had to say."

The addressed girl nodded her head before urging, "Go on. I'm listening to you."

Taking a moment to clear her throat, Yozakura was about to begin reading but then Minori's finger scrolled further up into the messages. Before she could be stopped, the girl asked innocently, "What's so special about 'putting the bottle-shaped thing in' with Miyabi's crush?"

Yozakura let out a frustrated yap and was about to dismiss whatever Minori had seen before she spotted their older sister's expression. Covering up her reddened face with a flattened hand, Yumi tutted, "What a scandal… I never thought Ryōna would so actively pursue her leader's crush in such a way." Before any corrections could be made, the girl continued with a sly smile, "But, of all people, that does sound believable. If you don't mind me gossiping with you two, who is Miyabi's crush?"

"It's a misunderstanding!" Yozakura cried, "I asked Miyabi for clarification! She said they were talking about a water bottle! Ryōna only drank a water bottle!"

The other two simultaneously let out a hushed, "Oh."

Needing to take a breath after the suggestive dialogue, the blue-haired girl paused for a moment before stating, "Getting past Ryōna's antics, the major thing is that a certain someone has taken part in a jog with the rest of Hebijo. Do you know who?"

Yumi raised her head and brought a hand up to stroke her chin before making the connection. A few gushy thoughts ran through her mind before she closed her eyes and said cheerfully, "Yup, I heard about that on the sidewalk shortly before Shiki and I left the group last night. It was a bit unfortunate, seeing as I, myself, was going to invite him out but… my time will come eventually."

Casting a doubtful look at her sister, Yozakura shook her head, "Actually, if you don't act, that time may not come."

Hearing those challenging words, Yumi's eyes shot open and narrowed with deep-rooted interest, "Speak openly, please. What do you mean?"

As the scrutinizing gaze of Yumi settled in, the blue-haired girl was about to speak before she turned to find Minori also staring at her. While the younger sister steadily pressed her face forward only to have it gently pushed back, Yozakura answered, "According to Ryōna and a few pictures she's taken… Miyabi may have a crush on him…"

From where Yumi was wiping the window, the sound of glass crackling could be heard. Yumi didn't even blink for a moment before letting out a calm breath of air to ask, "Well… I suppose he saved her too… It's only natural that she gains such an appreciation."

While the girl next to her was effectively put off and a bit scared by the ice queen's apparent indifference, Minori raised her hand and asked, "Aren't you worried that she'll confess to him and become his girlfriend before you do?"

Again, Yumi froze and the sound of the crackling glass only intensified. Still, she only took a breath and calmly replied with a smile, "Not terribly. After all, Miyabi probably isn't much to his tastes. Getting past her undoubtably more awkward mannerisms when she tries to be intimate, from what I've seen with her team, I doubt her lack of elegance could compete with me."

After a moment of silence, Minori pointed to a photo on the phone, "Well, with what she's wearing, Miyabi may be trying to compete with looks."

Letting out a brief cry of surprise, Yumi launched herself forward at the phone while begging, "Let me see! Let me see! I need to know what I'm going up against!"

But Yozakura only kept the phone away while shouting, "Not now! There's more! There's more!" as she jumped back and forth, trying desperately to keep her older sister calm and out of reach.

Yumi was shaking but managed to stop herself and put a weak smile back on her face. After a moment of thought, she murmured with heavy doubt, "Well… it's not as though he's one to be attracted to looks alone… So long as no one else acts… I should be fine."

"See, that's the thing…" whispered Yozakura in great fear for her life, "I was texting with Katsuragi today and she told me that Asuka was going to lead them all to his place-"

The sound of a large piece of glass shattering into a thousand pieces could be heard echoing through the hallways.

For a few ominous seconds, Yumi only stared with wide eyes as her head began to uncontrollably shake in a mix of fear and fury. Once she gripped her hands into fists, Yozakura waved her hand at Minori to guide her out of the room and take cover. Finally, once her two sisters were evacuated to a safe distance, Yumi let out a frightening shriek before throwing her hands up to her face and accidentally smacking herself with the towel that she was just using to clean the windows, thankfully without cutting herself with a shard of glass.

As frustration and fear turned into a determined anger, Yumi smacked the rag down to the floor before stomping her way out of the room. Waiting for her outside was Yozakura and Minori, both quivering in each other's arms out of fear for whatever their sister may do. They looked up into her fierce glare and the dreadful premonition of death ran cold through their veins. In a low and emotionless tone, Yumi asked, "Would you two be willing to help me with something?" Once the two nodded their heads, Yumi turned her murderous eyes forward before viciously declaring, "Good! Brace yourselves, girls!" before balling up a fist and throwing it into the air with all of the rage brewing within her heart, "Tonight, we're going shopping!"

It wasn't too long after Yumi's resounding declaration that Asuka led the rest of the Hanzō elite over to the young man's residence, where they found his broken door and an empty apartment that they suspected of being robbed. Fortunately, after some bits of panic and drama, the young man arrived and managed to clear up the misunderstanding without uttering a single word after his initial greeting. Unfortunately, the way he went about that was by giving all five of the girls a horribly sour look.

As all of them kneeled next to one another on the floor and kept their eyes down, they could feel the young man's piercing glare ripping into the top of their heads. Not even when he moved to leave a plastic bag of items on the counter did anyone look up for fear of what horror they may find. Regrettably, Asuka dared to peek up her eyes so that she could say something but she instantly regretted it. The young man's lips were pulled tightly and toppled any grimace that would dare challenge him. On occasion, he'd take a long breath of air into his nose before blowing it out over the course of a few seconds. Most effective, as was usual with the young man, was the earthshaking glare from his sharp and narrow eyes. As far as any of the girls had seen, those eyes didn't blink when angered. All they did was watch and invoke the same level of shame as hearing a parent say: "I'm not angry… I'm just disappointed."

Asuka's eyes darted back to the floor as that same terrible feeling fully rang through her again. If it weren't for Katsuragi's voice mumbling, "To be fair, what were supposed to think when we saw the broken door?" then everyone else would have been stuck under a thunderous glare for hours to come.

The young man's condescending voice rang back, "You had my number. Call me."

Nobody really blamed him for being angry. Not even Katsuragi and Ikaruga, who'd silently withdrawn their previous promises of forgiveness once they realized the young man hadn't been robbed. The girls had invaded his home unannounced and had thrown a wrench into whatever he had planned for himself for the day.

Even still, Katsuragi felt as though his reaction was a bit too harsh considering the lack of maliciousness in their deed. But, based on the suppressive look that Ikaruga gave her, it wasn't time to voice defiance. Instead, the blonde kept her head down and murmured, "If you don't mind me asking…"

The young man's response was immediate, "Go ahead."

Katsuragi pointed to the busted door, "What happened there?"

For a few seconds, he didn't respond and just continued to try and hold his glare. But, after the young man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, everyone looked up just as he replied, "In all honesty, I was hoping to ask you guys about it during our meet up at Han- sorry, Asuka's grandfather's restaurant. But I didn't get the opportunity and I guess…" By that point, he'd averted his eyes with a lace of embarrassment, "I'm kind of adjusted to it at this point."

At that statement, everyone else felt their faces fall into confusion. A moment of silence took and held the room until Yagyū asked, "Aren't you afraid of thieves?"

Turning his head away, the young man replied in a level voice, "Some clothes, a futon… simple utensils… there isn't much to steal."

Ikaruga stood up on her feet and took a step forward to press, "But there are still people in the world who would steal those. You know that, right?"

Arcing his torso away while leaning back and forth on the balls of his feet, the young man replied, "Of course."

"So why didn't you do anything to fix it?"

Not wanting the tables to be turned on him by home invaders, the young man huffed a rebellious breath and straightened his body to face forward again. With a bit more volume than he intended, he defended his lack of security by stating, "I've been trying to reach Jasmine about it! She hasn't picked up nor returned any of my calls!" before closing his mouth and blowing some feisty air through his teeth. Realizing quickly just how much of a child he must have come off as, the young man quickly tried to change the subject by turning to Asuka and asking, "In relation to that, is your grandmother alright? Have you spoken with her?"

Dropping the subject of the smashed door, Asuka lifted her head in thought as she began to reply, "Well, we did so by text. But we don't really talk-" before she was interrupted by Ikaruga.

"Replace it yourself in the meantime. Just ask her to reimburse you later," came the rebuttal.

To that, the young man's upper eyelids fell with a sarcastic glint before he strode over to his bag of clothes in the corner. He bent down and ruffled through it before producing a small pouch. He brought it over before stating, "These are all of my savings," and proceeded to open the bag up to reveal a few rolls of cash, "Now, how much would you estimate it to cost for a new door?"

Just as Ikaruga was about to retort, Hibari had already taken out her phone to do a brief search on the internet, "Sorry. I'll have an average in a moment."

"Take you time," came the young man's straightforward words.

After a bit more tapping and searching, the pink-haired girl finally nodded her head before turning to the rest of the group, "About fifty thousand to fifty-five thousand yen."

"That's what I found too…," grumbled the young man before throwing the pouch back at his clothes bag, "and, as of today, it is officially beyond what my budget can do."

To that remark, everyone's heads turned to face him with a bit of alarm. No one uttered a sound in fear that they would bring some kind of offense to the young man, who's overall demeanor was still unreadable. But, after a moment of reflection and remembrance, Ikaruga stammered, "But… wait. The other day on the sidewalk, you didn't sound fazed at all when you said replacing your glasses would be about fifty thousand yen."

The young man scratched at his cheek before stating, "Well, I wasn't but… At the time, I had expected I'd be able to reach Jasmine by now. But," he gestured over to the plastic bag of items on the counter, "after purchasing what I needed to fix up my glasses, I'm sitting at thirty thousand yen… and I'm still without a proper door."

Once he was done speaking, everyone else lowered their heads as Yagyū asked curiously, "So, you had the money to replace the door before today? But you decided to repair your glasses instead?"

Without a hint of regret or shame, the young man faced her and nodded his head, "They both serve the same purpose, that being security. It's just that one, the door, serves to keep out burglars while the other, the glasses, serves to keep me wary of observing shinobi… I'll let you guess which one I consider more dangerous and deserving of attention."

Seeing the logic to his words, Ikaruga nodded her head before turning over to the bag of items the young man had brought in. After a moment of consideration, she turned her head over to ask if she could peek inside but, much to her surprise, the young man was already waving his hand for her to go ahead. Unsure of what to expect, the raven-haired girl took a few steps forward with Asuka and Katsuragi following closely behind. In the meantime, Yagyū had taken Hibari and huddled toward a corner in fear of whatever may be inside. After all, if the glasses were powerful enough to sense shinobi barriers then who knew what capabilities it had in an unrefined state?

With a great mix of eagerness and caution, Ikaruga took her final step and reached her hands forward to open the plastic bag. Behind her, the young man urged her on sarcastically, "It's not a bomb. Just open the friggin' thing." Pushed a bit by his words, the senior-most member of the Hanzō elite clasped her hands onto the bag and parted the hem before feeling her jaw go slack in shock.

Everything inside was perfectly ordinary and unremarkable. Inside, there was a new smartphone, which had no doubt taken the bulk of the cost, sitting beside a pair of reading glasses. Sticking together in one corner of the bag was a small bottle of invisible ink and electronically heated mittens. There was no arsenal of tools nor a piece of super powerful hardware that was capable of bringing the Japanese government to its knees. Instead, there was only four common everyday items.

Katsuragi was the first to turn around and speak with dulled eyes, "Alright, quit screwing with us. I thought you said you were replacing your glasses."

"I am replacing my glasses," replied the young man.

"No, no, no," came Asuka as she dashed forward with a forced smile. She stopped in front of the boy, who had reeled his head back in caution, before she took both of his hands and clasped them between hers and gave them a firm squeeze. After closing her eyes in the most charming way she could muster, the brunette iterated, "No, no. We mean the special~," she dragged the word for more than a few seconds, "glasses that you used to spot our shinobi barriers. The super glasses that void our techniques in stealth. Those~," she held that word for an exaggerated few seconds too, "super-duper glasses."

"Yes," replied the young man frankly, "I'm replacing those."

"And how are you going to do so?" asked Asuka sweetly.

"With the materials in the bag."

"Your clothes bag?"

"No, the bag you guys just looked through. That one there."

"You liar!" cried the brunette as she gripped her hands onto the young man's elbows to shake him back and forth while tears rolled down her cheeks, "I can't believe you'd go back to lying to us after everything!"

As his head rocked back and forth with an unmoved expression, the young man replied as Asuka continued to waggle his body, "I already told you that it was fairly cheap to make… considering what it is."

"Bu-, but I thought you'd be getting a whole bunch of materials! Like some metal here, a hammer and some nails there… something other than those simple things!"

"What good would a hammer and nails do for making a pair of glasses?"

As Asuka continued to express her complete disbelief, everyone else was still pulling themselves together. Based on the lack of a humorous expression on the young man's face, they could only presume that he was telling the truth. The item to trump supernatural shinobi stealth, a pair of seemingly advanced glasses that superseded all other forms of effective shinobi radar, could be made using four simple household items. Frankly, the lot of them wanted to make like Asuka and begin an interrogation to see if there was something that they were missing.

Then a desirable proposition came after Asuka cried, "No! I refuse to believe that such a thing can be built with those items! Not something that deprives shinobi of their ability to hide!"

"Would you like to watch me do so?"

The moment they heard the offer, all five of the shinobi lined up and leaned themselves toward the young man in excitement, simultaneously declaring, "Yes!"

After a few blinks, the boy let out a sigh and gestured for them to follow him outside. From there, they went down toward Jasmine's workshop around the back of the building. Though the young man assured them a few times that it wouldn't be anything spectacular, the five girls were quivering in anticipation for whatever was to come. Ultimately, there was no settling them after they realized they'd get to see what few other shinobi had ever seen before.

Meanwhile, Homura had just arrived back into the cave that she called home after a long day of work. Same as the day before, she'd moved furniture and heaved heavy items up and down flights of stairs. But, also like the day before, she was still rife with an insatiable urge to fight. Of course, it wasn't the sort of urge that could be filled by a spar with her teammates. In fact, even if she dueled Asuka, Homura was sure that her desire wouldn't be fulfilled unless she took the fight to one particular individual: the young man.

Despite knowing and regarding him as a pacifist, the tanned girl couldn't help but find herself curious about how a match between him and herself would go. Perhaps it would go like Yomi and Hikage had betted on: the young man would be easily toppled and thrown onto his back while Homura sighed from how easy the match was. Or, if Mirai and Haruka were to be believed, perhaps he would have an arsenal of dirty cards up his sleeve to keep the match on even grounds. But, based on a conversation she had with Yumi at the sushi restaurant, Homura believed the young man would either win or would fight until he lost consciousness.

By the way the ice queen recounted her fight with the young man, it was more than evident that he was just as tenacious and unbending as he was in the alleyway when he refused to surrender himself to the shinobis peacefully. With every detail of how he apparently observed, broke down, and bent the fight to his advantage, Homura couldn't help but fantasize that she would have a match to par with her fight against Asuka some months back. Perhaps it would even be better

In the depths of her imagination, Homura foresaw an epic battle in the fields beyond the city's outskirts. On one end would be her, wielding her six katanas while flexing her great strength; on the other end would be the young man, raising his arms while his glaring eyes took in every bit of his opponent's technique. The fantasy of such a battle was grand enough but, as Homura thought about how the real-life encounter would go, she couldn't help but believe that such an event would shake the cosmos from how epic it would be.

Then, just as her daydream was getting to the good part where she and the young man would trade their first mighty blows against one another, Homura's thought bubble was blown apart as Mirai sassed, "I can tell what you're thinking… and I think you're blowing it out of proportion."

Though she was irritated to be taken out of her fantasy world, Homura replied without a hint of aggression, "We both know that you don't have as refined a taste for combat as I do… and the battle that I foresee…" The girl trembled a bit as she smiled, "It will be a good fight. The next time we meet, I'll challenge him and it will be a good fight."

"I don't think he'll accept," stated Hikage as she was curled up like a cat on her chair.

"I have to agree," noted Yomi as she continued to prepare a beansprout stir-fry from the farther end of the cave, "I don't mean to be a spoilsport, but he's a pacifist."

"It's not like he needs to punch me," grumbled Homura as she stretched herself out on the couch, "It's like Yumi said: he managed to subdue her and even used her own fan to get offensive. He's not helpless, in case you didn't notice the wound he left on Yumi's head."

"She said that was an accident," Mirai argued before she shook her head and stated, "Plus, she probably blew her description out of proportion."

"What makes you say that?" asked Homura as she quirked a brow in confusion.

"Well," Haruka chimed with a sultry smile as she suddenly appeared and rested her hand on Mirai's shoulder, scaring the poor girl, "Yumi was rather excited when it came to recounting the story. I'd say she even got a bit too into it when it came to him trying to get on top of her."

"You're saying something tinged with lewdness, toots," growled Mirai as she tried to pull herself out of the older girl's grip, "Let me go!"

Ignoring her comrade as she tried to pull away, Haruka continued, "Plus… there is the other matter at hand."

Homura straightened herself on the couch and rested her chin onto her hands, "What other matter?"

"That Yumi loves that boy, of course."

Upon hearing the sentence, the leader of the renegades sucked in air to argue against the statement. However, just as she went to speak, Homura had forgotten to stop inhaling and began to choke on her breath. She heaved her chest and forced out a few coughs before Yomi approached her from behind and delivered a serious strike against her friend's back to blow out the remaining air.

After exchanging glances with the others while Homura took in a few deep breaths, Mirai eventually commented, "Why such a reaction? Haruka only said that Yumi loves him."

With her face having dug itself into her chair, Hikage's muffled voice rang, "Just like Homura likes Asuka."

Having managed to finally catch her breath, the tanned girl huffed a few times before raising a finger into the air to murmur, "Actually… and I have been thinking about this through the last few days, but I…" before her voice died in her throat.

As her friend's voice trailed off into silence, Mirai impatiently stamped her foot onto the ground and demanded, "Just get it out of the way. Whatever you have to say, it's probably nothing compared to what we've heard before… or seen, if we remember your dorky 'crab' performance."

"Shut up," mumbled Homura as she continued to wrack her mind for the right words on how she felt. It was difficult, considering that there were two things that should have come into complete conflict rolling around freely within her head. However, those same two things were peacefully coexisting. The only resulting detriment brought about was the shame that Homura felt once she tried to speak about her feelings.

At one point, as the tanned girl continued to struggle, Yomi placed a kind hand on her shoulder and softly declared, "Whatever it is, you know that it won't make us regard you any differently." As if to further emphasize her point, the blonde closed her eyes and clapped her hands together, "After all, you'll always be our Homura!"

Feeling energized by the encouraging words, the girl nodded her head before facing the rest of her team with their mix of nods and smirks. After bringing a smile onto her own face, Homura took a breath and thought her next sentence through. She was sitting in front of the people whom she regarded as family. However shameful her words would be, they would stand by her just like they had when they all rebelled against Dōgen. Without any more hesitation, Homura declared with a steady voice, "I really like Asuka and-"

"We already knew that," said everyone else nonchalantly.

But, as they began to settle from the declaration, Homura also uttered the young man's name shortly after she was done speaking. Haruka tilted her head as her small smile was replaced by a look of curiosity, "Sorry, what about him?"

"I like him too. Him and Asuka."

From outside the cave, a squirrel was beginning to guzzle some water from the river before Mirai and Yomi's cries echoed from out of the cave, "WHAT!?" and scared the little critter away. For the rest of the night, the whole area would continue to shake chaotically as yells and screams were exchanged between the renegades… except for Hikage, who remained mostly silent and slept in her chair through the whole ordeal.

At the same time those screams erupted, Katsuragi was letting out her umpteenth sigh from within Jasmine's workshop, "This is so boring."

Hunched over at the worktable, the young man retorted, "Saying that every other minute won't make it better," as he continued to gentle chisel away at the frame of the reading glasses with a mallet and screwdriver.

Off in the corner, he could hear Hibari breathing out a similar sigh while Yagyū tried to desperately keep the girl entertained by making bizarre and cartoonish requests, "Could you be a little… flashier while making that? Maybe juggle something or tell some jokes?"

"Yagyū," came Hibari's low voice as complete dullness and boredom seeped into her features, "let's bear with it for a bit longer. Something interesting is bound to happen… soon." But the white-haired girl ignored her and continued to ask for ridiculous feats and stunts, much to the young man's silent frustration. Meanwhile, unlike the rest of their peers, Asuka and Ikaruga continued to watch with genuine interest.

Despite how slow the process was going, the two leading figures of the Hanzō Academy elite were immediately hooked once they saw the young man clap his hands in anticipation at the very beginning of the assembly. Their eyes barely blinked as he plugged the electrically heated mittens into their charger while he placed the tools he'd need at precise points around the table. At that moment, he was working with the tools closest to him, the mallet and screwdriver, to carefully chip away the edges of the reading glasses' frame to get into the hollowed interior. At his flank, the young man had already popped out the lenses and set them beside the opened bottle of invisible ink with a thin paintbrush dipped inside. Off to the farthest side was the smartphone that he bought, connected by a wire to his personal phone as a particular file was copied over. Much to Ikaruga and Asuka's shock, the file itself was about twenty-four gigabytes in size. As such, they began to reasonably question the young man on how much storage his phone could hold. Frustratingly, he only replied, "More than average…" before he redoubled himself in his effort to chip away the glasses' frame.

But, regardless of how interesting the process was for the two shinobi, Katsuragi was still not pleased with all of the sitting around that she was doing. Once another two minutes had passed, she obnoxiously asked, "Is it almost over yet? Please, just do something interesting or set something on fire…"

"The door is open," grumbled the young man, "If you don't want to stick around, please feel free to head out."

Still bored out of her mind, the blonde gazed over at Asuka before a mischievous look came upon her face. Tiptoeing up to the girl's back, Katsuragi was about to unleash her hands to grope the unwary target before Ikaruga swatted her hands away and growled, "Not now. We're trying to pay attention," before turning back to watch one side of the frame pop off.

As the young man proceeded to take off the other, the blonde let out a sigh of relief before saying, "Oh good, you've finished with those things," and eagerly began rub her hands together, "This is where the fun starts, right?"

Upon hearing her words, Hibari and Yagyū stood up and eagerly began to step forward to watch whatever was to come next.

"Actually," mumbled the young man as he lifted the phone to check on the file's copy and paste, "Now's the part where I dress the lenses."

Katsuragi froze and tilted her head with a stupid smile on her face, "What?"

Not turning to face her as he reached for the brush dipped in invisible ink, the young man further elaborated, "I'm going to apply a light layer of ink onto the lenses. Once that's done, I'm going to slide them into the mittens and let them stay covered and warm for twenty-four hours."

"What does the ink do?" Asuka enthusiastically asked with sparkly eyes.

"It's a reactant," said the young man while he began to gently stroke away at one of the lenses, "The best way to put it is, once the program on my phone- wait, I didn't tell you about that. The program is a… well, I'm not the one who wrote it but it's an EXE file that automatically launches when it detects- no, the lenses detect it once they're connect to-"

"Slow down," ordered Ikaruga as the young man began to stammer off, "How about you just tell us the process of how a shinobi barrier is detected. Save the really technical details for another day."

After letting out a grumbly noise of embarrassment and mumbling, "Sorry," the boy took a moment to think out his words before slowly explaining, "When the energy emissions of a shinobi barrier are within the lenses' line of sight, they'll be connected to the circuitry that'll be taken from the phone and installed into the glasses' frames. Once the program in there registers the emissions, it'll send trace amounts of electricity, generated by tiny little mechanisms inside, to the ink, which will light up and show the shinobi barrier in question with a semi-transparent white light."

As her eyes still shined with curiosity, Asuka raised her hand and questioned, "Is this what the first infiltrators did to hunt shinobi?"

"No," replied the young man immediately as he moved onto the second lens, "Originally, it was some kind of European glass that they imported and smelted. Overall, the glasses from back then were actually really ineffective and were hardly used… despite the assurances of some that they were the only weapon infiltrators had."

"So, how did these glasses come to be?" asked Ikaruga.

With an empathetic shake of his head and an awkward frown, the boy could only reply, "Unfortunately, I only know what these are and the basics of how they work. As for who created them, how… even the details of the program that's used… all of that's a mystery to me too."

"As interested as I should be," Katsuragi called as she sank to the floor, "I'm still just so sick of this build-it-yourself mumbo-jumbo."

By that point, Yagyū and Hibari had already retreated back to their corner. Despite how annoyed he was with the rude member of his audience, the young man wasn't at all angry with the disinterested response. Thus, while maintaining an expressionless look, he peeked at the new smartphone to confirm whether the copy and paste had been successful. Once he saw that it was completed, he mumbled a few incoherent things under his breath before unplugging his personal phone and offering it to Katsuragi, "There's a whole bunch of music on here. I've got a cloud player back in the apartment, stored in the clothes bag, if you'd like to go DJ for yourselves."

After snapping her eyes back and forth from the young man to the offered phone, Katsuragi quickly snatched it from his hands, "Thank you so much, you merciful angel!" before darting for the door with Yagyū and Hibari cheerfully following right behind.

"We'll be following after you in around five minutes," called the boy before he sighed and turned back to Asuka and Ikaruga, who'd decided to stay, "Once I get to drying the lenses, all that'll be left will be for me to deactivate the new phone and dismantle it. Everything else can be done a different day."

"We'll stick around with you," chipped Asuka, "I'd like to see the rest of this."

The young man grunted a noise of approval at her before turning to Ikaruga, who only nodded her head. Thus, after placing the lenses in the electric mittens to dry at a safe and controlled temperature, he went about tapping his fingers on the new phone before it turned off. Under his breath, he muttered, "We'll need to wait a bit for all of the power to die out. I don't want to risk the program getting corrupted."

"The way you say it makes it sound ominous," noted Ikaruga, "Does something bad happen when the file gets corrupted?"

Before the young man could offer an answer, Asuka raised a finger to ask, "Would it cause the glasses to… I dunno, reverse the effect? If they're corrupted, that is?" Just when the boy went to answer, the brunette clapped her hands and asked, "That'd actually be pretty neat! We'd be able to track and hunt other infiltrators- not you- and keep them at bay… if they're a threat, of course… So, would any of that happen if the file got corrupted?"

The young man blinked once before stating, "No."

"Ah, I should've guessed," replied Asuka before rubbing her chin in thought. Then another idea popped into her head as she looked up and began to ask, "Would the program gain super-intelligence and-" only to be interrupted by the young man.

"If the file gets corrupted, it just becomes unusable. I'd have to repair and restart the phone from scratch, which is tedious, and then do the same copy and paste again… which is also tedious."

"Oh," replied the brunette with a great hint of disappointment.

"If you don't mind me asking," started the young man before he eyed the two shinobi warily, "Are either of you two- no, are any of you guys computer literate?" and watched as the two girls nodded their heads pridefully. After casting a doubtful look onto them, he asked, "Are any of you guys computer literate beyond just basic operations and files? Do you understand what RAM is or how to manage memory… any basic programing knowledge?"

The two shinobi felt their faces freeze and immediately fell into an embarrassed shame before Ikaruga shook her head, "I'm afraid there's only a few of us, like Shiki and Mirai. Maybe Murasaki too but… I don't know… None of us at Hanzō Academy, at least." The young man made an affirmative noise and turned back around to dismantle the phone after having confirmed that it had powered down. Though the raven-haired girl did feel a bit bad about her lack of knowledge, she felt even more curious about one particular thing. After a moment of silence, Ikaruga asked earnestly, "If it's fine with you, I'd like to know how you came to learn about all of this."

"Building the glasses, you mean?" came the reply.

The senior girl bit her lip before hesitantly elaborating, "Those… and, if it isn't too personal, everything else." Ikaruga knew that she was encroaching onto thin ice by asking that question, considering the young man would have likely been taught by his family. Perhaps she should've held back, considering how divided he was from them at that moment, but she still couldn't help but wonder. As a few seconds went by and the young man's head seemed to dwindle in thought, the girl began to believe that she had encroached into matters too personal for him.

But, much to her shock, the young man answered frankly, "Well, I learned the basic infiltrator stuff from my oldest brother…" before pausing for a moment and turning around to eye Asuka, "Not the one that I mentioned at your grandfather's restaurant." Once he took a moment to regain his bearings on the conversation, he continued, "But, I learned everything else from my grandfather."

"Oh?" Asuka leaned forward with a smile, "And what was he like?"

As a few memories passed over his face, the young man snorted a laugh before stating with a toothy smirk, "Well, he's a Scottish immigrant who asked to marry my grandmother without having proper knowledge on Japanese customs… so, I'd say he's a rather animated character, to say the least."

"You're part Scottish?" asked Ikaruga with a quirked brow, "I'll be honest, you don't look it."

But the young man just shook his head and answered, "No, we're not blood. He married my grandmother shortly after she had her last kid. He's technically my step-grandfather but," before letting out a short laugh, "he'll always be my grandfather, blood or no."

"Was he a drinker, at all?" asked Asuka as she mentally pictured an old man in a kilt with bagpipes and a bottle in hand.

"That's an Irish stereotype," noted the young man as he turned his head with a cross expression, "Scots are a bit more known for their anger and heavy accent."

"But was he a big drinker?" Asuka asked again.

"Why is that relevant?"

After taking a moment to scratch her cheek, the girl answered, "Well, I suppose I just can't help but imagine your grandfather being that way…? I guess?" before drooping her shoulders and sighing, "I don't know, I can't help but imagine an old guy with a bottle and some bagpipes."

"He can't play bagpipes," said the young man with a dull look on his face before raising a finger, "He can play a violin better than anyone I know but he can't play bagpipes."

"But is he a big drinker?"

Taking a moment to blink and avert his eyes, the boy finally answered, "Yes…"

While her underclasswoman clapped her hands in satisfaction, Ikaruga sighed and took a look at the worktable to check the young man's work. Between the drying lenses and the phone he was dismantling, it was extremely evident that he'd been well trained and practiced in crafting the glasses of an infiltrator. In the back of her mind, Ikaruga decided she'd like to meet the older man and even the older brother to discuss their perspectives on infiltrators being labeled terrorists. Then, just as she was about to ask something, Ikaruga spotted warmth settling onto Asuka's features. After taking a moment to think, she simply held her tongue and decided to let the scene play out.

"Well, regardless," Asuka started as she turned her eyes fell to the floor, "your grandfather taught you well…" before straightening her back and awkwardly yapping, "That is, from what I can see here! I don't know all the details on your guys' craft but it looks- eh, oh… organized and precise! That's it!"

The young man snorted as he nodded up at her and said with a soft smile, "It's appreciated… Thank you."

Since she wasn't used to being on the receiving end of his smiles in casual conversation, Asuka's face heated up a bit as she stumbled, "No-, it isn't, wasn't-, ah… it isn't a problem at all… You deserve a compliment or two after everything."

"What're you talking about?" asked the young man as he turned his eyes back to dismantling the phone, "I haven't done anything too noteworthy. I'm just doing what other people tell me to do. That's all there really is to it."

"You've fixed my distortion," Asuka said in a quiet voice, "That's noteworthy to me, even if no one else thinks so… Though I should say that other people do think so. You are noteworthy. To me, Ikaruga," she glanced up at the raven-haired girl and watched as a firm nod was her reply, "Homura, Yumi, and Miyabi too. And, even if some are still lacking some trust in you… everyone else still believes that you're good. So… don't say that you aren't noteworthy."

For Asuka to throw as many words together and make them as meaningful as she had, Ikaruga was both impressed and even a bit uplifted. But, when she turned to the young man, she saw his eyes falling down to the table without a hint of the focus that they had before. Once a moment of silence passed, he only replied, "Even still, I'm not entitled to any compliments so… don't worry about it."

The short brunette standing beside him seemed to pick up on his hint of gloominess. Without a second thought, she leaned over, wrapped her arms around his form, and gave a reassuring squeeze. The moment they made contact, the young man froze and stiffened his back as Asuka pressed herself into him. But, catching him even more off guard, Asuka went even further by craning her forehead into the side of his as she whispered, "I like you… so please accept my compliments."

Ikaruga's jaw would've dropped if she hadn't caught herself. The thought that Asuka, of all people, would confess her feelings just seemed so otherworldly. Certainly, the girl could be forward in her own way, aggressive in a fight, and even driven when in pursuit of some goal that was laid out before her. But, for some reason, Ikaruga just had so much trouble picturing Asuka as the one to confess first, considering the fact that Yumi and Miyabi were also potential contenders. After a moment of reflection and thought, the senior's eyes went to the expressionless young man to see how he would respond.

Then he dropped a nuke in a voice that was far more casual than it had the right to be, "I like you too. You're a good friend to me. You have been since that time in the infirmary. I'll… see if I can take your advice… Thanks again."

He had friend-zoned her. The young man had, quite visibly and deliberately, friend-zoned Asuka after she warmly professed her feelings to him. Part of Ikaruga felt like she should have been offended for the girl but, respecting whatever feelings the boy must've had on the matter, she checked her mouth and kept it shut as she turned to see Asuka. The girl, who had frozen once she had realized her confession was just blown off, seemed to physically stutter for a few moments before she, surprisingly, took on a look of relief.

Fortunately, just as the silence began to get a bit heavy, a thumping sound coming from somewhere on the floor above began to echo through the room. Feeling his eyes narrow and grimacing in response, the young man put down the phone that he was dismantling before heading for the door. As he passed Asuka and Ikaruga, he mumbled, "Let's go see what everyone else is getting into… I'll finish this another time."

Once he had passed through the workshop doors, Ikaruga turned her head over to Asuka and asked empathetically, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," the brunette sighed before taking on a smile, "It kind of hurt for a moment but, if I'm being honest, it's kind of relieving."

The senior unsurely bobbed her head up and down, "Really?"

In response, Asuka's face beamed a bit before she stated, "Yup. After all, it just means I need to say it another time."

After blinking her eyes once and twice, Ikaruga tilted her head, "What?"

"Well," Asuka said while closing her eyes and clasping her hands together, "since he misunderstood today, I'll just need to say it more clearly the next time I build up my courage."

The scene had become too unbelievable to be true. Yet it had still happened before Ikaruga's eyes. The young man had friend-zoned Asuka and, in turn, the girl genuinely thought that he had mistaken her words. As she proceeded to plot and think out her next means of confessing, Ikaruga rested a hand on Asuka's shoulder before asking sadly, "You said before that he called you a naif?"

"Huh?" Asuka blinked before rubbing the side of her head, "Well… yeah, back in the infirmary. I still don't know what it means exactly but he said it after-"

"Listen to my words, girl, and listen well…"

Shivering a bit from Ikaruga's stern voice, the brunette straightened up and curtly replied, "I'm listening."

The raven-haired girl shook her head before gripping Asuka's shoulder firmly, "You are a naif. Don't question it and don't argue against it."

"What? Huh- no, wait! Where are you going? What does that mean!?"

Ikaruga had already begun to walk away as Asuka tried to figure out what had just happened to her. But, after taking a bit more time than she intended and hurting her head amidst her pondering, the poor girl simply shrugged her shoulders with a groan before tailing after Ikaruga.

Meanwhile, the young man was just approaching his apartment door as he tried to suppress Asuka's confession from coming to mind. He couldn't focus on her, Miyabi, or Yumi's feelings. He knew there would be a massive problem if he dared to indulge himself in starting a relationship with any of them. So, without any other visible options, the young man just had to continue forward. His goals and objectives demanded that he forget what had happened and that he just move on with life…

But it certainly felt nice for him to be hugged… it felt really, really nice and comforting. Part of the young man wanted to ask for another… but, as he dutifully reminded himself, he couldn't do that. At that moment, that kind of thing just couldn't be for him. It was an absolute necessity that he had to abide by.

Thus, when he heard either Ikaruga or Asuka's footsteps clambering up the stairs, the young man dropped all of his thoughts and opened the door to his apartment. Then, as the sound of accordions and clapping hands filled the air, his eyes drooped a bit before he let a small laugh out of his mouth, "What…?" Quickly catching up to him, Asuka and Ikaruga saw the humored look on his face before peering inside. Immediately, the two girls needed to cover their mouths to keep themselves from laughing.

Dancing and clapping along to a Russian folk song, Yagyū and Hibari had hooked their arms together and danced in a circle while Katsuragi was bouncing her legs up and down with great enthusiasm. The three of them spun around, dosey doed, held hands, and just jumped around as bongos and flutes gave them a rhythm to dance to. And then, just as Yagyū dipped over Hibari with an ecstatic grin on her face, her one eye bulged after spotting the three people in the doorway. The white-haired girl froze in place just as Hibari and Katsuragi looked over and offered a couple of friendly waves.

Under his breath, the young man mumbled with a smile, "Five minutes and they're already in Red Square…"

"You!" called the blonde third-year as she pounced toward the young man and took hold of his hands, "I have questions! So many questions!"

As Asuka and Ikaruga looked on in a mix of surprise and confusion to what was happening, the young man replied simply, "I might be able to answer some of those questions."

"First question: what is this song?" cried Katsuragi as she turned back around and darted for the young man's phone to reset the tune, "It was the first one we found and it's typed in Russian or something and it is too damn fun!"

Once the song started over, the young man scratched his chin in thought for a moment before unsurely answering, "It sounds like Red Man Country House Polka but… I'm not sure… Is it like forty-five seconds long?"

"Yes," Katsuragi cried as she began to do a jig, "I've had to reset it four times now."

"Then it's that one."

"Second question!" came the blonde's bark as she gestured for Asuka and Ikaruga to join in, to which they politely shook their heads, "Why is it so short?"

"I'd tell you to ask the songwriters but they're suffering from a severe case of death… so, I can only say that I don't really know."

"Third question-"

"You don't need to shout," grumbled Ikaruga.

"What's with all of the songs?"

"Elaborate."

"Here," Katsuragi mumbled before she quit dancing and moved to the phone. After letting the catchy tune finish, she brought it over to the young man and the two girls beside him, "You've got all of these songs on here! So many that your phone is just showing three dots when we try to check the total."

"Oh," went the boy as he took the phone and, once Asuka began to pull on his arm, allowed the other two new arrivals to see, "Yeah, I've got a lot on here."

"How many?" Katsuragi asked.

"A lot."

After blowing a laugh through her teeth, the blonde demanded, "Quit being a jerk and give us a hint, at the very least. How many digits? Three, four… five?"

While Asuka and Ikaruga were scrolling through the phone in the young man's hands and, eventually, took it from him so that they could browse through all of the music for themselves, the boy replied, "Go a bit higher…"

Upon hearing what he had to say, Hibari stormed past Katsuragi and loudly asked, "How much storage do you have on your phone!? I managed to fit a good amount of songs onto mine, roughly a thousand, but I can't even come close to how much you can fit on there! Even if I deleted everything else!"

In response to her question, the young man turned his eyes from side to side before waving his finger for Hibari to come a bit closer. She tiptoed forward until her breasts nearly came into contact with the young man's chest and then tilted her ear toward him. Careful to not make contact with her and risk earning her and Yagyū's eternal distrust and ire, the young man leaned his head forward and whispered, "A lot."

Immediately, Hibari made a sputtery sound of surprise before yapping a bit of gibberish at him. The noises she made were cute. So cute, in fact, that Yagyū was extremely tempted to try and record the girl's voice somehow. But, instead, she'd silently thank the young man for creating such a wonderful display.

Then, just when Hibari was about to retaliate verbally, loud and boisterous music started to come over the speaker. Once everyone else turned to Asuka and Ikaruga, the two of them cheekily sucked in their lips while showing that they had found a particular playlist on the young man's phone called 'Gaelic Delights' and couldn't resist the temptation. Before he could make a snarky remark, Katsuragi let out an approving howl before beginning to jump around in circles with the song's clickity drumbeats. Forgetting her previous frustration, Hibari also went back towards the empty apartment's center with Yagyū right behind her as a violin and bagpipe joined the melody.

Genuinely enjoying the scene taking place before him, while also ignoring the bouncing busts of all the girls, the young man turned to Asuka and Ikaruga to ask, "Do either of you two speak English?"

"Well," the former bit her teeth together while waving a flattened hand back and forth, "Some…?"

At the same time, Ikaruga nodded her head with a bit of pride and said, "My father taught me when I was young. If you don't mind me asking, why?"

After giving a showy smirk to the two, the young man turned to head for the room's center as he said to the senior, "I expect you to join along then. Don't let me down."

Then, just as the music quieted its violins and bagpipes, the young man jumped and landed as the sound of loud stomps echoed and supplanted the original drumbeat. With a click of his heels and a few claps, he stood off from Katsuragi and sang along to the song's entry vocals, "_Caugh' me a town, called devil lad, rosining bow, rowing hi' boat. Found he a two, fooly young loves, brough' them a lust, bringin' a show! But, 'las devil, they' be tranquil, calm an' in love, to banish 'ell._"

As the young man squared off against Katsuragi, who had begun to clap along with him with a challenging smile on her face, Asuka and Ikaruga exchanged perplexed looks. Quietly, the brunette asked, "Did you catch any of that?"

"Nope," replied the third-year, "he's got a really Scottish accent, probably taught to him by his grandfather… and it's a bit too… out there for me to understand."

"_He saw a lady, she saw one-a guy!_" the young man raised his hand into the air and clapped it against Katsuragi's as they moved their feet with the rapidly accelerating beat, "_An' they pledge under 'he sky: Ne'er will 'ey say goodbye! Lo'e, ne'er fare thee well!_"

Ikaruga took the young man's phone into her hands from her underclasswoman and did a bit of scrolling around before grumbling, "There isn't a section with translated lyrics…"

After giving a resigned shrug, Asuka looked up and said, "Well… I don't think we need to understand to know that this is supposed to be fun," before she also jumped into the fray.

At first, Ikaruga raised her hand and said, "Wait, what if this song is cussing all over the place and is talking about things like shooting and killing? We shouldn't… ah…" but her friend had already jumped and hooked one of her arms into the young man for them to spiral around one another. Unable to deny herself any of the fun, Ikaruga simply shrugged and took in a lighthearted breath before awkwardly stepping forward to join in.

There wasn't any need to overthink it.

**Show Mama the Llama**

Thus everyone, minus Ikaruga who was awkwardly fumbling her legs with the song's energetic beat, was hopping around and enjoying themselves. Occasionally either Katsuragi or the young man would try to do something to try and one-up one another with a particular move. In the latter's case, he utilized his English-speaking advantage well. Once the song reached its main verse, he clicked his heels and spun around thrice before bending one leg and sweeping the other along the ground. Sitting on his knee, the young man clicked his tongue and pointed his fingers at the blonde as he sung, "_Show Mama 'he llama from our mainland Shamballa!_" and rocketed himself to his feet.

In response, Katsuragi blew a breath of air through her nose before haughtily declaring, "Bold and impressive of you to try… but it'll all be for nothing…" and proceeded to free-style by dropping down to her fours. After a moment, she swung her legs into the air before whirling them around and about. At first, the young man thought it was just her trying to play on a strength that wasn't part of the traditional folk music they were listening to. Then he quickly realized that, while keeping at least one arm on the ground at all times, Katsuragi was not only clicking her heels to the beat while they hung in the air but was also flinching the joints of her limbs in sync with the off-beat of the song. As she practically made a knot of herself while performing moves that would certainly guarantee severe backpain in later life, the young man could only stop dancing and watch in amazement.

Once the rhythm calmed down and Katsuragi landed onto her feet, she gave him a smug grin before stating, "I think I won that round."

The boy stared at her before stating, "I reject your reality and replace it with my own. I win."

Though the blonde quirked a brow and argued a bit with the young man, everyone else silently agreed that she was the rightful winner. As the two went back and forth, the night went on and all of their troubles outside the room were forgotten.

**Rocky Road to London**

"_Whack follol de-rah!_" cried the young man at the end of another verse. As everyone continued to do a jig with a guitar and violin raving in the background, Ikaruga shuffled over to his side. It took a few moments and a few good pokes for him to turn around and offer, "Sorry, go ahead."

"I'm pretty sure that last bit wasn't English," said the taller girl as she refrained from scratching her head.

The young man snorted before answering her, "Some Irish and Scottish singers will say something that sounds like gibberish. Usually, it's just a botched pronunciation of an older phrase but, like you, I have no idea what that last one meant," before shrugging and saying, "But, hey, it's catchy."

Ikaruga narrowed her eyes, "But, what if it means something…" and then looked both ways before whispering, "…indecent."

While still shuffling and rocking his head back and forth with the beat, the young man took a moment to think before saying, "Well, this one's an Irish-based folk song that tells a tale about the guy's journey into London… And considering the historical relations between the English and Irish…" After taking a few more seconds to consider his answer, he gave a firm nod, "Yeah, it's probably something indecent."

Ikaruga's eyes nearly rolled white before she almost fainted on the spot.

**Eliza's Opera**

Everyone was sitting around, bored out of their minds, while the young man tried to find a new song for them all to jump to. Playing from the speaker was a slow and high-pitched opera that was completely unbefitting of the fun that they were having a moment before. At one point, Hibari quietly whined, "Have you found something yet~?"

"Just choose the next song already," ordered Yagyū while patting her friend's back.

"If we're going to get back into a party beat, we're doing it right," declared the young man as he frustratedly continued to scroll for one song in particular, paying the price for having such a large playlist.

"Why do you even have this song?" grumbled Katsuragi as she tried to lean herself into Asuka's shoulders to try and 'accidentally' fall face first into the girl's breasts. Once Ikaruga grabbed the blonde by the collar and prevented her from executing her plan, she yelled, "This song sucks!"

Hibari let out a noise of surprise from the sudden rise in volume and Yagyū placed her hands over the girl's ears while passing a scornful expression to Katsuragi. The young man was about to say something but, out of consideration, ordered the white-haired girl, "Keep those hands over her ears." Once sure that Hibari wouldn't be able to hear him, the boy immediately pointed a finger at the blonde to growl, "Fuck you, it's pretty."

After that, a gear in Ikaruga's head flew out of place and sent her down to the ground. Using her newly gained freedom to her advantage, Katsuragi proceeded to attack Asuka with her hands, "I've got you!"

As she was groped all over, the poor brunette tried to pry herself free while both whimpering and screaming, "Katsu-, stop! NO, NO! I mean it! Stop-, AH! Not now! Get her- Katsuragi!"

Before she could enjoy herself any longer, the blonde was immediately thwapped over the head by Hibari. As everyone conscious looked at her in alarm, a dark look came over the girl as memories of Haruka, Yagyū's squid, and Yagyū, herself, glazed over her pink eyes. In a low voice, she asked, "Asuka, are you alright?"

Between her attack and the unnaturally scary first-year, the brunette could only mumble, "Ye-, yeah… definitely…"

"Good," uttered Hibari. She turned to the young man and demanded, "Music. Now."

At that point, the frightened boy gave up on the original tune that he was going for and just found the closest song that could be deemed fun.

**Silver-Lined Pub of Night-Long Friendship**

Lined up and kicking their legs into the air to the song's rhythm, everyone was laughing and having a good time. Even though Ikaruga was only semi-conscious and recovering from having heard the F-bomb being dropped in front of her, she was still letting out a quiet 'Ha' from time to time. Meanwhile, Asuka and Katsuragi were merrily leaning onto the young man, who was both enjoying the song while silently trying to bask in the girls' warmth. The line kicked their left feet up, threw them down, kicked their right feet up, and threw those down too.

From afar, Oda watched the scene with a pair of binoculars aimed through the young man's window. The view was extremely difficult to achieve, considering the buildings and obstacles in his way. But, after jumping around a bit and comparing a few views, Oda simply decided to settle for a random location. It wasn't the best view but there was no point in trying to improve for the moment. After all, at that point in time, the young man was only dancing to some music.

Part of Oda was angry. There was the infiltrator placating the young shinobi and appeasing them by making himself out to be as human as the rest of them. Then another part of Oda had to resound something he'd almost forgotten in the heat of the pursuit: the young man was human. Even if he was from a group as terrible as the infiltrators, he was still human.

It softened the older man for a bit. He looked at the boy and all of the girls. Oda watched as the young man twirled Hibari around and swung his hands together with Yagyū. Oda watched as the boy competed with Katsuragi in another three dance competitions, to which he lost each time. Oda watched as Ikaruga got too dizzy and was escorted to the side by the young man. Most importantly, Oda saw the loving look in Asuka's eyes when that boy did all those things and when they danced together. He didn't know how the young man apparently didn't see it… but that girl truly loved him. She didn't like him like a teenage crush. But, in the few days that he'd gotten to know her, that boy had somehow absolutely won the heart of that girl.

Questions rang through Oda's head: What did the young man say and do? Did he tamper with her mental state? Was it blackmail? The old man was smart enough to chalk those questions up as mere paranoia. Whether he liked it or not, Oda knew that the young man had somehow gained the hearts of no less than three shinobi.

Settling for what he'd seen that day, the large fellow climbed down to the streets and began to walk home to his family. He wasn't going to stop pursuing the infiltrator. In fact, once he obtained solid photographic and physical evidence of the young man's activities, he'd be the first to rough the boy up for what his oldest brother had done… But he was glad to have seen what he did that day.

Oda knew that, with everyone person he had hunted and been forced to kill, they were all human. They had lives different than the ones they were leading beneath the public eye. Everyone had needs, likes, wants, and dreams. Once he sighed and did a bit of soul-searching, Oda had realized that he was on the verge of forgetting that.

"I won't forget that again…" he mumbled under his breath before turning back to the apartment where the young man lived. Oda stopped and paused to take it in before continuing, "I'm going to confront you soon… If you resist, I'm probably going to be the one to kill you… But I'll be sure to thank you… for reminding me of what Hanzō told me once."

As he strolled off into the dark, Oda repeated what he'd heard nearly forty years before:

"**We are all human. Whether we're good or evil, charitable or monstrous… we're all human. That's why, when you meet the one whom you say is a villain, I want you to remind yourself that your target is a human. If you can act with a clear mind after that… then anyone else can tell that you, yourself, believe what you preach… But if you declare even the most horrible person alive to be a mere monster, you not only deny that they're human… you also deny that we are just as capable of their evil…"**


	25. Chapter 25: Steep Straightforwardness

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 25: Steep Straightforwardness

"I really don't see why you'd want to do this," mumbled the young man as he sat cross-legged on the floor beside his futon, trying to keep his eyes forward.

"It's really simple," came Asuka's gentle voice from just behind him before another wonderful sensation ran from the top of the young man's head to the back, "your hair's just really soft."

As the rest of the Hanzō elite continued to enjoy their makeshift dance party, sailing themselves around and about as a traditional Chinese playlist lulled in the background, Asuka had made the sudden and random request to play with the young man's hair. At first, he was very inclined to say no, being aware of both her feelings and his desire for personal space. But, between the cute look of begging that the brunette gave him and the memory of her soft touch in the infirmary, he eventually did capitulate after being asked a few times. Thus, as he sat with his legs crossed while struggling to maintain an unreactive face, Asuka glided a comb and her fingers through welcoming strands of hair as she hummed along to the song in the background. In particular, the boy noted that her voice harmonized beautifully with the zither, being gentle while carefully raising or lowering pitch and volume.

"Your hair probably softer," muttered the young man as his face began to heat up from a fingertip brushing against the back of his head. After a moment of enjoying himself for too long, he pointed to the girls on the makeshift dancefloor, "or you could ask one of them- ngh!"

Simultaneously, Asuka's comb had begun to pleasantly scratch against his scalp while her fingers rubbed down a tuft of hair. Upon hearing the young man's groan, the girl poked her head around and asked, "You're alright? I didn't pull any hair, did I?"

The young man had an opening out of the situation. After all, getting himself into such a scenario with a person whom he couldn't pursue romantically was completely inappropriate in the first place. He just had to lie and cut himself off from the addicting sensations before it went too far-

"No, I'm fine… keep going…"

The young man silently declared himself a coward.

Asuka closed her eyes with a reassured smile, "Okay," and continued her movements with a bit more oomph. Once the comb made a few more rounds across the young man's scalp and the girl began to twirl small strands of hair behind his ear, she eventually said, "As for what you were saying, it's no fun to do my own hair anymore. And… sure, everyone else is more than willing to let me play with theirs on select occasions. But there's something a bit more fun to your hair."

"Oh…?" grunted the young man once one of Asuka's knuckles accidentally brushed against the back of his ear, "If you don't mind me asking, could you be a bit more specific?" His breath was becoming heavy as his shoulders began to relax.

After blowing a puff of air out of her nose, which found itself grazing the back of the young man's neck, the brunette continued to twirl a bit of his hair before letting it spin free. As the boy sat back and enjoyed the multiple sensations, Asuka answered, "I'm not sure if this makes sense, but your hair has… more flexibility to it." She softly grazed her knuckles against the back of the young man's head before whispering, "Katsuragi's hair is wavy and messy in some places… but you have patches, like back here, that are much more straight," and then proceeded to pat a tuft of hair sticking out from the side before scratching the back of his ear, "Hibari's hair likes to bloom, making it hard to find out where it sprouts from. But, with you, I can easily just trace my fingers and find each stem."

"So," groaned the young man as he tried to ignore every appeasing feeling attacking him from wherever Asuka laid her fingers, "my hair is easy to work with, is what you're saying?" His eyes were becoming heavy despite how much he tried to adjust himself. The wonderful feeling that he got from the physical contact was incomparable to anything in recent memory.

"Not really," replied Asuka as she pinched a strand of hair on both sides of the young man's head, "After all, some of this is just so fixed into place that working with it would be a futile effort," before releasing and watching it go back to where it originally rested to prove her point.

"That's… a bad thing?"

"Sure, if I'm just trying to style it," chipped Asuka, "But sometimes I just want to play with hair. You know, just run my fingers through and enjoy how soft it is. With Yagyū and Ikaruga, you can't do that. Yagyū's hair will freeze in place once you brush it. Heck, you could brush it straight upward but each and every little bit of it will remain still and upright. So, if you play with her hair, you'll have to be ready to brush it back into place." After taking a moment to trace her finger along the side of the young man's head, much to his pleasure, the brunette continued, "As for Ikaruga, well, she prefers to keep her hair straight… so I can't do much beyond just a simple brushing…"

"In short," said the young man in a voice much hoarser than he would have preferred, "I'm kind of an all-in-one package… that is much easier to pick up after?"

"That's about the gist of it," mumbled Asuka as she quirked a brow at his reaction. In an experiment for herself, she carefully brought one of her nails forward to scratch the back of the young man's head, slowly ushering it toward his ear. As a result, the boy froze and straightened his back with an inaudible noise of euphoria. While the rest of the Hanzō elite continued to enjoy the gentler tune playing, doing their ultimate to ignore the situation and let Asuka do as she pleased, the brunette held in a giggle as she said, "Plus, it's easy to tell that you're not used to this. It's cute."

To the last remark she made, the young man mumbled a bit of gibberish before trying to place his focus on a brewing resistance from within. He had let the situation get too far out of hand and had to act before he fell into the deep end. If he could just defy the wonderful feeling that kept attacking his skull, he could have been out of there in under ten seconds. Amidst his thoughts of dissension, Asuka proceeded to set down the comb before she wrapped her arms around the young man's neck and nuzzled her nose against the back of his head. The alarm bells rang all around the boy, warning him to act as his inaction would drive everything that he'd worked for straight into the ground… but he just continued to sit there without a hint of movement or defiance. He'd lost to his urge to stay and enjoy the physical warmth.

Katsuragi caught the scene in the middle of her dance and found herself smiling in response, silently offering up both her blessings and encouragement for Asuka to continue. She'd seen the young man throughout the day and was more than convinced that he wasn't some mysterious force with malevolent intentions. Once the blonde turned over to Ikaruga, she found that the other third-year looked a bit more conflicted. Her eyes kept trailing back to the romantic scene and she kept biting her lip as if to hold back from saying something. So, as she often did, Katsuragi offered a playful swat to the girl's rear and, once she had the raven-haired girl's attention, proceeded to wave her hand back and forth. At first, Ikaruga looked like she was going to protest but, after taking in a breath and letting out a sigh, she found herself giving a brief shake of her head before smiling too. At the end of the day, she fully believed the same thing as her best friend and it was only her protective instincts for Asuka that were trying to force an intervention.

As the two older girls went back and forth, Hibari slowly came to a stop in the middle of her dance to see what they kept eying. When she turned over to the duo by the futon, she couldn't help but let out a quiet, "Aw~…" before she grabbed Yagyū by the shoulder and began to quietly gush about the scene. After blinking her one eye, the other girl didn't offer any more reaction, though she was internally fantasizing about a similar scenario between Hibari and herself.

Seeing as they were beginning to become the center of attention in the room, the young man shook and shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. His already red face kept turning towards different things in the room in an effort to focus on anything else. For some reason, he felt that ignoring the stares and the fact that a girl was cuddling into the back of his head would provide some kind of solution. Of course, it didn't work.

In fact, while he was just trying to ignore everything that was happening around him, Asuka was considering her own place in the situation. The boy that she liked was wrapped up in her arms and, aside from the occasional shift of embarrassment, had offered no resistance to her. When reviewing his other reactions from earlier, especially how relaxed he seemed before he took notice of the other girls' attention on them, Asuka dared to think that he actually enjoyed her soft touches. No, she already knew that. Every noise that he made had been one of pleasure and he'd even encouraged her to keep going once she'd stopped at one point.

While her thoughts dwelled on the young man, Asuka took note of her confession from earlier. At the time, it seemed like a good opportunity but, after the boy apparently failed to recognize it, she could very clearly feel relief that it was over in that moment. Part of her wanted to save it for a different day, just as she implied to Ikaruga. But at a time like then, when the young man was both comfortable and vulnerable beside her, a voice from within Asuka cried out and begged for action. It wanted her to try again.

Nuzzling her nose back and forth a bit more while considering the idea, Asuka immediately came to a decision. She raised her eyes up to peer over the young man's head before quietly stating, "Hey… I need to say something…"

Not thinking clearly nor anticipating whatever she may have had in mind, the young man mumbled, "Go ahead…" while gazing at the floor, still trying the push the eyes that were watching them out of mind.

"I told you earlier that I liked you," whispered Asuka. In an effort to comfort herself, she carefully tightened her hold around the young man's neck and propped her chin atop his head. As the boy's eyes began to widen while they processed what she'd just said, the brunette continued, "But… I wasn't clear enough… I like you, as in like-like…"

By that point, the young man had fully caught on to what was happening. He quit breathing as every part of him tried to scan for a way out of the situation. His eyes darted back and forth, his hands went up to cautiously grip Asuka's tightly clung arms, and his legs had uncrossed themselves to lie flat on the floor. In an effort to keep Asuka from saying anything else and turning the situation into a concrete mess, he tried to say something, "Wai-, Asuka… Hold-" but was cut off when he felt her lips deliberately press against the back of his head.

Hibari and Katsuragi began to quietly gush at the scene while Ikaruga and Yagyū watched observantly. "Sorry if that was out of nowhere… it just felt right," Asuka spoke softly as the zither from the music in the background reached a crescendo, "It's just-, Not long ago, I… wasn't one for… you know, these kinds of things. I had the occasional day-long crush on someone cute but… My focus was always on being a shinobi… on becoming a Kagura. So, getting into a relationship was always more of a… fantasy sort of thing. Something to dream about but never to take seriously."

By that point, the young man had begun to accumulate enough of a will to lightly resist. He squirmed a bit in the brunette's hold, though she still held tight, and began to plan his words out to try and dispel what she was getting into. Once he had the strength, he tried to interrupt her, "Asuka, this isn't a sort of thing-" but was promptly cut off.

"I understand that this is sudden," mumbled Asuka as she used one of her wrapped around hands to stroke the young man's cheek, quickly killing any resistance within him, before she gave a plea, "But please let me speak… It's something I feel the need to do right now." With the boy having fallen silent, the girl stammered, "To get to the point of what I was saying… When I first saw you, I imagine I was the same way as everyone else. I regarded you as the enemy. But when I saw what you did for Homura and took a closer look at you declaring yourself to be our enemy… I realized pretty quickly that you weren't."

Not even slightly could the young man believe that he had let- no, that he was letting the girl speak when he should have been cutting her off. He should've been explaining to her why a relationship at the current moment was counter-productive for both of them. From the beginning, he began to realize, the young man should've directly confronted the her, Miyabi, and Yumi to turn them away. Certainly, the results of that would hurt all of them, himself included, in ways beyond just personal feelings. But an open and honest explanation about the damage that could be done was preferable when compared to the mess that they were getting into.

Regardless, he still couldn't bring himself to talk. Ergo, Asuka only continued with a soft smile, "So, a few hours after you evaded us… I kept thinking to myself, 'oh, despite everything, he was cute,' and did my whole day-long crush routine in-between our other stuff. But then something else came to mind… as an infiltrator, you also do your work in secret. It's even centered around us shinobi… perhaps to hunt us and our distortions, but I know you wouldn't hurt anyone." After pausing for a few seconds, the girl placed another affectionate kiss against the back of the young man's head, "That meant, in my imagination, there never had to be a scene where I suddenly revealed my identity as a shinobi before tragically saying a relationship would never work… Instead, you would already know and we could just continue with daily life…"

No longer looking for potential escape routes, the young man was actively fighting to keep himself from hyperventilating. He'd seen girls confess to guys and anticipated that, inevitably, someone might gain an interest in him one day. But never, not even in his most romantic dreams, would he have ever considered that a confession like the one being laid out from behind him would take place outside of a book or movie. Yet, Asuka kept on talking, rambling and ranting about her feelings for him. Meanwhile, the boy in her arms was struggling with how to react. How was he supposed to react, exactly? There was no preparing for a situation like the one he was in and there was no rehearsal that could cover what he needed to know. He could only act… but what was he supposed to do? And what would he have to do after the fact? So many questions wracked his mind that he almost forgot about how he was supposed to be getting her to stop.

"Shortly after I realized all of that," Asuka said as she continued to rest her head atop the young man's, "we cornered you in that alleyway by the train station… you were hit by a car and, however unintentional it was, we wound up hitting you in the throat… By that time, you were drenched and freezing… Then, even after all of that brutal punishment, you still resisted and showed me that strength you still had. But, from the two encounters I had with you at that point, you'd yet to even raise a fist or… in some way or another, use that strength against us. Never once did you hurt us." Taking a few seconds to collect her rapidly rambling thoughts, Asuka murmured, "Around then, before we settled you into the school infirmary, I think I began to develop a crush on you…"

The young man had to put a stop to what was happening. He had to focus and act, "Asuka-"

But the girl would have none of it, "But only recently, seeing your more… unpredictable reactions… seeing how… 'into it' you got at karaoke and how angry you became at Grandpa's… Seeing how frustrated you could get or how eager you were to join in on the dancing… Hearing you talk on different things… It painted a picture for me that you're not a hero in glimmering armor. Instead, you were just someone who happened to be in a situation with unfortunate circumstances… You were someone else behind that cool exterior you gave off… And you have no idea how much better it felt to realize that."

The young man looked up and threw out a helpless look to the four girls observing the situation unfold. But Hibari was clasping her hands together while gushing under her breath, Katsuragi had crossed her arms and was nodding approvingly with a smirk, Yagyū wasn't reacting at all, and Ikaruga was biting the inside of her cheeks to keep from offering whatever maternal advice that she had in store. Ultimately, there would be no help from them.

"In short…" Asuka took a breath before tilting her head sideways to rub her cheek against the young man's hair, "You've gone from someone that I thought I'd be… just interested in dating because you were cute and it was convenient…" She laughed a bit at herself before saying, "Sorry… I know I'm rambling. At this point, I'm just saying whatever comes to mind…" and proceeded to plant another kiss on the back of the young man's head, "But, you've gone from someone like that to someone I'd be… seriously interested in dating because you're… you. I like you… I, if I'm recognizing it right… I might even love you a bit… So, would you consider going out with me?"

Needing to take a moment to process all that was said and done, the young man just motionlessly sat in Asuka's arms. She'd confessed to him. She'd explained her feelings for him. She'd even kissed the back of his head three times all while rubbing his cheek affectionately. Then everything from within his head hit the young man like a train.

His first instinct was to stand up and hug the girl, relishing in the physical contact she gave him while getting uncharacteristically excited about also wanting to become an official couple. In a half second, he acted on those feelings by standing himself up out of Asuka's loosening grip and turned around to face her. Had his more logical mindset not kicked in, he would have bowed his head and accepted her confession then and there. A civil war broke out inside his head while he stared blankly at Asuka, his face heating up and his breath inconsistently rising and falling. Then, as if a bulb popped in his head, his hand sprung up and began to urgently scratch at his shoulder while trying to think of what to say.

Eventually, the winning course of action was determined in his mind: for the sake of the corrections that he would have to do in the future, the young man had to decline Asuka. The risk to the developing trust that he wanted other people to place in him was just too high for him to consider her proposition. Even then, he'd only been talking with the girl for under a week. Who knew if his initial desire to accept Asuka as his girlfriend stemmed from genuine affection or if he had just come to like how physically intimate they'd been through the night? For once, the young man didn't know what was going on inside of himself. As someone who'd been trained in the art of self-awareness and transparency… that was a frightening fact. If it wasn't the other girls' interest in him and the risk to everyone else's correction, the thing that scared the young man was the fact that he didn't understand why he wanted something.

So, while Asuka had eagerly awaited his answer, he just stood motionlessly like a braindead buffoon. The only sign that the young man was still alive was the fact that he was still breathing and occasionally shook. Then, just as Asuka's shy smile was beginning to waver, it was Katsuragi who saved them both from the silence, "Alright, alright… I think enough's been said for now."

The blonde decisively inserted herself in-between the two and gently pushed the young man away, giving him a knowing look before turning to Asuka to pat the girl on the head. As the brunette began to stammer and question what her upperclasswoman was doing, Ikaruga also stepped forward and said, "We've intruded enough for today… let's head home…"

At the suggestion, Asuka spoke defiantly, "What? No, I'd-, I want to…" all while trying to raise up her head to get a peek at the young man, who was still standing silent and unmoving. Fortunately for him, Katsuragi remained steadfast and continued to block out her friend.

Off to the side, Hibari was questioning Yagyū with a mix of confusion and sadness, "Why're we leaving? Did she do something wrong? What's happening?" to which, her friend could only shrug.

Then, just as Asuka's struggles to see the young man were gaining momentum, Ikaruga reached forward and gripped a stern hand onto the girl's shoulder. After a few pulls, the brunette turned and blinked her large eyes at her senior with multiple silent questions. Though the raven-haired girl's expression was as stern and disciplinary as usual, the softer look in the corners of her eyes along with a small frown conveyed all of the sympathy that she was feeling for the girl. After observing her friend's look, Asuka could only mumble while as her eyes fell to the floor, "I'd… want to… I would like-, I just…" before Katsuragi also rested a gentle hand on her other shoulder.

"He'll need time to think," spoke the blonde, mustering up some forced cheer, "Considering how… heavy some of that stuff is, he'll have to take time to consider and… eh… process everything..."

A look of realization came over Asuka, who didn't catch on to the fact that Katsuragi just needed an excuse, before she nodded her head. Once the two seniors stepped out of the way, she lightly bowed her head and stammered to the young man, "I'm sorry! I'm not good at confessing or… well, talking in general when it comes to this kind of thing. If what I said was too much, I hope you'll forgive me…" before peeking her head up.

He continued to look completely lost. As his wide eyes looked at the girl kneeling on his futon, his quivering lips and mind were fighting a raging battle to try and figure out what to say. Making sure to keep control on the more instinctive part of him that was calling for an acceptance of Asuka's feelings, he eventually raised a shaky hand and muttered weakly, "…'s nothing to apologize for…"

Realizing fully just how lost he was probably feeling in the heat of that moment, Asuka eventually offered as her eyes were darting back and forth, "Ah… I… If it would make you more comfortable, you can… tell me what you think a different time… Maybe, we could meet up tomorr- no, the day after tomorrow?" The girl decided off the top of her head that, if she were to wait for an answer, she'd need some time to prepare herself for whatever was to come. Even then, she thought about coming up with an excuse to get out of it that on that day too.

In response, the young man could only nod his head in silent agreement, unsure of what else he could say. He knew it would be better if he just rejected the girl, maybe after asking everyone else to leave them alone… but then he saw the cute look on her face, remembered her overall endearingly naïve words and antics… he just couldn't bring himself to. In the heat of everything that'd happened, he'd gained a crush on Asuka without knowing it… or did he? Was his mind just reacting to the emotional and physical intimacy within the situation? Did Asuka's chipper and sometimes annoying way with words really invoke those feelings? Could the young man really say that he had a crush? Despite asking himself those rounds of questions again, he didn't really know… No matter how hard he tried to look into himself to see, the young man couldn't tell… So, he just stood there silent.

After seeing his nod and taking a heavy breath of air, Asuka lifted one of her legs out from under her and scurried off the futon to stand on wobbly knees. She took a moment to wave a hand over her hair to check herself before stuttering, "Well… we'll leave you be for tonight… Sorry for the sudden intrusion that brought us here… I-, and I hope to hear from you about that… thing…" While rubbing her head and wondering what else she could say, she eventually clapped her hands together before stating, "Oh! I'll talk to Grandma for you…! You know… about the door… She-, I'll tell her to call you…" she gestured to the broken entranceway before turning on her heels, "Well…! We'll see you!" and hastened her way out.

Ikaruga turned her head around and waved her hand for everyone else to follow after the brunette. Hibari mumbled a few things, "I don't understand… shouldn't this be a cute moment?" while Yagyū offered a few curt reassurances.

After casting an uneasy smile and nod to the young man, Katsuragi awkwardly scratched the back of her head before saying, "You know, I was initially going to give your behind a grab before leaving- it's got some nice squishiness to it from what I felt yesterday- but I think I'll go easy on you today and head for the door," and took a few steps away before turning around with a grin, "But don't get me wrong. This is just me going easy today because of the circumstances. Next time… ah… never mind…" Ultimately, despite gaining some initial momentum with her tease, the tension in the room's atmosphere was far too much for even her to break. Resigned to silence, Katsuragi walked out the door right after Hibari and Yagyū.

Being left alone with the young man, Ikaruga looked down to the boy with a serious look in her eye. Once she was positive that Asuka was out of earshot, she stated, "You wanted to refuse her, didn't you?"

The boy sighed before looking up to meet her eyes. Despite all of the fun that they were all having about fifteen minutes before, the only thing he could rightly process was how uncomfortable he felt. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath before murmuring, "That question is more loaded than either of us know…"

"We'll break it down then," came the immediate reply from Ikaruga, "Do you like Asuka?"

Initially, the young man was extremely put off by how antagonizing the woman. But just as he was about to tell her to back off, he reminded himself about her position. Ikaruga was Asuka's senior classmate and a close friend. Without a doubt, there was going to be a protective instinct that she felt toward the prospect of the brunette getting into a relationship. So, after taking a breath to calm his frustration, the young man answered honestly, "I certainly like her as a person but… while we were certainly intimate earlier… I really have no idea…"

The taller girl let out a critical, "Oh?" which displayed all of her disapproval over his answer, "So you were content to just sit there silently while she floundered over herself?"

At that bit of rebuttal, the young man had to pinch the bridge of his nose to keep his patience. Despite his assurances a moment before that Ikaruga was just looking out for her friend, he still wasn't all that willing to resign himself as a verbal punching bag. Thus, his eyebrows fell and he grumbled, "I admit, I should have been the one to say something but I was too busy trying to both collect myself and bear in mind the consequences if I did accept."

To his retort, Ikaruga was about to strike back at him before something clicked in her head. For a moment, she pinched her chin before asking warily, "What consequences?"

"What is my overall goal right now?" asked the young man before he pointed up to his head, "To build up trust with the lot of you so I can correct everyone's distortions." As much as he wanted to try and hammer the point of what he was saying to the girl, he knew it would be best to keep his cool. Thus, he instead asked, "That alone should tell you why I shouldn't get into a relationship with anyone involved."

One of Ikaruga's brows quirked with confusion before she asked, "I… don't get it. That doesn't answer-, Explain to me… What consequences would there be if you got into a relationship?"

Needing to take a moment to come up with the best analogy that he could think of, the young man looked right at Ikaruga and gestured his hands, "Not to sound demeaning, but take a look for yourself. The mere thought of a relationship between Asuka and I has already put you on edge."

Ikaruga stared at him perplexedly for a moment before giving herself a little shrug and looking down to her body. Just then, something clicked with her. One of her legs were slightly ahead of the other, as though she were about to advance or strike a combat pose, she could feel the stiffness in her back that was making her loom and tower over the young man… then she reached up to her face and felt grimace that had settled onto her features. All at once, she softened herself. She stepped back and adopted a completely neutral look. The problem and consequences that the young man was afraid of had struck her hard. After a moment, she bowed her head, "I understand now… I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for," said the young man instinctively, "It's a natural reaction of protectiveness…"

"But, with Asuka's confession out in the air," Ikaruga started, "what about the others? The rest of my team and some other shinobi? I'm- not to insult them, but they're a bit more… romantic when it comes to dating and other such things. Each of them will support any member of their team through whatever endeavors they find themselves in… and with Shiki's words about Yumi liking you and… Miyabi's rather blatant display… And now Asuka's all-out confession… What're you going to do?"

Needing to sit himself down, the young man leaned back into his futon before murmuring, "I'll need to be more direct… but I don't know how to do that without potentially making the situation worse…" He scratched the back of his head before letting out a sigh of defeat, "I'll think of something… at the end of it all, I'll think of something…" and gestured to the woman in front of him, "It'd probably be best if you head out. Make sure Katsuragi doesn't attack the others or something…"

Ikaruga nodded, "Understood…" and began to stride away before stopping in her tracks to turn around, "Also… I'm sorry… For how standoffish I've been even after you came clean to us and explained the situation."

"Don't be," mumbled the young man as he remained on the futon, "that's just what I get for being so new to this whole thing…" before snorting quietly and adding, "I'm sorry too… for being a general wise guy and for dropping that F-bomb earlier. I didn't realize it'd affect you so much."

Ikaruga also let out a puff of air from her nose before answering, "Well, it was that and all of the other antics that were going on throughout the day… Either way, apology accepted… and… in all seriousness, I am sorry." Just as the young man was about to dismiss her actions as natural, the raven-haired girl cut him off, "And don't tell me not to be… I was hostile with you, who had explained your actions to all of us in as open a way as possible… I'm sorry."

The boy raised his head up a bit and mumbled a noise of thought. Then, after nodding to himself and closing his eyes, he simply replied, "Apology accepted…"

Ikaruga also gave him a nod before giving him a knowing smile. With nothing more to say, Ikaruga bid him a good night and made her way out of the apartment. Even as she tried to blow off everyone else's questions as to what she was doing, she was considering the young man's position with everything that was happening. Perhaps he liked Asuka and perhaps he didn't, but he wouldn't be able to act either way. Just like the circumstances that had brought him to face off against the shinobi in the first place, the young man was once again trapped in a lose-lose scenario. He could accept Asuka, or any of the other girls for that matter, and challenge the trust of all the shinobi he was meant to save or he could deny her and still challenge that same trust. Ikaruga didn't envy him… nor did she feel any abrasiveness against him. For the consideration and thought that he had to show in his actions, she felt she could give him a break… if only because she'd just feel guilty for not doing so.

As the Hanzō elite began to make their way home for the day, the young man cuddled into his futon and determined that he would save all of his chores and homework for the following morning before school. He needed to give his mind some time to not think at all. Plans for dealing with Asuka, Miyabi, and Yumi would have to wait. In that moment, he just wanted to sleep… and he'd be damned if he had to deny himself anymore than he had to.

Meanwhile, within the Gessen Academy dorms, Murakumo had just finished reaching a milestone for her comics. After nearly eleven hours of tiring work, she'd managed to ink and shade roughly a quarter of her next chapter and scanned it onto her computer for editing. Filled with a small sense of accomplishment and emboldened by her feat, she dared to trek toward the bathroom. Of course, it wouldn't a normal trip since she'd be leaving her mask behind.

After years of seeing their oldest sister hiding behind a mask, nearly everyone else considered it to be a part of Murakumo's body. They knew that, despite how much they tried to reassure the girl about how cute and beautiful she was, there was absolutely no chance even in the coldest parts of Hell that she'd willingly go a day without it. The only person to show dissent against that general consensus was Shiki, who'd time and again offered the same compliments to the girl's beauty. In turn, Murakumo would always refuse those compliments. It wasn't until she'd lost the mask some time back that she truly took her youngest sister's words into account. Thus, when she found the mask again, she made sure to sneak a genuine smile to Shiki to show appreciation for her kind words.

Since that day, Shiki's continued compliments to Murakumo never subsided and, after some egging on, the taller girl was eventually made to promise to try and leave her room without the mask a few times a month. Unfortunately, Murakumo had fallen extremely short on that promise since the beginning of the year but, on that April night, she was determined to try and live up to her word and surpass her fears. She would do what any comic hero would do: face her invisible oppoent and dive straight into danger.

Thus, after peeking out into the hallway with her mask on, Murakumo gently took it off and left it right inside her door before making a quick dash to the bathroom. The whole way, she didn't run into any company and was able to do her business without her newfound pride taking a nosedive.

Then, just as she was about to hoof it back to her room, she heard the sound of machinery coming from further down the hallway. Part of her wanted to take the time to head back and get her mask before investigating but the fact that the sound seemed to be coming from Yumi's room drove her to mindlessly trek forward. Before she could realize just how far she'd come without her mask, Murakumo was already standing outside the other third-year's door. Thankfully, she caught herself before she recklessly knocked on the door and began to make her way back.

Then, like something out of a horror movie, the door slammed open and a single hand reached out to grab hold of Murakumo's arm to yank her inside. The girl initially resisted with a frightened yell but was powerless against the ungodly force that pulled her into the lair. For a moment, she thought it would all end right there. Murakumo thought she was going to die and leave behind her loving sisters, her prized comic and figurine collections, and her lifesaving mask.

Then she realized that it was just Yumi and a wave of relief washed over her. But, just as the relief was let out in a single breath, Murakumo also realized that she was still without her mask and proceeded to claw at the door to get out before even a single word was exchanged.

It took a few minutes, between chasing the girl around the room and trying to quiet her down, but Yumi eventually managed to take some fabric and tightly wrapped it around Murakumo's face. The troubles didn't end there due to the fact that the fabric was extremely hard to talk through since it was tied so stiffly.

"Whm dn ou brgh ee n er? Nn wha ht?" came the muffled voice of the poor girl before she pointed her finger at the sewing machine sitting on Yumi's desk.

It took some effort on Yumi's part but, just like in similar scenarios from the past, she managed to make out her words. She glanced back at the machinery before explaining, "That there is the key to winning my rivalry with Miyabi… and, if it applies, Asuka. As for why I brought you in here…" the girl poked her fingers together before shyly stating, "I need your opinion on something…"

Murakumo tilted her head to the side, "Mm?" before shrugging and giving an approving wave with her hand, "Ll rgh, es ee what oo gu… uh mmai e uik. I wnn o ela ngha n on ai."

"I'm sorry to take your time… I'll be as quick as possible for you," stammered Yumi before she reached toward a bag where a neatly folded fabric rested, "I was just hoping you might give me your thoughts on this…"

With a single elegant pull, the girl unveiled her couple hours of work and Murakumo was beyond impressed. The fabric within the bag was actually a kimono folded beautifully so that the creases would only be at the elbows, belly, and knees. The overall design of it was absolutely stupendous too. Complimented by the lack of even a slight wrinkle, a thin but plushy material lined the cuffs and sash while the fabric was a smooth sky blue on the kimono's bottom half. On the top half was a beautiful design of flowers sprouting from snowflakes over a slightly brighter shade of blue. Then, to top it all off, a beautiful white kanzashi was clipped to the collar. Murakumo was sure that, if clipped into Yumi's hair, the ornament would be the cherry on one of the cutest, and even a bit sexy, kimonos that she'd ever seen. Considering the fact that the sewing machine certainly wasn't there the day before, it was likely made under intense pressure and with complete concentration

"E eey ik ee. Heh looa rin oud ree ou rr ez… Eh anzaai oo! Ou ll e eele ut…! U… whm e ou mme es?"

Yumi averted her eyes as a bit of pink tinged her cheeks, "Well… you're aware of my… feelings, right?"

Murakumo scratched at the fabric tied around her face, "Mm… ou eele ik he-"

"Call him by his name," ordered Yumi once she realized her sister was about to address the young man as just an infiltrator.

Thus, the boy's muffled name came out before Murakumo further questioned elaborately, "Ut whm? Whm o es rr? E igh ae ssaed ou u e on' eele et whm- o. E on' et nn ou ee n em… oud ou eas… ll mm?" Yumi's eyes fell a bit, fearing the questions were of a disapproving nature. Fortunately, Murakumo caught on to how her own words must have sounded. To make sure there was no confusion between either of them, she further explained, "On' ree… ees ot d. E oe t… Es us… ou em o tro bou es… em orree bou ou…"

Calmed by her sister's unusually warm words, Yumi closed her eyes and smiled, "I suppose I've come off a bit… strong ever since I've realized how I felt about him. Even in making this kimono," she neatly folded the garment and rested it back into her bag, "I'm sure I've come off as a bit… obsessive." Needing to take a moment to compose herself, Yumi smiled after letting out a breath, "And, to speak honestly, he's certainly been on my mind enough that… anyone who accused me of it wouldn't be wrong… But I like him. I truly like him. But… knowing that Miyabi and, for all I know, Asuka have made their moves on him…? I don't want to lose. I hate losing in general but…" Yumi briefly clenched her fist before feeling it come loose in a moment of weakness, "I really don't want to lose this battle… but I don't really know what I should do to win…"

To see Yumi falter a bit in the way she did ripped a bit at Murakumo's heart. Despite the fact that the girl wasn't the oldest of the bunch, Yumi still took on the responsibilities of what was expected of the oldest sister. She gave advice, helped with the chores, made time to speak with her siblings whenever they were troubled. Murakumo was more than content with such an arrangement but, whenever she saw a moment of weakness, she couldn't help but feel like she was dodging a responsibility that she should've been taking on. Thus, while seeing Yumi faltering due to a lack of confidence, a feeling that Murakumo was more than familiar with, it was time for the oldest to step up to the plate.

"Umi…" she uttered under her breath before gripping the girl's shoulders to give as much encouragement that she could pass on, "ou on' ose… ou'l en… ou'l en n he st o u il e erin ou n! Ou n o e!"

Though it took the powerful words a moment to register with the girl, Yumi's jaw dropped before her face brightened. She pumped a fist and nodded her head, "You're right… Thank you." After a moment of trying to build herself up, Yumi turned around to the kimono she sewed before her eyes fell to the other shopping bags she bought. Getting passed the fact that she felt a sincere love for the man who saved her, she couldn't give up after all the investment that had gone into her plan. She couldn't give up on the effort that Yozakura and Minori had already put in… She couldn't give up on the planning that Shiki had given… and with her last sister joining in to encourage her toward the finish, Yumi knew that she also couldn't give up.

She would win. She silently marked her words that, by the end of her love story, she would be kissing the young man's lips to convey all of her appreciation for both him being the rescuer she needed and for him simply being him.

**April 18 – "Being straightforward is a challenging thing. The weight of honesty is a double-edged sword that will cut both the sender and recipient… but people are often respected for it and are given a bit more closure once everything is said and done… and closure is gold, for those of you who don't know…"**

"The target is in sight. He's heading down Wakariyasui's stairs as we speak."

"Who's the dude next to him?"

"Miki."

"…Could you elaborate on that? Who's Miki?"

"A guy we sang with. He's pretty good. Harmonized well with the target."

"…Alright."

"He won't be of any concern, will he?"

"Get off! Get-, Ngh-, Why aren't you in position!? Get back to-, AH! Yomi! I need help!"

"Don't worry, Hikage and I can complete the mission. It shouldn't be too difficult."

"ABANDON THE MISSION! HELP ME-"

There was a click as the phone call dropped before Haruka called into her end of the line, "Don't worry. We'll be where you need us if the situation gets out of hand- OUCH!"

Sighing a bit as she ended the call, Yomi pocketed her phone and peered out from the alleyway that she was hiding in before looking straight up to Hikage. Said girl was curled up and resting with heavy eyes atop an air conditioning unit, apparently ready to pounce when their target was in range. After taking a moment to brace herself, Yomi couldn't help but give Haruka silent commendation. In the ten minutes after Homura admitted to having feelings for both Asuka and the young man, she managed to put an entire plan together… it was just a shame that Yomi knew for fact that something was going to go wrong. Something always went wrong whenever Homura wasn't around to keep everyone else in line.

Meanwhile, the target of the makeshift operation was simply listening to Miki chatter away, tiredly mumbling things along the lines of, "Go on, go on. What happened next?" while he considered what to do for the rest of his Saturday.

And Miki would continue to chatter, "Well, at that point, it just turned into a bizarre dream. Like, one of those dreams that you have after you binge on donuts, sugar cookies, and other sweets. I don't know what it's technically called but I just call it a sugar-high dream. Anyways, in this dream in particular, I was sitting in the bathtub and scrubbing clean. All of sudden, I notice there's a toaster sitting next to the tub and then realize how dangerous that is and begin to flip shit. But in the middle of my panic, I also realize that my old game console was sitting next to it. An old school Fami just sitting next to my toaster in the bathroom. I thought the thing had been stolen years ago so I pick it up and smile. While I'm reminiscing about Kangy-Roo and Super Boom Brawl, I kind of realize 'Man, this thing is pretty damn dusty' and just drop it into the tub to soak… I woke up at that point… Not because I died in the dream but because I realized the system wouldn't work after that… Also, I never owned a Fami. My uncle, who isn't my uncle, did…"

After having finished the retelling of his dream from the night before, Miki turned his head to see if the young man was still following after him. Not terribly much to his surprise, since his old junior high friends always did the same, the young man was gone. However, after looking around a bit to see where boy disappeared off to, Miki realized that someone had taped a stick to his uniform's collar. On the end of that stick was a note that read, "Sorry, we had to borrow him. Urgent. Your hair looks nice so please don't be to mad. Tootles."

Needing to reread the note a few times, Miki tilted his head side to side before pinching a few strands of hair, "Uh… thanks… Where did…" and looked back and forth before blowing out a breath of air. He had no real issue with the fact that the young man was gone, aside from suddenly not having someone to talk to, but he wished he had a bit of forewarning. While Miki certainly wasn't as interested in the guy as a few of the girls from karaoke a few nights before, he did wish for a bit more time to hang out with him. In the end, he could only just shrug and mumble, "Freaky shadow ladies comin' out of nowhere and snatchin' the dude up…" before going about the rest of his day, wondering whether or not if his friend was about to take another beating.

It was around a minute later that the young man came to in the middle of an alleyway. He remembered a strong smell and a sudden blow to the back of his head. Standing above his laying form was Yomi and Mirai, discussing something about a note being given to Miki before they realized that the young man was waking up. At first, the smaller girl sputtered a bit and yelled, "Hey, you're supposed to be unconscious!"

Blowing off her frustration, the young man grumbled as he pulled himself into a seated position, "I have… so many questions… but there's one above the others that I need to ask…"

While Mirai was digging into her pocket to get something, Yomi kneeled down and asked with an innocent smile, "Certainly, if there's something that you're confused about, I'd be happy to answer."

Staring at the blonde like he'd just scene a buffalo on a unicycle, the young man blinked before clearing his throat and asking clearly, "Is there no such thing as a normal way of asking for someone to come hang out? Specifically, among shinobi?"

Yomi tilted her head, "Oh… um… do you mean like saying hi?"

"So that is a familiar word then," snarked the young man, "because I've just now been kidnapped after having been forced to join along on a jog and, the day after, have had my apartment broken into… And it hasn't even been a week yet… In all seriousness… Why don't you guys just say 'hi, could we have your attention for a few minutes or hours' or just do something along the lines of normal people…? I mean… come on…"

While Yomi didn't know much about the jog nor about his apartment getting broken into, she also didn't disbelieve that any of the other shinobi were capable of that. After a moment of pondering, she simply answered, "Well… I'm not sure if you want me to answer seriously or not-"

"I do."

"-but I can honestly say that you've been a bit of a unique-"

"Here!" cried Mirai as she pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and read it, "Chloroform! You're supposed to be unconscious! Go to sleep!"

The young man stared at her in the same way he would with a grown adult who couldn't spell the word 'gravy' or anything else that simple. Though he tried to maintain his silence, the boy couldn't help but ask, "What the hell is that supposed to do?"

Mirai shook the bottle as she emphasized every grumpy syllable, "Knock you out."

Once again, the young man just blinked before turning to Yomi, "Do they not teach you guys about this crap?"

Mirai balled her fists and screeched, "Don't blow me off!" but it was already too late as the boy had completely blocked her voice out.

Meanwhile, Yomi was busy answering timidly, "Well… to be honest, I think Homura and Haruka were the only ones who paid attention to lectures on chemicals… Back at Hebijo, I was often busy hiding toward the back of the class to study recipes, Hikage would fall asleep, and Mirai-"

"Wrote novels," shouted the girl, not regarding any of the passersby outside the alley, "because I already knew basic facts. For example: CHLOROFORM IS SUPPOSED TO KNOCK YOU OUT!" before reeling back her fist to try and punch the young man in the gut.

While the blow certainly wasn't painless, the boy showed no reaction as Mirai continued to throw her tiny fists into his stomach. After nearly ten seconds of her tantrum, she eventually gave up and crossed her arms like a denied child. Staring down at her critically, the young man frankly stated, "Chloroform knocks you out after about five minutes of application… and only for a few minutes unless the intake is consistent… so… You're not wrong but you're pretty wrong at the same time. Personally, I think it was the punch to the back of my head that got you this far."

Just as Mirai was about to offer a rebuttal, Haruka peered around the corner and cheerfully said, "My, sorry I'm late-" while waving around a hand with a bitemark, which brought a surprised scream of terror out of the smaller girl.

Somewhere from above him, the young man could hear Hikage's voice call from above, "Sorry, did I sleep through the mission?" and turned up his head to see her dangling by her leg, which was caught in a few wires from an air conditioning unit.

While Yomi sheltered Mirai from Haruka, who was eagerly vengeful for some reason, the young man could only raise up his hands before sputtering, "Wait-, what the hell is going on here!?" and proceeded to point his finger around, "Mirai's got chloroform, Haruka's out to kill her or something, Hikage's is on the verge of falling down and breaking her neck-"

"I'm actually doing pretty okay…" said Hikage as she began to swing herself back and forth.

"-Yomi's treating this situation casually, and Homura is MIA! What puzzle pieces am I missing here!"

While Mirai was trying pull herself away from Haruka's teasing grasp, Yomi and the latter girl exchanged looks before blinking. Eventually, it was the blonde who spoke, "Well… you see…"

Later that day, Homura was holding her head in her hands, "You guys not only tied me up and left me to launch this stupid operation of yours… but you also executed it in the worst way possible… and I mean that without even a tinge of humor…" before she peeked up to those sitting at the table within the cave that they all called home, "It sounds like it was literally the worst thing you've ever tried to do…"

"If it'd gone according to plan," Haruka murmured without any sign of guilt, "there wouldn't have been any witnesses nor would there have been such embarrassing displays," before shrugging nonchalantly, "Actually, subtract our poor execution and take into account that there actually wasn't any witnesses, it wasn't all that bad."

"Well, considering the fact that I was the target for this operation of yours," called the young man, who was sitting on the renegades' couch, "I veto any statements that would offer commendation to what you guys… tried to do."

Before anyone could object, Homura sighed and muttered, "Veto upheld."

Breaking her silence, Mirai loudly declared, "Just as a note, it was all Haruka's fault to begin with! She randomly decided to cancel her and I's place in the plan so that she could assault me!"

"And then you bit me," Haruka chimed, "so I feel that it is fair that you also share some of the blame to the plan's near-failure."

"That logic doesn't even make sense," came the young man's voice.

"I've got it handled," Homura called back as she turned to face the couch, "please just relax and keep that ice pack on your head."

"Alright…"

"Speaking honestly," said Yomi, who was shifting her shoulders back and forth, "The fault also kind of lies with Hikage on this one…" Once the mentioned girl murmured a noise of acknowledgement, the blonde stated, "You… got distracted by something and then, you know, our objective-"

"The objective has a name you know," growled the young man.

"I've got it handled, please shut up!" snapped Homura.

"Right… sorry…"

"-walked past the ambush point. If it weren't for… Miki, the other boy? If it weren't for his talking, it all would have been unsalvageable."

A few pairs of eyes fell on Hikage, who simply stated, "I thought I saw a gorilla spying on us… There was something large a few buildings down and it had a pair of binoculars… While trying to get a closer look, my foot slipped and I got caught in some loose wiring."

Everyone's eyes fell on the girl, doublechecking their memories to make sure that they heard everything right. "Have you got heatstroke again?" asked Mirai, legitimately a bit worried, "If so… you may want to lie down for a while."

"Maybe," muttered the emotionless girl.

The five renegades sat around the table in silence, unsure of how to continue after Hikage's comment before Yomi turned to Mirai, "You never told me where you got that chloroform from. The initial plan was just for Hikage to pounce and pull him into the alley when he walked by. At most, you would have been providing support if he tried to get away."

Mirai froze for a moment before stammering, "Well, if we're being honest, who cares why I had it? It worked didn't it?"

But Haruka shook her head, "It's like you've been told. Chloroform doesn't work that way."

Homura nodded before she further added, "Didn't you pay attention to the lectures on usable chemicals when we were still in Hebijo?"

"Yeah, well," grumbled Mirai before she pointed to Haruka, "maybe I wanted to keep something on hand so that creep with the fat sacks over there would keep away. Chloroform just so happened to be the first thing I came into contact with."

Upon receiving the insult, the older girl smiled before giving her chest a bit of a bounce, "Oh? Mirai, please, you needn't be afraid of them," and proceeded to spread out her arms, "Let me wrap you up so that you can give them as much of a feel as you'd like."

The little girl immediately looked to Homura, "Oh dear God, please don't let her touch me…"

The tanned girl shrugged before stating, "Well, I'm not God but…" before patting her hand against the table, "I'll declare this place a neutral zone until we sort everything out."

"What else is there to sort out?" asked Yomi.

Slightly throwing her hands into the air, Homura grumbled, "Maybe the fact that you tried to kidnap a guy who's probably already on edge from all our dealings with him. What the hell were you thinking!?"

Eager to hear the explanation for his assault, the young man perked up one of his ears to listen in. Despite how quietly Yomi tried to whisper, the boy could hear her as clear as day… but he definitely wished that he hadn't. Not after his hearing about Yumi's feelings, not after the chaos with Miyabi, not after Asuka's confession… He wished he had fallen off the face of the Earth then and there.

"We were hoping to interview him since you said you liked him. Something simple to make sure he was as honest as he makes himself out to be and a fair match for you…"

The young man's eyes widened and his skin paled to complete white as he continued to sit on the couch. He stopped breathing and he was fairly sure that his heart had stopped for a bit. After a moment of replaying what was said, he couldn't help but mutely growl under his breath, "You have got to be fucking kidding me…"

Fortunately, he wasn't heard.


	26. Chapter 26: Ninny Antics

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 26: Ninny Antics

Lazing around and about the shinobi meeting room at Hanzō Academy, Katsuragi let out another sigh as she once again heard the thumps Asuka's frantic pacing out in the hallway. The brunette wanted to head outside to train and blow off steam but also wanted to binge on snacks in the fridge and cabinets, leading her to repeatedly scamper back and forth between both destinations without really committing to any activity. Considering the dramatic confession that she gave the day before, Katsuragi couldn't blame her anxiousness. While someone as forward and shameless as her couldn't fully understand why Asuka felt such stress over the situation, she could still see that the turmoil in her was immense.

The door slid open and Asuka slipped in to march straight for the pantry, seeking out a few snacks while murmuring her every action under her breath, "Walk to the cabinet… open the cabinet… Salty crackers… Do we have salty crackers? Where are the salty crack- no, Hibari and Yagyū finished those a few days ago… Chips? Do we have- we do have chips… none that I want… We do have macaroons… just a couple for now… No, I've gotta train…"

As much as she should have been marveling at how cute and silly the scene was, Katsuragi couldn't help but wonder how much higher Asuka's stress levels could go. After all, it was just a matter of the confession and waiting for an answer that had thrown the girl into such turmoil. The blonde didn't want to think about what would happen if she found out that Miyabi and Yumi also liked the young man, in addition to the potential feelings that Homura may have had. Would Asuka panic and screech while turning the entire place upside down? Perhaps she'd take in a breath to calm herself and patiently await her answer? Katsuragi already knew that both of those were thoroughly unlikely. With Asuka's lack of confidence when comparing herself to others, it was more than likely that she'd be resigned to defeat and would wait out the days to her anticipated rejection from bed.

Katsuragi hated the very idea of that. As the girl's senior and one of her closest friends, she would not lay back and allow the upbeat mascot of Hanzō Academy to suffer such a crushing blow. It was bad enough that she was stressfully awaiting the young man's answer, a matter in which the blonde did sympathize with the boy who'd seemed so lost he after the confession, but she wouldn't dare watch as Asuka buried her own grave before a firm verdict had been delivered. In fact, Katsuragi knew that she could go even further beyond just that! She could act so that her friend had the highest chance of success and happiness!

But then there came the question about what action Katsuragi had to take. Certainly, she couldn't just go up to Asuka for a lighthearted groping to lighten the tension nor could she just call the other three girls and ask them to quit their pursuit so that their rival had a better chance. If anything, the latter would just spur the lot of them on even more aggressively. No, Katsuragi knew for fact that the action she had to take would have to be something that would kill their interest in the young man entirely. A few ideas filled her head, tempting her to spread malicious rumors that painted the young man in a different light: "He's only interested in a girl's looks, from what I've heard from his classmates… Did you hear that he stalked his last girlfriend? Oh, did you think you'd be his first…? He is apparently very sexually demanding. Who knows how long a woman would have to hold out before he finished for the night…? I hear he has an STD…"

For a few seconds, Katsuragi giggled to herself about the sheer ridiculousness of each idea, knowing each rumor was more farfetched than the last. Between his actions and apparent shyness when Asuka confessed, the blonde could tell that he'd never had a girlfriend, a serious one at least, before and that he definitely never had sex. It was also too unbelievable to say that he was only interested in a girl's looks when considering how, from what Asuka had told her, encouraging he was of the girls' flaws during her and Homura's corrections. In the end, the only rumors Katsuragi could come up with were complete fiction, though she had no intention to spread them in the first place. She considered the boy a friend and wouldn't dare disparage his name.

Ultimately, Katsuragi's plan of action was boiled down to a few unlikely options. Her first idea was to try and keep the other girls from contacting the young man, tying them up if needed. But the blonde already knew that she wouldn't be able to win any of the fights necessary to get them into such a state. Another plan was to invite them all out and keep them distracted until the young man answered Asuka, though that would likely take far longer than Katsuragi's entertainment. Her third plan was a lewder distraction: paying off Ayame to create a body pillow franchise of the young man for a cuddly substitute. In fact, Katsuragi was sure there would be an overall profit once the other girls found out, considering the boy wasn't at all bad looking. Heck, the blonde could see herself getting one. But, then again, the young man likely wouldn't appreciate his image being used in such a way and would likely sue, if only to protect his dignity… nor was Ayame available to create the body pillows on such quick notice… and Katsuragi wouldn't be satisfied with one after she'd already copped a feel of his butt. In the end, that plan was out too.

Then there was the more honest, albeit slightly cruel, approach: flat-out telling the other three admirers that Asuka had confessed and that, based on how receptive the young man was to her physical touches, Katsuragi was inclined to believe that he'd accept her. It seemed really mean to weaponize what should have been a sweet moment… but still…

Amidst Katsuragi's pondering, Asuka had long since left the room and Hibari had taken her place at some point. Peeking her head toward the scheming blonde, the first-year asked, "What're you up to?"

"Wha-!" yelped Katsuragi before she saw that it was just her friend. After taking a long breath, the girl slouched and rested her head upon her hands, "You scared me…"

"Sorry," murmured Hibari, apologetically covering her mouth.

Taking a moment to steady her heart, Katsuragi waved her hand, "No, no… you didn't mean to…" and thought for a moment before realizing something: Hibari was, by far, one of the most considerate and sweetest individuals she'd ever known. Certainly, she would have a way to tell the three other admirers about Asuka's confession without coming off as mean or cruel. Thus, Katsuragi slowly asked, "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Please do!" chipped the girl.

The blonde silently compared the girl to a helpful angel of the gentlest nature, minus when she was thwapping people over the head for groping Asuka. But, before she got carried away in her thoughts, Katsuragi cleared her throat and asked, "How would you tell everyone about Asuka's confession? See, I'm-"

"Oh, I've already done that."

There was a moment of silence as Katsuragi's eyes went absolutely blank, her mouth pausing in the middle of a syllable that she was about to speak. Then her head tilted itself to the side as she mumbled, "Ugh… mhm… Please repeat?"

Hibari nodded her head, as if to affirm what she had said before, and explained, "Well, while thinking about Asuka's confession, I remembered that Miyabi and even Murasaki seemed to be a bit… infatuated with him too. Not wanting Asuka's chances to be hurt, I was about to call the two to ask them to forfeit." The girl started to innocently swing her shoulders back and forth, "But then I thought that might be a bit mean. Then I realized," she clicked her fingers, "I could just call Ryōna, let her know that Asuka confessed, and let her spread the news for me!"

As Hibari was proudly and triumphantly throwing her fist into the air, Katsuragi could only mutter to herself, "Devil… You are the sweetest and most considerate devil I've ever come to know… All this time, I thought you an angel of the sweetest nature… Now I see… For the sake of caring for one hundred and one puppies, you'd kidnap them from competing owners if you had to… Thank you for your excellent work, Miss Devil…"

Meanwhile, the other girl was shifting away in response to the blonde's murmuring, "Katsuragi…? You're scaring me. What're you saying?"

In response to Katsuragi's words that dared to scratch encroach upon Hibari's holy aura, Yagyū opened her eye in the middle of her meditation within a different room toward the far side of the building. A few supernatural forces chilled up her spine before she murmured, "I don't know why, but I feel as though I should be punching Katsuragi… I need to find Hibari and see if she's okay," before standing up and marching out of the room fluidly.

Fortunately, Katsuragi was not punched at all when confronted.

Meanwhile, at Hebijo Academy, Miyabi was just exiting the bath attached to her room after a long day of exercise. While she certainly wasn't done and intended to go back out to the training fields before too long, the baths were certainly a nice breath of relaxation that she needed after all of the stress from the two previous days. Even still, as much as she tried to wash away the memory of her embarrassing and emptyheaded attempt to gain the young man's attention, Miyabi couldn't wipe away the redness from her face when she remembered her breasts being unveiled to him.

While wrapping a towel around herself and strutting as proud as she could make herself out to be, the woman walked into her quarters and began to prepare an outfit… not that it needed much preparation to begin with, seeing as almost every single one was a Hebijo uniform with only a few exceptions. She had some clothes that dabbled in what society deemed trendy and fashionable, most of them coming from Imu and girls from the other shinobi factions. But there was one article of clothing among the uniforms and stylish skirts that did not belong: the young man's tank top.

Pushing away the embarrassing circumstances that brought it into her possession, Miyabi extended her hands to pick up the sleeveless shirt before a confident smile fell on her face. The look on the young man's face in response to her exposed body certainly was more than a bit flattering yet appropriately reserved. It specifically told her, "Miyabi, you are attractive! But you also must be embarrassed, so please have my shirt."

Snorting to herself, the white-haired girl let her towel fall to the floor before she clung to the simple article of clothing. She never understood why some talked about the smell of their loved ones on shirts and hoods nor did she intend to become one of those people. Yet, as she hugged the tank top closer into her chest, she did feel as though she were somehow hugging its owner in spirit. Regardless of whether or not that thought made her out to be weird, Miyabi still found solace in it due to the fact that she experienced extremely little physical contact with the boy during their jog. She may not have gotten the romantic scene she was going for but she did get away with the young man's shirt… even if she would have to return it one day, that alone certainly counted for something.

Then, just as Miyabi was beginning to lose herself into an intimate fantasy, there was a knock at her door before it began to slide open. In the few split seconds that she had before the sudden arrival could find her in such a perverse state, the white-haired girl threw the tank top underneath her bed and wrapped herself back into a towel. Once Ryōbi had fully entered the room and took in the scene, Miyabi had put on a face of mild irritation before disinterestedly stating, "In the past, I've told you to wait for me to answer the door…"

Fortunately, the twin tailed girl completely bought the performance. "Yeah, yeah," grumbled Ryōbi as her eyes reflected a mix of annoyance and concern, "you told me last time but I still don't care to listen… That aside, I've got news…"

Not immediately hearing the last of first-year's statement, Miyabi wanted to smirk then and there. Since the day before, she'd been firmly practicing her ability to keep a neutral face so that the same mistakes made prior to and during the jog would never be repeated. Whenever someone said something that would invoke ire in Miyabi, she took a breath and spoke in her level but chilling voice. If ever something unexpected happen, she'd make sure that not even one ounce of surprise showed itself before she'd make one of her remarks or observations. At one point earlier that day, Miyabi had caught her father watching from the shadows with the same judgmental scowl on his face and she didn't even flinch. Instead, she just carried on by sparring with Imu, acting as though the disgruntled grimace on the man's face wasn't facing her. Of course, when considering the many years she'd been seeing that look of annoyance, it really wasn't too surprising that she kept herself composed. Despite how much Miyabi should have been alarmed by the indifference she felt for her father's looks, she could only view it as a testament to her composure. As such, Miyabi felt as though she'd regained the same element of cool-headedness she'd had before the young man's arrival.

But, amidst her mental reflection, the supposed stone-cold leader of the Hebijo elite realized that she had left Ryōbi hanging and waiting for an answer. Thus, after clearing her throat and making sure her face was as blank as the young man's often was, Miyabi answered in a dull voice, "You've got my ears. Has something important happened?"

Blinking a few times after what was nearly twenty seconds of straight silence from her friend, Ryōbi quietly responded, "Nothing terrible… for the rest of us, that is. You, well, you may not like what I'm going to say about your dude."

Misinterpreting the question at first, Miyabi waved her hands, "You've already said plenty and complained enough about his antics. What else could you say-," before realizing that her comrade was implying that something had happened to the young man. Immediately, the older woman's face fell more serious as she unknowingly cranked her head a bit forward, "Wait, is he okay? What happened?"

"You have competition, that's what," stated Ryōbi, slightly cringing her head back a bit in anticipation of the resulting blowup.

Much to the girl's surprise, Miyabi let out a relieved sigh before saying, "Ah, you mean Yumi, right? I've heard as much when Shiki was blabbering much louder than she should've been." Nodding her head resolutely, the woman declared with a pumped fist, "Don't worry, I've no intention to lose. I've learned from what happened before and am prepared to double down on my efforts."

Ryōbi gulped with a bit of fear, something that she'd never admit, before stammering, "No, uh… You might-, hm… Actually, Asuka is who I was talking about. Asuka has a… crush, let's call it, on him too."

With extremely little reaction, Miyabi snorted before using her hand to wipe back some hair, "And? That doesn't change the circumstances. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the furthest ahead in this pursuit and I've no intention of letting that change."

"Have you confessed to him… or do you intend to confess?" asked the twin tailed girl.

Though there was a bit of a stutter to Miyabi's movements, the woman still proudly closed her eyes and raised her chin before answering, "Not yet, though that time will come soon. I only need to set the right mood, advertise myself in the right… way before… I… con-…" but came to a slow and sudden stop before her eyes opened and widened. She slowly looked down to Ryōbi before asking, "Why do you ask…? I'm pretty sure I know the answer but… You don't mean Asuka… confessed already, do you? Because something like that would be absolutely ridiculous… Right? Right!? Asuka did not confess! I'm definitely still at the head of this and will definitely be the winner! Right!?"

Ryōbi could only whisper in a voice that was barely audible to a normal ear, "…Hibari saw it and… left a message about it on Ryōna's phone… talked about how… sweet and… other stuff… something about hugging… maybe accepting in the future… I dunno…" Unfortunately, Miyabi's ears were well beyond standard. She'd heard every word and took in the full implication. For a few seconds, she stood silently as a low growl began to emanate from the bowels of her throat. Ryōbi threw up her hands and began to stammer, "Uh, woah-, hold on-, No, wait, wait, wait-, you seem- oh no…" before she realized she needed to make a run for it.

Meanwhile, Ryōna was trailing through the hallways to find her sister, singing along to Hibari's voicemail on her phone all the while. As the pink-haired girl's sweet voice spoke in the background, the masochist sang cheerfully through the halls, "-the confession was so, so sweet~, I wish I could watch it a thousand times~! By the look of it, too~ he'll accept it- Oh~ho~, I hope I get to see it! It'll be so sweet-" before she caught sight of her Ryōbi making a mad dash from Miyabi's room. As the voicemail continued to play from the blonde's phone, Ryōna called, "Hello~! Sing with me, Sis! Hibari's phone-voice is always so much fun to-"

"Run!" cried Ryōbi as she ran as fast as her legs could handle, "Run and do not look back!"

The girl ran straight past Ryōna and fled for her life, forcing the blonde to step aside and watch curiously for a moment. Then it clicked in her head as she began to smile lewdly, "Oh-ho-ho~! Miyabi found out, Miyabi found out!" and made straight for the door to the woman's room, "Explode, Miyabi! Feel the rage and explode into my face-"

As the girl turned into the doorway, the sound of Hibari's voicemail reached the white-haired woman's ears like fire pressing into a stick of dynamite. Without further warning, Miyabi let loose all of her rage as she roared incomprehensibly, "SECRET NINJA ART!" and transformed, unleashing a massive shockwave that blew Ryōna back out into the hallway with a loud crash. Students all over Hebijo Academy felt a sudden sense of dread as they all turned to the dorm where they knew something terrible was happening. From his office, Jirō dropped his phone and lifted his head before grumbling incoherently under his breath.

Just as he recovered, the often-frustrated principal pinched the bridge of his nose and commented, "What else are you creating for me so soon after-" before letting out a noise of surprise, "Ah!" and reached down to retrieve his phone. He cleared his throat and spoke curtly, "My apologies, Oda. What trouble were you saying that Miyabi had gotten into?"

"That's just the thing, Jirō. She hasn't gotten into any trouble aside from the incident at Hanzō Academy. But, were I you, I'd still be a bit worried."

"Oh? Please elaborate," asked the principal, trying to ignore the sudden power surge and the anxiety of his daughter being the topic of discussion with a man like Oda. It was a miracle that the large man hadn't already exterminated every evil shinobi on his own, though that was mostly due to his more humanitarian nature. Perhaps it seemed a bit foolhardy to Jirō but, so long as he was allowed to live and breathe, he'd never complain.

"See, during my investigation after the aforementioned incident, I did some outside investigation to make sure that all of the involved shinobi were still in their legal… or, in the girls of Hebijo Academy's case, honorary boundaries. As the father of a young girl, myself, I thought you ought to know that Miyabi appears to have taken interest in a boy… a non-shinobi, at that."

While the two men tensely conversed over the phone, Yumi heard the news of Asuka's confession from Minori, who received a text from Ryōna, within her room at Gessen Academy. Her answer was a calm and curt, "That's a bit surprising, considering the fact that this is Asuka we're talking about… but I don't see a reason to panic."

Despite her older sister's calm words, Minori was quivering and shaking in a mix of excitement and anxiety, "But what about you!? Shouldn't you be the one to give a cutesy confession? I mean, in every cartoon I've ever seen, the first one to confess is referred to as the 'main girl' and they're always the most likely person to take the main guy's heart!"

Reaching up from her desk to pleasantly pat the girl's head while using her other hand to cover her own smiling mouth, Yumi sweetly said, "Oh, Minori…" before her eyes turned dangerous. Suddenly, her patting hand began to turn aggressive as she uncovered her mouth to growl, "This isn't one of your cartoons. This is real life and things don't work like that."

"Right…" came the frightened whimper from Minori, "got it…"

Seeing that she'd evidently scared her sister, Yumi's face fell before she began to stutter, "No-, I'm sorry. I took some stress out on you and I was-, I'm sorry…" As much as she wanted to be frustrated with Minori's observations in fictional romance, Yumi couldn't bring herself to hold any annoyance against her nor any of her other sisters. Partly because a bit of her still felt guilty for the actions that she took under her distortion… though it was mostly due to the fact that Yumi felt as though she should have been treasuring her sisters more. They forgave her after everything… so what were a few innocent observations that were meant to convey genuine concern? To her, nothing worth getting angry over.

Like she always did in the past, Minori immediately hugged her older sister and dropped the fearful look on her face, "I love you, Yumi! I love and forgive you!"

Yumi wanted to cry out, "Bless this girl! Bless this girl to the sweetest plot of Heaven!" but instead opted to also give into the warm hug. The two held each other for a moment before a confident breath of air blew out of the third-year's nose. Once the two girls parted, Yumi stated after, "But, as for what you were saying before, there's nothing to be worried about. After all, we've planned out everything for tomorrow, right?"

A sudden look of remembrance and realization hit Minori, who dropped her jaw in awe before cheering, "Yes, Ma'am! I'm going to be the best decorator I can be! I'll give it my all! The rooms and halls will be cute, warm, welcoming, and all those other words you mentioned that I can't really remember right now-"

"Regardless, I trust you," murmured Yumi with a smile as a bit of worry was settling into her.

"-and, with Yozakura doing the cooking, and Murakumo-"

At that point, the older girl gently clasped a hand over Minori's shoulder while ushering her toward the door, "Yes, yes, don't worry. I remember it all and I'm looking forward to it!" Once the two of them were out in the hallway, Yumi rubbed her fingers against her sister's back before quietly saying, "And… I know I've probably said it a thousand times… but thank you for taking part in this. I know I was a bit… emotional, for the sake of using a pleasant word, yesterday and that this isn't the most innocent plan I could've come up with-"

"But you love him, right?" stated Minori with a U-shaped smile, "You love him and you want to hold him and kiss him and cuddle and things?"

Blown a bit back by the unexpectedly straightforward words from a, more often than not, simple-headed girl, Yumi could only shyly avert her eyes to the side before murmuring, "Of course… that's what couples do, I believe."

"Then I'm happy to help!" declared Minori before she dashed down the hallway, eager to check on Shiki and Murakumo's progress with their given projects.

Yumi paused in her step for a moment and laid a hand over her chest. When she thought about what her sisters had done for her in the past, how they'd forgiven her trespasses against them and were willing to help in her romantic endeavor so soon after… There was no better word than blessed. Yumi truly and honestly felt blessed to have the family that she had.

She smiled and her eyes sparkled in wonder. Had the events after Peach Beach Splash not taken place, Yumi and Murakumo would have graduated and Shiki would have been transferred out of the country to a different school. But they didn't because of a few failures on the part of other shinobi. Regardless of how heartbreaking the circumstances were for some, Ayame especially, Yumi would have changed nothing. Even if she would have been happy for her sister's transfer and growing status as an "international super shinobi" along with all of the paths everyone else would have taken… there was still a selfish part of her that couldn't let go of the happy times they were living in. However guilty it made her feel, Yumi was grateful for the circumstances that uprooted their lives prior to the young man's arrival. Once she got passed the turmoil and the disappointment, she still had her sisters… and that's what mattered most to her.

Yumi closed her eyes as she gave another smile to no one in particular. Truly, she thought herself to be the most blessed person on the face of the Earth.

Back in the renegades' cave, the young man sat cross-legged on the couch while pressing his mouth into folded hands. He could hear Homura arguing with Yomi in the background, stating something along the lines that they should be prepping a special meal since they'd practically kidnapped him. In turn, Yomi was retorting that she was preparing a "very special meal which would show off the power of my beansprouts at their finest" or something along those lines. If the young man was honest with himself, he knew that he wasn't listening to anything within his immediate surroundings anymore. Instead, while Hikage was napping in her chair and Mirai was trying to make suggestions for dinner from her spot on the couch, the boy was mutely voicing his thoughts about his most outstanding predicament.

"Ancestors…" he quietly mumbled in a deep and dreadful voice, "if I've offended or disappointed you in some way, I beg forgiveness. This problem has proven too much for this wretch who shares your blood. These women are too much me. However much their beauty and colorful personalities are wonderful, I cannot bear to stand the exhaustion any longer… Please, forgive and release me from this prison."

After she voiced to Yomi her desire for a meatball stew, Mirai turned to the young man and tilted her head. For a moment, she thought she heard a voice and there was a distinct feeling that he was thinking about her and everyone else. But the young man's eyes remained forward and the rest of his face was covered by his folded hands. As far as she cared, he was just waiting quietly and patiently for dinner.

"Gods and goddesses… if you somehow believe me worthy to be put through some heroic trial or a probably deserved suffering, I beg you to release me from your chains. I, a mere mortal born to a family of exceptional individuals, am not worth the time you are spending to put me through these harrowing events. If you would release me here and now from my chains, I promise to disappear to a rural town and live the humblest life possible. If you would do this soon enough, I would even carve wooden statues of every single last one of you that I could read about. Whether you are Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Roman, Norse, African or from the Americas… I will carve a statue of you and worship all of you for an hour each day for the rest of my life. You need only release me from your hold… please…"

Just as Mirai was trying to figure out why the young man's jaw was ever slightly moving, Haruka sneaked up behind him and stood behind the couch. The smaller girl cringed for a moment, unsure of what the dominatrix had in mind for her next victim, before hopping up and hiding behind the couch's arm. Mirai knew some kind of innuendo or molestation would be enacted and that she would want to run away by the time the attack went down… but she was still so curious to see what would happen.

Her answer came when Haruka threw her arms forward and gripped the young man's shoulders as she leaned over the couch. After giving the boy a second to process what was happening, the woman pulled him into her, smooshing his head between her breasts, before singing, "If you don't mind~…" and prattled off a few questions. Though the young man's eyes were wide and his face heated up from the contact, he still kept his mouth covered as he frantically began to incoherently mumble.

"God, often referred to as Father! I beg you to forgive me! Forgive me of whatever sins I've committed according to your Bible, Quran… the book of the Jews that I forgot- Tanakh, I believe- or whatever other books that may or may not worship your ever-holy name! While I've yet to take part in any cleansing of sins according to the customs of your particular religion, I promise that I will strive to be more God-fearing in the future. I do not fear death as I believe that there is something, which may very well be you, waiting for me. But I do not forsake life either, which is why I beg for you to take my hand and lead me from these complexities that are twisting my mind! Bring me a solution that will appease the four women who appear to be vying for me, for whatever reasons that I fail to truly understand… Bring me a solution that will not harm my path to freedom, that is the correction of all these other women… BRING ME A SOLUTION THAT WILL REMOVE ME FROM THIS SHE-DEVIL'S CLEAVAGE! I beg, Lord and Father, to release me from this mess! If you are up there, just get me out of this-"

Realizing that the young man wasn't listening to any of her questions, Haruka began to teasing scratch at his ear before blowing into it. As a result, the poor boy let out a yelp and attempted to pull himself free but found that he was still firmly stuck between the woman's breasts. Once he began to truly struggle against her, Haruka hummed a bit to herself before wickedly whispering, "You should be listening to those who are speaking to you…"

"Haruka!" came the fearsome voice of Yomi as she stepped away from Homura to be the young man's rescuer, "No harassing our guest!"

With her sultry smile still stuck on her face, Haruka dropped her hold on the young man before clapping her hands together, "I apologize. I had no ill wishes for him."

"I doubt that," quipped Mirai, who was still hiding behind the arm of the couch.

Haruka rested her cheek against one of her hands, "Still, I only wish to know more about him. You know why, I'm sure." The woman sucked in some air and let out a saddened breath, very obviously trying to guilt-trip the young man. In the meantime, Homura froze where she stood while silently hoping that he wouldn't ask about Haruka's reasoning. Fortunately for her, the boy didn't say anything.

Realizing her own curiosity for the young man, Yomi faltered a bit in her determination to defend him from Haruka's pryingHadasdda. Then, between remembering her maternal convictions and the fact that Homura would likely take the matter into her own hands if left unresolved, the blonde sighed before ordering, "You can ask him when we eat. There's no need to make him more uncomfortable after everything else we've done today."

Thankfully, Haruka relented, "I understand," and turned to the young man, "I'm sorry if I've done anything to make you uncomfortable. I promise you that I was just trying to welcome you in my own… special way." The woman proceeded toward the kitchen while casting a sassy smile to the young man.

"I thoroughly doubt that," grumbled the boy, "but I'll accept your apology anyway."

"You're right to doubt it," chimed Mirai, who proceeded to cross her arms, "but her reasoning can't be denied."

"Then she can start a conversation like a normal person," retorted the young man, "It's bad enough that you guys don't know how to just pull me aside for a regular invitation, but I'm not going to suffer unwanted touching. If any of you have a question, quit jumping through hoops and just ask the friggin' question."

"I'll do exactly that then!" called Haruka, who immediately turned herself around and dived toward the back of the couch to press her face toward the young man, who was jumping in complete surprise from the sudden turnaround, "Could you tell me your tastes in women?"

Homura made a sound from the kitchen area of the cave while the boy just blinked in response. Immediately, he caught on to her Haruka's intent. She was trying to determine whether or not he'd be a good partner for the renegades' leader… that or she was just trying to find more material to hassle him with. Either way, his first instinct was to lie and make himself out to be the worst kind of person, someone they wouldn't let Homura near without a three-meter pole… but then he realized that he had to be honest. If the young man made himself out to be a horrible person or, worse, was caught lying about himself, that would damage all of his chances of earning the renegades' trust and correcting their distortion. Whether he wanted to or not, the boy had to be honest… but he could at least be difficult.

"I'm not going to answer that."

Mirai immediately pointed her finger at him before calling, "Hey! You told her to ask a normal question and she asked you a normal question. Get answering, bubsy."

But Haruka took a different approach. She bent over her torso to give the young man a view of the cleavage peering from her sweater and asked sweetly, "My, is there a reason you don't want to answer? Perhaps someone within hearing distance fits your ideal woman and you don't want to be caught?"

In turn, the boy averted his gaze with burning cheeks, "Since we've declared a truce, I've been answering a whole lot of questions while holding back a ton of my own. If you want me to give an answer to anything you ask, you've got to answer my questions too. And, I'll tell you now, the questions I have will be prying on your secret shinobi stuff. Fair's fair…" and he turned his head to face Haruka again, "Well? Deal or no deal?" His intention was to try and drive off the interrogation by threatening to ask about whatever secrets they kept from him. His immediate thought said that there was no way they'd be so willing to share stuff like that… but then he remembered that the shinobi he was dealing with were an extremely straightforward bunch. The young man's face fell and he immediately regretted his decision before the answer came.

"That sounds fair," replied Haruka as she closed her eyes and nodded her head, "Please, ask away."

The young man silently cursed under his breath, "Damn… I didn't think this through…" but closed his eyes and scoured his brain for something to ask. Perhaps if he found the right question that was just a bit too personal, he could get the woman to back off… But Haruka was extremely shameless, going as far to deliberately press him into her when she had him, an enemy at the time, cornered on a train… What exactly was too personal for her? Then he realized she'd given him such a question not a minute before! The young man silently thanked her before asking, "Who would be your ideal guy?" raised his finger, "Be specific, please," and crossed his arms while trying to keep a showy smirk off his face. Then, once again, he could feel the regret seep in before the answer came.

That was the wrong question to ask, according to the bright smile on Haruka's face. She teasingly swayed her body back and forth before letting let out a hum. "Someone like you, of course," she replied, causing nearly everyone else in the room to freeze and turn absolutely pale. Homura, in particular, began to shake after a few seconds before turning around to incoherently yap like an angry chihuahua, all while the young man's eyes had narrowed into small pencil dots as his jaw dropped. After a moment of consideration, he began to edge himself away from Haruka. In response, the woman said, "Like you, I said. Not you, considering how little I know about you. Just someone like you."

"How so?" came the young man's deep and quiet voice as he became the epitome of the word 'wary' and braced to run for his life.

"Well," Haruka sang while Homura was being held back by Yomi, "the shape of your head is certainly ideal for me, with it being easy to rest mine on top. Plus, your figure makes you extremely easy to trap and hug… If you don't mind, I may actually try that now~…" After snickering a bit to herself, the woman teasingly raised her fingers and gripped them toward her target.

Without hesitation, the young man pulled out his phone and mumbled, "Hello? Is this the police?"

To that remark, Haruka froze and lightly bowed her head, "I understand… I'll stop…"

"Thank you…"

"But, to be serious," Haruka crossed her arms, "I do find your… franker attitude appealing. Even when you have something more abrasive to say, it's comfortable to know your honest thoughts."

"That's just part of trying to gain your guys' trust," replied the young man, not at all impressed by the woman's standards, "If I'm being a nice yes-man who's always offering compliments or approval, any smart person would be more likely to distrust me… And, considering the fact that everyone is or was, in your guys' case, the elite of their respective academies, I have to assume all of you are pretty smart… even if one of you don't know the basics to chloroform."

"I'm going to kick your ass," threatened Mirai, who was snapped out of her shock to Haruka's answer and began to raise a violent fist.

"Well, even if it's just to earn our trust, thank you for being forward," said Haruka with a seductive smile, "It's very loveable." The woman took a moment to relish the young man's embarrassed shuffling to her comment, kept her eyes averted from a seething Homura, and proceeded to ask, "Your turn. Describe your ideal woman and make sure to," and proceeded to waggle her finger back and forth, "be ve-ry spe-ci-fic~."

Breaking away from his shock to Haruka's previous statement, the boy had to take a moment to think. Whether it was smart or not, he was going to answer honestly. He just had to be sure that nothing he said spurred on Homura. Choosing his words carefully while also closing his eyes in thought, the young man answered, "To be honest, I don't really have an… ideal woman. For me, it just comes down to whether or not my partner and I accept each other's flaws and are, of course, happy to be together."

"Oh?" hummed Haruka, "That sounds rather barebones, if you ask me. You realize we're talking about an ideal scenario where you have the woman of your dreams, yes? Please tell me who that woman is."

"That's just the thing," the young man reiterated, "I don't have an- actually, let me word it like this: I don't put too much time into thinking about dreams that are unlikely to happen." He wanted to leave it at that but Haruka continued to give him an expectant look, as though she were asking for more details. Thus, the young man continued, "Let me put it this way… I could spend time thinking up a vision of someone. I could shape her hair, eyes, nose, and lips like a doll. I could dress her in whatever way I'd like to, whether it'd be cute and casual or mature and sexy. But that woman is just a vision and the chances of me meeting someone like her are pretty much impossible. Thus, I keep myself grounded in reality. If there's someone who accepts my flaws and we enjoy one another's company, I could live out my life without regret even if I did meet that dream girl at some point down the line. It's as simple as just wanting to be happy."

Standing from her position in the kitchen area, Homura's eyes fell as she dived into thought. For a moment, she wondered about whether or not she fit the bill of his unspecified dream woman before her thoughts turned to the bulk of what he'd said. Certainly, she liked the young man as he was, flaws and all, but something just didn't seem right. Were his standards really that low and open? Was he, perhaps, an extremely easy heart to conquer? After her thoughts began to circle around her head, Homura's fallen eyes began to glow as she smiled deviously. From where his head was facing, the young man caught sight of her and realized that he should have shut his mouth after his initial statement.

But Haruka still didn't look convinced. She rested her cheek into one of her palms to tilt her head while asking, "So, there's nothing then? There isn't something about a woman that would drive you absolutely mad with love? Nothing at all?"

Just as he was about to affirm his answer, the young man immediately thought of Asuka's hugs and kisses to the back of his head from the previous night. Her playing with his hair had absolutely subdued him and her gentle fingers rubbing against his cheek were heavenly. So, lost in reflection and briefly forgetting his self-given order to keep his mouth shut, the young man shyly answered, "Well… I suppose someone who was okay with hugging would be nice…" before he paused and his eyes turned to fear, "What's with that dangerous look on your face? Get away from me."

Haruka had a massive smile that reeked of her teasing him, curling itself upward like an eager cat about to catch a trapped mouse. Slowly, she began to advance toward the young man. She extended her arms forward to him and purred, "You just want a hug, then? C'mere~…"

Just as the boy was about to scream, a shadow launched itself over Haruka and was flying straight toward the young man. Before he could realize it was Homura, her eyes glowing red with determination, the boy could only exclaim complete gibberish, "Hu-whaa-ha! WHA! Hua-gon-on!? HUAWAAAAAGH!?"

Homura's form had tackled straight into him, rolling them both off the couch and straight into Hikage's chair. As the girl was woken up, the renegades' leader sat on top of the young man's legs while breathing heavily, smiling while completely nervous and unsure of what to say. Then, as if something clicked in her head, Homura's face turned angry and she turned around to face Haruka, "Knock it off! Question time is over!"

Satisfied that she got the very result she'd been after the whole time, Haruka waved her hand, "Very well. I think that one question's answer was all I needed anyway."

Mirai began to protest, "Wha-, hold on! I've got like thirty more that I want-"

"The nature of those questions, sweet thing," purred the older woman, "can all be found in his answer from before. He's a kind enough man and he means no harm. Certainly, you could hear and feel that?"

While Mirai argued back against Haruka's explanation, Homura turned around to the young man and found a sight that made her want to gush a bit. Despite how alarmed he'd been when tackled, he was trying to put on a tough and defiant look. However, his face was too cute to be taken seriously. With cheeks that were tinged a lovely pink, an upper lip covering the lower, and his beautiful eyes sparkling with embarrassment, he just came off as too sweet to actually be considered resistant.

Then Homura realized that she was still sitting on top of him. Feeling her own cheeks heat up, she stood onto her feet and reached down to pull up the young man. She quietly mumbled an apology and began to shyly scratch at her neck before a thought came to mind. The others wouldn't be asking anymore questions, if Haruka was being true to her word, and Yomi would still take a while before dinner was done. Then and there was the perfect opportunity to do the one thing… no. If she executed it perfectly, she could have the two things that she'd been wanting.

Without really thinking out her sentence, Homura stammered, "Wanna fight?"

Caught extremely off guard and just grasping the girl's hand as she moved to pull him up, the young man's face froze before he tilted his head to the side, "Come again?"

Homura remained determined as an awkward smile found itself onto her red face, "While dinner's getting ready, would you like to fight…? Spar, I'm sorry… Would you like to spar?"

"No," replied the young man frankly as he spitefully released her hand and kept himself seated on the floor. Though he was aware of her feelings for him, he didn't know what game she was trying to play… He also had no intention to find out.

Her face fell for a moment before she took a breath and resolute goaded, "C'mon~, it'll be fun. I'll have my swords, you'll have your fisticuffs-"

"That doesn't even sound like fair fight."

"-and we can head outside to this one clearing the girls and I always use. Or if you'd rather it be treated like a special occasion-"

"I don't want it to be an occasion at all."

"-we can wait until after dinner and take a trip out to some fields that Asuka and I have used to battle one another in the past. From there, we can go at it until one of us gives in-"

"HOW ABOUT WE DO THIS!?" yelled the young man in an effort to cut her off. He raised a flattened palm into the air and ordered her, "Poke me."

Homura blinked and scratched the side of her head in confusion. But, after a few seconds of glancing back and forth between the boy's head and hand, she nodded, "Alright…" and poked him right in the palm.

"OH GOD, GODS, GODDESSES, AND ANCESTORS! I'M VANQUISHED!" screeched the young man as grasped at his chest and flung himself onto his side. His tongue flapped out of his mouth and his eyes rolled up. The renegades all looked at him in confusion before he briefly turned his head up, "This is me being dead, by the way. You've won. Fight's over," and leaned his head back to the ground. Homura's eyelids drooped a bit in irritation as Hikage poked her head over the arm of her chair and gazed at the young man's body. The green-haired girl blinked once and twice before poking a finger into his cheek. Without hesitation, the boy slapped her hand away and said, "Don't desecrate my body, I'm already dead."

"You're not dead, though," mumbled Hikage.

"Shaddup."

While Homura pinched the bridge of her nose, Yomi approached from behind and said, "Perhaps you should give it a rest for now. He's not one to be considered much of a… fighter."

"Are you kidding me?" cried the tanned girl, "Look back to his fight with Yumi! He took her on without any weapons and came out the victor. Why wouldn't he fight me?" In truth, she already knew why. She was just venting and looking for something to complain about while trying to think of a way to convince her desired opponent to fight.

Pressing his hands into the cold rock below to push himself up, the young man grouchily stated, "Because Yumi's case was out of necessity and I had little choice in the matter!"

Homura turned her head back to him, "I wasn't actually looking for an answer, you know."

"Then don't ask the question in the first place!"

"Homura," mumbled Mirai from the couch.

The tanned girl turned her back completely to the young man, "What!?"

"I know you're one who wants to fight the toughest opponents," came the smaller girl's monotone voice, "but the best he's got to offer is probably some dirty tricks. Just give up."

Homura scoffed defiantly and ran a hand through her hair, "Don't kid yourself," before pointing her finger at Mirai, "You know damn well that Yumi wouldn't fall to someone who relied on dirty tri-" Suddenly a cold sensation overwhelmed the back of her neck and the girl proceeded to scream into the air, "-ckyaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Behind her, the young man had stood up, taken his hand up from the cold rock, and rested it against the back of Homura's head. His eyes were unfeeling and completely without mercy. He wouldn't be standing for the girl's nonsense anymore. Without much energy, he proclaimed, "There, I've got you. I've won. Yippee."

Mirai quickly jumped on the opportunity to gloat, "Told you so."

As Homura continued to scream, Yomi closed her eyes and covered her mouth an effort to hide her smile, "I suppose you and Haruka have both called it."

Ignoring the fact that her leader was still crying out, Haruka shrugged her shoulders and stated, "To be honest, I was expecting something a bit more generic like… Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure. Perhaps, if given the opportunity, he'd throw dirt and sand-"

Without further warning, Homura's scream turned into a war cry as she reached over her shoulder and gripped the young man's arm. It didn't take him long to realize that he was about to suffer for his arrogance in attacking her in such a dirty way. Once he felt the force vibrate throughout his body, the young man closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact to come. Homura pulled and threw him over her shoulder before spinning him around and throwing him toward the couch. As Mirai yelped from the sudden projectile bombarding her resting station, the couch rocked back from the impact.

Still standing in her position behind Mirai, Haruka took a step back and began to scold, "Now, now, there's no need to get so violent from a cold hand-" before the couch fell backward and landed onto one of her feet, "gyaAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH-"

While the couch was tipping, Mirai kicked herself off of it and unintentionally gave it the last boost it needed to fall over. Her only desire was to flee from wherever Homura was exacting her wrath, though she was entirely unsympathetic to Haruka's foot. In fact, she was about to goad the girl that what had happened was completely karma after all of the unwanted touching. But, before a word could even be said, the smaller girl realized she was still in the air and crashed into Yomi, who was toppled backwards and began to madly claw for something to catch herself on.

Eventually, while she was still tripping backward, the blonde caught a grip on Hikage's chair and tried to steady herself on it. Instead, her combined weight with Mirai just began to pull it back, forcing the green-haired girl to spring out of harms way. Unfortunately for Hikage, her foot was caught by the chair as it flipped backward. With a still and unflinching face, she muttered, "Oh…" and found her fall cut short as her head collided straight into Homura's before allowing herself to flop onto the ground.

The tanned girl remained standing for a few seconds so that she could survey the damage of her domino effect. She raised a finger into the air, thinking to at least try and say something witty before declaring victory, but collapsed and fell onto the floor. All six people in the cave were officially KO'd with Homura being the defaulted winner, seeing as she was the last one standing, of the fight that never actually took place. It was only such a shame for the poor girl though, seeing as she was going to use her victory as an opportunity to confess… She decided she'd wait until dinner.

Meanwhile, the young man's phone vibrated in his pocket from a text message:

"I'm sorry to intrude on your day, which I hope is going well! While doing some work for the academy, I was thinking about how wonderful it'd be for us to have a get together. My sisters will be mostly busy through tomorrow but I'd personally enjoy the one-on-one time. Please let me know what you think and have a great rest of your day!

-Yumi"


	27. Chapter 27: Drowning Babel

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 27: Drowning Babel

Sitting around the wooden dining table within their cave, the renegade shinobi were all silently eating the burnt dinner that Yomi had cooked for them. All of their eyes were deadly serious, only ever blinking whenever they looked at one another. Wrapped around all of their heads were bandages, save for Haruka who also needed a makeshift splint for her foot. No one dared to utter a word as the occasional sound of stone grinding against itself echoed throughout the cave. Finally, once she'd gone through half of her blackened beansprout concoction, Yomi turned her head up to Homura and murmured, "I think you hit his head too hard…"

The tanned girl kept a straight face as she raised another spoonful of her dinner, grimacing just before it reached her mouth, "From what I can see, probably…" and shoveled the sprouts in.

Having had the silence broken, Mirai felt confident enough to turn over to Haruka and proceeded to ask, "So… I was flying when you went down. What happened?"

Haruka's expressionlessly spoke as she leaned her face against a hand, "Oh, nothing serious. The couch landed on my foot and I slipped backwards… There was a bit of a nasty twist in my ankle and I hit the back of my head on the ground."

"Ouch… was there at least some carpet to break the fall?"

A hollow smirk came upon Haruka's face, "Nothing but rock."

"Double ouch…"

While the two conversed, the other three were gazing over to the side of their cave. Hikage asked, "Do we stop him?"

Homura felt her eyes droop tiredly as she retorted, "He'll figure himself out."

Leaning his bandaged head against the soothingly cold wall of the cave, the young man was on the verge of all-out defeat. While the deadest look clung onto his exhausted eyes, he carefully and deliberately carved a pointed rock against the cave wall so that he could engrave the words "Blessed be this Place" to soothe himself. To ensure a lack of guilt for desecrating the renegades' home, the young man made sure to ask for permission and unenthusiastically shared his different designs for each written character. Once a particular pattern was chosen, he went about his mediatory practice and hadn't uttered another word.

With every straight line or smooth curve, the young man found himself encroaching on a familiar self-pity. He had no intention of remaining that way nor did he want to be so low in the first place, but the events of the prior few days were beginning to weigh on him for the worse. The young man could handle surprise jogs that involved getting hurt because of his own mistakes, getting flashed because of bizarre circumstance, and getting his butt groped by a certain pervert. He wasn't comfortable with those things but he could still handle them. The young man could also handle sudden intrusive visits into his residence, obnoxious interruptions while he tried to repair his glasses, and uncomfortable confessions of love. Again, he wasn't comfortable with those things but he could still handle them.

But, on that fateful Saturday after school, the young man had been pushed to his limits. He'd been forcibly kidnapped, learned that he had a fourth admirer in a situation where he wasn't allowed to have any, had been sexually harassed while he was trying to calm himself down, thrown into an uncomfortable questioning which only served to further motivate Homura's crush on him, and was physically thrown face first into a couch. Perhaps if they were the only things that happened, the young man would be more tolerant to it all. But, once compounded by everything else that had happened, the weight of it all just began to crush him. The young man knew very well that there were people out in the world who were suffering much worse everyday but, even if just for a while, he wanted to keep his mind on himself. Ergo, his focus remained on perfecting the Japanese characters he was engraving into the wall so that he could keep his mind off his bad luck.

Unfortunately for him and his desire for simple peace and quiet, the welling uneasiness in Homura proved to be too much for her to handle. Just as she was unconsciously raising another spoon to her mouth, the utensil slipped out of her hands and into the bowl while the woman suddenly stood herself up. From where he stood, the young man could hear the grinding of her chair and the firm footsteps getting closer to him. Then a straightforward voice said from behind him, "You're not too angry with us, right?"

"I'm actually pretty pissed, though I'll get over it soon enough," came an equally frank answer.

"Ah," murmured Homura as her eyes fell, "Well, just know that I'm sorry for the… you know, tackling and throwing you. I got a bit excited because… well…"

"You were excited to get into a fight with the guy who beat Yumi," came the young man's quiet words, "I understand. Plus, I'd be hypocritical if I didn't admit to fault. So… sorry for egging you on and touching your neck."

To his surprise, Homura quickly raised her hands and began to stammer, "No, wait! I-, well, you're not wrong about me getting excited because you beat Yumi, but I… that's…"

"I just want to clarify real quick," said the young man as he lifted a finger to quiet her, "while I had my share of disadvantages in my fight against Yumi, I did have a key advantage in that I only needed to reach her forehead to win. So… if you're expecting me to be some kind of golden opportunity combatant or some other wordy shit that I can't think of… well, I hate to disappoint you-"

"No, no," stuttered Homura, "you weren't disappointing-, I mean, it wasn't the fight I was expecting-"

"Nor the one that you were hoping for," added Mirai as she leaned over the table, silently eager to see where the scene was going.

"-but, I was more excited for what I had planned after… See… Ah…"

The young man squinted at her, trying to figure out what she was trying to say. While he did so, a knowing look came over Yomi before she lifted her pan of burnt food to the rest of the table, "Seconds? Who am I kidding? Of course you want seconds."

Hikage commented, "Actually, I think I ate enough. I didn't really like it this time around."

In response, Yomi splattered some of the ruined beansprout concoction into the girl's bowl and growled, "But you'll still be having seconds." In order to leave no room for argument, the blonde took her friend's spoon, splashed it into the burnt stew, and shoved it into Hikage's mouth. Fortunately, the girl was willing to just go with it while the other two renegades averted their gaze once Yomi turned over to them.

In the meantime, the young man was still trying to piece together whatever Homura was trying to imply. Her eyes repeatedly skipped from side to side and, despite their equal height, began to shrivel herself up so that he had to slightly crane his head down to look her in the eye. Then, with a sudden burst of motivated energy, Homura sprung herself back up and stammered, "Would it be alright if I told you something? Personal?"

A bad feeling ran down the young man's spine, forcing him to lean away a bit, but he still dared to answer, "I've always got an open ear. What's the problem?"

"It…" Homura said in a whisper before shaking her head to resolutely declare, "There isn't any problem. I just need to tell you something." Seeing the parallels between his current conversation and Asuka's confession from the other day, the young man immediately began to scan for an out. But he was too slow. Before he could make a getaway, Homura raised a hand to grip his shoulder while balling up the other into a fretful fist. She took a heavy breath and declared, "I like you." The young man's heart stopped. "As an individual who's helped me through some issues and has proved willing to help sort everyone else through this mess… I can see that you're… a fine man whom I'd like to stick to, if that's fine."

The rest of the renegades had been reduced to whispers, except for Hikage since she was in the middle of eating and had no intention to stop. From what the young man could pick up with his usually strong ears, which were pulsing as his heartbeat came back with an intense vengeance, Yomi and Haruka were gushing over the scene while Mirai expressed her desire for more drama. Regardless of their reactions, he was still stuck in a web with no visible way out.

Then the figurative kick to his sack came as Homura followed up, "For the sake of honesty… I should also let you know that I like Asuka. And… seeing as you two have such similar qualities, such as your general principles and overall determination… I-, well, not to sound indecisive or disloyal, especially when considering how long I've known Asuka and how meaningful our short time together has been… But I just can't choose between the both of you."

Regardless of how nerve-wracking and utterly confusing the circumstances had turned with only a few sentences and stutters, the young man's eyes glowed once he sensed an opportunity to out himself from the conversation. Without fully considering everything else that was said, the boy began frankly, "If that's the case, maybe you should take… time… ehm…" before it hit him: Homura liked both him and Asuka… In his short time of living, it was the first time he was ever put into such a situation.

Though she caught his first few words and was about to offer rebuttal, the tanned girl took notice of the young man's state as his eyes turned completely blank. She waved up her hands, "I know, I know! It's… a bit much and… I haven't thought out what I want to do or what I want to establish…"

A bit of clarity touched the boy's head once he realized that Homura had no game plan and easily opened herself up for him to divert the issue. All he needed was to say a few calculated words to confuse her or, at least, make her put off the issue until another day. He just wanted a bit of time for him to think out his strategy to reject all four of his admirers without doing any damage to the other girls' trust. At that point, that was all he wanted. Thus, he began, "It's certainly a lot but…"

"No," ordered Homura, her voice filled with an assertiveness that compelled her crush into silence. Then she stepped closer, enough so that her chest had very nearly grazed against the young man's, and uttered, "I… for now, I don't want to hear the word 'but' or anything of the sort… If it's a 'no' then just say so…" Still lagged back while trying to think of a way to smoothly exit the situation, the boy just stood silently. He quickly realized that he should have just spoken up when Homura murmured, "If… you don't reject me now… then…" before she reached her other hand up to cup his face while the other slinked past his shoulder to gently pull him close.

Immediately, the young man's eyes went wide. He began to make incoherent sounds as the girl proceeded to extend her face closer and closer to his. If he could only just tell her to back away or to rethink her approach, he'd be content for the day. But nothing came from his mouth and Homura's lips were getting closer and closer. Her breaths were short and timid but reinforced with a solidness that told him she didn't want to back away.

Before he knew it, while Homura completely pressed herself up against him and their lips halted mere centimeters away, the girl whispered to the young man, "I don't know what I'm going to do in the future… or how I'm going to approach Asuka… but I know what I want to do right now. First, if you'll allow me, I want to kiss you. Then we can call Asuka and arrange a meetup-"

Taking a final stand and giving himself a mental kick to the ass, the young man dared to raise up both of his hands to Homura's shoulders to slightly push her away. Before his action could be contested, he stated with no room for argument, "We ought to talk with Asuka about this first… before either of us get carried away."

His words carried unnecessary, albeit true, implications. Homura didn't need to know that he was also holding himself back from getting carried away with the moment, a fact that would undoubtably pass as a sort of implied reciprocation to her feelings. But his words brought out the desired results as the girl pulled away a bit, her face falling a bit with uncertainty. Just as the young man began to feel the tiniest bit of guilt, she closed her eyes and smiled a bit before stating, "Yeah… it wouldn't be fair to her, would it?"

Doing his best to bring back a straight face, the reddened boy only grunted, "No… it wouldn't be…"

Homura separated herself from him, taking a moment to shift back and forth before jabbing a finger at her crush, "Part of me is a bit irked right now, considering how much it took for me to build myself up to that…"

"Sorry," whispered the young man, thinking of the circumstances that extended beyond pushing the girl away.

"Don't be," said Homura as she scratched at one of her bangs. After a moment, she confidently looked him in the eye, "We'll get together with Asuka in a few days and… after that, I hope that I can hold both of you. I'm not sure how it'll go but, if you're willing, we can all make it work…"

In the end, as Yomi and Haruka were both smiling to one another in approval of the situation, the young man could only grunt a sound that came off as an unsure affirmative. Regardless of how disconnected he evidently was, Homura's smile grew a bit wider before she closed her eyes and turned around to strut over to the table. The young man barely remembered anything more from that point onward. He could vaguely hear Mirai spouting something along the lines of, "That sucked. You should've gotten a bit more drama to go along with it," followed by Homura barking something right back at her.

He somehow found himself at the table and was mindlessly eating the burnt beansprout stew, occasionally grunting or apologizing for his apparent lack of awareness. But, even as the girls around him were praising Homura or were passing his silence off as shyness, the young man was busy connecting a specific set of dots in his head: four shinobi liked him and two had confessed in a span of twenty-four hours. If he was being honest with himself, the boy would have thought his two brothers to be at the center of such a situation, if they weren't the sociopaths that they were.

As mindless and unmeaningful fantasy took him, the young man imagined that Tsao would react in a similar manner as him, though he'd be much franker and would get straight to the rejection… that was if he could keep himself from attacking the girls. Keeping in mind his track record for brutality and knowing for fact that he'd be capable of giving Oda a run for his money, the young man was inclined to believe that his brother would have just slaughtered all of shinobi just for the sake of being done with the issue. In his words, "If they can't be easily corrected, it'd be better to just kill them. It's a mercy, since they aren't in control of their actions, and I get to go home to my family. Beyond those two things, nothing else matters to me." Then there was Haruo, who would completely be in his element if four shinobi confessed to him. Without a doubt in the young man's mind, the bastard son would go out of his way to deliberately make a competition between the four girls. He'd feign indecisiveness and would shamelessly demand carnal favors in exchange for attention, prepared to cast them all aside without having done a thing to correct their distortion. Then he'd pass the issue onto Tsao so that everything could be cleaned up.

In an attempt to brighten his mood, the young man thought to himself that it was probably a blessing that he was the one in charge of the correction. If his two brothers were around, the girls would be facing a Hell much worse than what he was going through… But why did anyone have to go through Hell in the first place? Couldn't there be a simpler way to doing things…? The answer was no… In the end, he would have to continue dancing on his toes in fear of watchful eyes while also opening himself up to the shinobi. However, though he had to be trustworthy and personal with the girls, he also had to emotionally isolate himself from those who felt affection for him.

At some point, dinner had finished and the young man spent the rest of his visit with the renegades sitting absentmindedly on their couch. Conversations were passed back and forth, Homura made a few remarks to break the awkwardness in the air, and Hikage had taken the opportunity to tiredly rest her head against the young man's lap. Once she was inevitably pulled away, she muttered something along the lines of, "He's warm and I'm tired. What's the issue?" It didn't take long for Homura to try a similar stunt. But, upon noticing the young man's discomfort, she pulled herself away and refocused on the conversation she was having with Mirai. At the end of it all, Yomi and Haruka decided it would be best if they escorted him home early. He offered a few curt words and said his goodbyes before following them out of the cave and into the forest.

Yomi led the way through the trees, calling out the occasional landmark so that the young man could find his way back for future visits. But he didn't pay much attention, due to the hairs standing up on the back of his neck once Haruka decided to walk right next to him. He turned his eyes over to her and squinted at the smirks she'd pass at him. Regardless, neither said a word.

That changed once Yomi was far enough ahead, unaware that her two companions were lagging behind. Without hesitation, Haruka smoothly whipped out her phone and pointed to a particular icon. Then she spoke in a dastardly whisper, "Hibari left me a voice message earlier. Do you know what she told me about?"

Still stuck in a semi-blank state, the young man sarcastically replied, "Is it a memorandum on how to expand the economy?"

"Only if the word 'economy' refers to that thing in your pants, yes," retorted Haruka as she closed her eyes and raised her chin proudly. There was a noticeable falter in the young man's step as he processed her dirty joke, to which she cheerfully added, "Though, in which country do you intend to insert that 'economy' into? Perhaps the desirable State of Homura? Or, from what Hibari told me, the peaceful Nation of Asuka?"

At that, the young man froze for a few seconds. Haruka kept walking and he was forced to trot a bit to catchup before sputtering, "Ho-, hold up, hold up… Hibari told you about Asuka's confession?"

"Of course she did, the sweet thing," grinned the taller girl, "and, by the sound of her excitement and when I consider her history as a people person, I imagine she's also called Ryōna and Minori about it too."

Unthinking and trying to recover, the young man sucked in some air and muttered, "That's an awfully specific choice in people."

"And with good reason."

"That being?"

Haruka flashed her eyes downward in domineering glee, "They're not only her friends but they're also complete chatterboxes." It took a moment for the young man to process her implication before his eyes narrowed forward, filled with an expanding nervousness and rising levels of anxiety. Seeking to tease her target a bit, Haruka reached over and swirled her nail into the back of the young man's shoulder. She scratched and rubbed for a bit before stating, "I imagine everyone, save for the rest of my team, knows about it by now."

Breathing heavily as Yomi called back to the two, "Keep up! We're almost out," the poor boy turned his head over. His mind raced between different alarms and questions, fretfully imagining what the future would bring… then he also dared to think of another curiosity.

"You haven't told Homura and everyone else?" whispered the young man.

His answer was a shrug from Haruka, who only replied, "It would only further confuse Homura on what she should do… or would it, perhaps, make things easier for her? Who knows? Either way, you'll get a head start."

With that, she sped up her strides and moved on ahead to Yomi, leaving the young man behind to think about what she said. As relieving as it was for him to know that Homura and the rest of the renegades weren't aware of Asuka's confession, he couldn't imagine how Miyabi reacted to such news. Even more worrying, however, was Yumi's take on the situation.

The young man clenched his eyes closed before opening them despairingly. He reached down to his pocket and pulled out his phone to reread the message that he read shortly after his fight with Homura. Part of him remembered scratching his phrase "Blessed be this Place" into the cave wall, occasionally looking down to the text to consider the situation. Then he would panic, take a breath, and resume his writing. But, no matter how he looked at it, the sender of said message, Yumi, was a force that he couldn't dare to reckon with. Miyabi's inexperience with intimacy saved him from confronting her feelings, Asuka's willingness to give time offered the young man a temporary way out, and Homura's circumstances paved the way for a reasonable excuse to leave.

But Yumi was different. She was the leader among her four sisters, all of whom appeared to be very open and familiar with one another's feelings. In addition to that, her subconscious yearning for control implied an impatience that wouldn't wait for an answer. Throw in the fact that Homura's circumstances were unlikely to be replicated, it was practically impossible that the young man would have an out from any potential meeting with Yumi.

Thus, after thinking his response out, the young man replied after a pause within his cave writing, "Thank you for your kind wishes. Unfortunately, I will be busy for the next few days. I'll notify you once I'm ready for a get-together."

As he left the forest behind and waved uncomfortable goodbyes to Yomi and Haruka, the young man couldn't help but feel dread for the following day. He'd go home, do his homework, and clean his clothes for school on Monday… but he knew that chaos was cursed on him. Just like the last three days, something imposed by Yumi would happen and he knew that he'd have no choice but to go along with it.

He'd always been like that. It was just fortunate that the young man was no longer a slave to wretched people. Instead, they were replaced by well-meaning and impulsive girls who just held an attraction to him… but, alas, he was still a slave.

**April 19 – "There are times when someone needs to get aggressive and go all-out. Some moments in life just require it, lest that someone either misses out on something or, worse, is forced to kneel to some undeserving and malevolent force… then there are times to take a step back in spite of one's desires. It's a tough call but it can be the difference between stability and insanity."**

Just a block away from the young man's apartment, Oda continued his stoic approach after patting at the blade underneath his coat. He'd gathered all of his recordings on the infiltrator's activities and was prepared to confront him head-on, ready to do whatever was necessary to see his vision of justice served. Though, by that point, the larger man had set aside his animosity for the boy and was prepared to offer what leniency he could: either a quick death or a secret trial followed by certain life imprisonment. As far as Oda was concerned, that was fair for any outlaw… especially if the resulting consequences for any action ended with facing off against the boy's brother, Tsao.

A snort blew out of the man's nose before he shook his head. However much he'd like to put on a macho appearance as one of the strongest shinobi to walk the Earth… there was an ungodly force built within Tsao, one which almost made Oda reconsider going after the monster's youngest brother. It wasn't as though anyone would blame the old man either, considering that the veteran infiltrator had a kill record that went into the triple digits over the course of a decade. On one of the last occasions that Oda got a visual on the demon, Tsao parried the blades of seven shinobi and had swiftly cut their necks in a span of no more than ten seconds… then there was everyone else that died that night, all of whom were elite shinobi with years of hardened experience. In recent years, he also came with a platoon of infiltrator goons who worshiped the floor he walked upon. In shorter words, Tsao was the most dangerous human being in all of Japan. It was almost impossible to believe that he was even human. But, alas, he was.

As much as any shinobi would like to proclaim that their cruel scourge was a heartless monster who existed only to challenge their existence, it was also a known fact that the beast had a fierce protectiveness for his family. Even when he had fired a shotgun slug straight into a young child's face for the sake of sending a meager warning, Tsao had only done so because he was trying to protect his brother, Haruo. It was a fact that begged the question: what hope was there in successfully apprehending those that Tsao loved for the long-term?

Oda intended to find out. He marched his way in front of the young man's apartment under a high noon sun and began to ascend the stairs, determined to get to the beginning of his own end. In great anticipation for the confrontation to come, the large man balled up his hands and clenched his jaw all while planning out the line, "I am placing you under arrest for your crimes of espionage and terrorism against Japan…" It was extremely barebones and Oda wasn't even sure if he'd even gotten it right. But, regardless of how shaky his nerves were becoming, he intended to move forward. It was a matter that his principles rested on.

As Oda got closer, he suddenly heard the young man's voice yelling from his apartment, "-the knob is missing…! No, the door is still up and on its hinges but the knob was busted off- hold up. Stand… sit… Good boys. Sorry what? It didn't fall- OI! I'm trying to tell you that- SHUT YOUR HOLE! I've been trying to reach you for days and you're calling me an ass? No, fuck you. Replace the door or refund me the deposit so I can do it myself… Because there's a fucking hole in my door- hey! Not now- fine. Hold on. Stand… sit… Good boys. I'm back- no, I wasn't talking to you! There're two dogs in my apartment right now, an issue which could have been avoided if you would just replace the damn door!"

Oda was completely baffled for a moment and couldn't help but peek his head inside to survey the scene. The young man stood with his phone up to his ear while occasionally petting two wolves who certainly did not belong in his apartment. In fact, when Oda took a closer look, the canines were the very same that belonged to Murakumo… Then that sparked another question: what were they doing with the young man? While the Oda tried to figure the situation out, the white wolf, Kotarō, nudged his snout against the young man's hand before offering a few playful bites. In return, the boy halted his conversation on the phone before reaching down to a plate of food. He raised a bit of bacon into the air, "Stand…" and Oda couldn't believe his eyes when both dogs stood on their hind legs. Then the young man said, "Sit," and the wolves obeyed in kind. Having satisfied his demands, both dogs were rewarded their greasy treats, "Good boys."

Then the young man's eyes turned to the doorway to find Oda and his skin turned absolutely pale. A female voice, whom both men recognized as Jasmine, kept yammering away on the phone before the younger of the two stuttered, "Hey… the guy from Hanzō's restaurant is in here and I'm not sure how I should be reacting…" A few seconds passed before the woman's voice returned in a way that sounded an awful lot like patronization to Oda. "No, it's not Kiriya. It's the big dude." Then came a few more chitters of confusion. "The really big dude- okay, seriously. Beside Hanzō, Kiriya, and me, what other guys were in the restaurant?"

The line on the young man's phone suddenly went silent before an audible click was heard. The boy narrowed his eyes, reflecting his distinct feeling of sarcasm and dread, before turning up to Oda to give a slow wave. In turn, Oda only asked, "That was Jasmine, yes?"

"The landlord who's not good at being a landlord… or a decent person in recent memory? Yes," replied the young man. As lighthearted as he tried to pass himself off as, there was a very readable layer of tension to his every syllable.

"Such is the consequence of relying on a woman who has more experience in fighting than managing buildings…" The tone in Oda's voice fell and turned grim. Regardless of the young man's display of humanity a minute before, the larger man couldn't allow himself to tarry any longer. Who knew if the infiltrator had a way to warn his oldest brother? Who knew if Tsao, himself, wasn't already watching at that very moment…?

"I wasn't aware she was a fighter," muttered the boy, his voice betraying the lie that he was poorly trying to sell.

"Don't try and be deceitful with me, please," grumbled Oda, "We both know for fact that you're aware of what she is. Aren't you?"

The young man's eyes weren't blinking anymore. While the two wolves beside him continued to nuzzle his hands, apparently ignoring the large shinobi's presence, the boy's lips were pulled thin and grimaced while his mind tried to think up a solution or an escape. But he had none. If it were any other shinobi, he could stand a chance by leaping for the window. But Oda wasn't just a mass of muscle. From what he'd heard in a few scarce conversations with the girls, the old shinobi could only be rivaled by Hanzō in speed. So, without much thought, the young man could only suck in a breath and mutely say, "I suppose I am…"

Oda took a few steps forward, "So, you're admitting to it?"

"I suppose I am," came a louder reply, etched with indignance, before the boy yelped, "Ah!" and looked down to his side. The black wolf, Kagerō, landed a lighthearted bite that broke a bit of skin before repeatedly poking his nose into the young man. In turn, the infiltrator murmured, "Fine, fine… Gods, give me strength," and reached toward the plate on his counter. He held to treats up, "Stand," and watched as the dogs obeyed, "Sit," and halfheartedly threw two pieces of bacon into the air before either dog brought their paws back to the ground.

The cute scene begged Oda to ask, "Why just those two tricks? Why not ask for them to 'roll over' or 'play dead' for a change?"

Putting an irritated look onto his face and questioning how the man threatening his life could be so bold as to so suddenly change the subject, the young man replied curtly, "I forgot to mop the floor last night and I don't want their fur to get dirty."

"It's just a little dust," grumbled Oda, "and they're dogs- sorry, wolves… What damage would it do?"

The young man snorted, "You ask that but here you are."

The gorilla of a man stood silently for a moment before whispering under his breaths, "So I am…" and scratched the front of his burly chest. Without much consideration, he pointed to the two canines and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what're they doing here?"

After taking a moment to scratch at both wolves' ears, the young man replied, "I don't really know, if I'm honest."

Oda's eyebrows twisted in confusion, "You don't know?"

"Not even slightly," came the sure answer without even a hint of dishonestly, "I woke up this morning, cooked some bacon, burned it crispy, called Jasmine, started to get pissed- next thing I know, two large dogs come through my front door, and they both start pawing at me like a couple of dirty beggars…" To his comment, both dogs cocked their heads to the side as if to offer rebuttal. In turn, the young man grumbled, "Yeah, I'm telling the truth about you two. I'll see you both in court for the reparations." He then proceeded to pleasantly rub at both dogs' sides, "Won't I? Won't~ I?"

Seeing the infiltrator that he'd been hunting in such a way tugged a bit at Oda, calling for him to save the issue for another day. By the way both dogs rolled onto their backs so that the young man could pet their stomachs, they would have also been in agreement with that voice… But the shinobi had a job to do. He had to uphold the law that he swore himself to. If he failed, then how could he face his wife and daughter? How could Oda tell them that he wasn't the principled man that he boasted himself out to be? If there was something that Oda feared, it was the thought of being branded a liar and a deceiver by the two people whom he loved the most.

Thus, the large man cleared his throat and gestured for the door, "Shall we?"

Looking up from his position beside the wolves, the young man shook his head and quietly declared, "You're free to stay if you want to make conversation… but if you've come to arrest or threaten me, I'll give you two options: kill me or get out."

There wasn't any pause before Oda retorted, "If a terrorist like you thinks that you get to set those options, then I'm afraid you're going to get a harsh lesson."

"What exactly defines me as a terrorist?" asked the young man, "What have I done to you or any shinobi that has brought even the slightest harm? Because, from all that I've seen across my time here, I've corrected four cases of distortion all while getting my ass handed to me left and right. While everyone else is partying away and getting into their, presumably, usual shenanigans, I feel like I'm carrying a whole lot of weight all by myself with no one really extending a hand to help! Expressions of worry? Sure. Encouraging words? Cool. But I still feel like I'm walking a minefield all by myself. For what? To help them! What fucking grounds do you have to call me a terrorist?"

"You're an infiltrator," stated Oda, "You're a member of one of the most invasive groups to all shinobi, just barely behind dignitaries. Who knows what crimes you're capable of and have already committed?"

Blowing out air through his teeth, the young man took a step towards Oda. His eyes burned with a fury that the man had witnessed many times before, "Am I being charged for crimes that you suppose I'm going to commit? Is that the bull you've got going for yourself?"

"I was merely explaining that you are in a position that is very capable of evil," said Oda as coldness began to take his voice, "and I intend to make sure that you never act on those capabilities."

"I could say the same thing about the shinobi," retorted the young man. He threw his hands into the air, "For fuck's sake," and gestured to Oda, "take a look at your own position, asshole. As a shinobi, aren't you just as capable of evil? Aren't there shinobi whom you and all the rest of the government declare evil? Fuck! There IS an official faction of evil shinobi and you are completely unafraid to call them as such! But, from what I've seen at Hanzō's restaurant, you appeared to be pretty friendly with them the other day, you fucking hypocrite!"

"Don't raise your voice at me."

The young man charged forward until he was toe to toe with Oda, "Fuck you! Fuck you for coming into my apartment, seeking to arrest me for crimes that you presume I'm going to commit while calling me evil, and then getting pissed when I get pissed! Fuck you and the high horse that you're riding on, you fucking arrogant shit!"

By that point, the young man was breathing unsteadily and had to crane his head up to meet the eyes of the old man before him. Angry tears stung at the corner of his eyes while he tried his ultimate to not think about whatever was to come next. It was only when Oda grumbled, "Did you get it out of your system or do you have more you want to say?" that the young man broke away his line of sight and turned back around before beginning to tremble. Somewhere from outside his door, he thought he'd heard a whistle of sorts.

The young man started, "Not even slightly…" before whipping his head around to glare at Oda, "There's far too much that I want to tell you and the rest of your bunch. So, let's get this over with! GET OUT-" The young man found himself cut off once the two wolves, who'd been sitting idly on the floor, suddenly pounced forward and bit down on the sleeves of his shirt. Without warning, the boy was pulled forward past Oda and toward the door, his feet dragging against the floor while he tried to pull away. He sputtered and cursed a few times, "What's going- what the hell!? What're- Let go! Let go!" but the dogs maintained their grips and continued to pull for the exit.

Oda did a doubletake from the sight before beginning to follow after, bumbling out, "What? What is this? What the hell is this!? Where're they taking you?"

Before any sarcastic remark could be made, the infiltrator was out the doorway and a pair of hands suddenly reached from around the corner. Before he knew it, the young man was hefted up and out of the wolves' grip and onto the shoulders of a woman wearing a red haori with a flower trim. Her deep voice spoke out, "Continue this another day."

If Oda didn't call out, "Murakumo, would you mind telling me what you're doing?" the young man would have started to try and kick himself free. But, knowing that he was in the arms of an ally, he relaxed and allowed for himself to be carried off with the two wolves following close behind.

"We'll discuss this another day," declared Murakumo, who marched away toward the stairs with the boy still bouncing on her shoulders.

Oda wouldn't have any of her resistance. He reached into his coat and was prepared to draw the weapon he'd kept hidden underneath, "Drop him and surrender yourselves now. I don't want to have to do anything rash." There was a very slight crack to his voice that told the young man that he really didn't want to harm the girl.

"Do as you will," ordered Murakumo before giving the boy a showy and deliberate bounce, "but I will not allow you to unfairly question him any longer. You can wait until we're all gathered and can face the consequences together." Without delay or taking any time to check on how Oda planned to retaliate, the masked girl clambered down the stairs without another word. It only took the young man a moment to notice the distinct sound of her nervous and heavy breathing quietly echoing from underneath the mask.

For a brief moment, Oda had pulled out the kodachi that he had hidden underneath his coat. Then a different thought occurred to him and he left it in its scabbard. While he watched from the second-floor balcony as Murakumo carried off the young man down the sidewalk, a few ideas ran through the large man's head and beckoned him to rub his chin in consideration. He snorted scornfully and pulled out his phone, carefully dialing a number with his large sausage fingers, and held the device up to his ear.

"Jirō, this is Oda… I need you drop whatever you have planned for tomorrow."

Meanwhile, the young man continued to bounce along on Murakumo's shoulders as her movement steadily got more and more frantic. Eventually, once her energizing bravado had run dry, the girl stepped off toward an alley and set the boy to his feet. As the weight of everything that happened settled on their shoulders, both teens took a heavy breath and nearly keeled over. After a few seconds, the young man slumped against once of the alley walls and asked, "You realize what you've just done, right?"

While the boy couldn't believe that she'd stuck her neck out to Oda, Murakumo quietly replied, "Yeah," as she squeezed a hand underneath her mask and rubbed her forehead.

Taking in the fact that she was visibly thrown off by her own actions, the young man sucked in a breath of air and stammered, "I'm not sure what it's worth… but thank you. Thanks for getting me out of there with my heart still in my chest."

"Don't be," mumble Murakumo, who turned her head away, "I only did so because you're the only one capable of curing our distortion… and because Yumi- actually, no. It's just the distortion."

To that remark, the boy smiled tiredly and said, "You say that like you should be ashamed." After a moment of consideration, he clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Regardless, thank you. I appreciate it greatly." Both of them proceeded to sit quietly for a moment before a question popped into the young man's head, "What were you doing there in the first place?"

An embarrassed, "Eh…" echoed from Murakumo's mask before she turned her head away, "I was looking for Kotarō and Kagerō…"

"Why were they in my apartment…?"

"No reason…"

"I'm sure…"

Both remained in the alleyway for a few minutes more, trading glances and hanging their heads in realization of all that had happened within the last fifteen minutes. But, well aware of the fact that wallowing in self-pity wouldn't produce any results, Murakumo straightened herself and reached down to the young man, "C'mon. We're heading to Gessen Academy. Yumi's waiting for us there."

"Waiting for us, you say?" asked the young man as he took the hand.

There a brief pause in the masked girl's voice before she nodded, "Yeah. I volunteered to bring you over when she told me that you declined her invite. Sorry that things aren't going the way you wanted them."

After being hoisted to his feet, the young man considered his issues with going to Gessen Academy. Part of him was about to voice his desire to refuse before he realized something clearly. He shook his head and mumbled, "Well, what's the harm… especially considering the fact that Oda isn't going to let this go. I might as well go and prolong my life for a bit longer."

"Let's not think about that for now," ordered Murakumo as she held up a finger, "We'll get you to Yumi and, with her being a lot more knowledgeable than me, she'll be able to think up something."

Sitting in front of her vanity at Gessen Academy, Yumi let out a soft sneeze and reached over for a tissue. While rubbing her nose, she silently cursed herself as little smudges of blush and lipstick were wiped away from her lips and cheeks. A frustrated sigh blew out of her mouth before she shook her head and went about reapplying her makeup. It wasn't often that Yumi got herself together in such a way. But, if everything went according to plan, she would be joyfully embracing the young man in a few hours' time.

As Murakumo went about rounding the boy up, an extreme measure that Yumi regretted in the tiniest way, Yozakura was cooking up a meal mixed with foods both traditional and modern, snacks that were spicy and sweet, along with deserts hot and cold. According to the blue-haired girl, the most crucial step to the lunch was watching what the young man ate and burning it into memory so that Yumi would be able to pleasantly surprise him in the future. Though Minori, whose head was deep into cutting and crafting different decorations for the occasion, was confused and wondered aloud why they didn't just set out a bunch of desserts and dig in from there, everyone else expressed great confidence in the plan.

Just as Yumi finished applying the lipstick, she heard her phone vibrate off to the side. Upon picking it up, she found that Shiki had asked yet another question in regards to setting up phase two of the plan.

"Are you thinking something sexy or cute?"

Though Yumi was about to immediately answer in favor of the latter, she took a glance at herself in the mirror. The makeup was firmly applied and noticeable but still came off as extremely natural and elegant. It took all of the resistance that she could muster to not reach up and stroke the mascara on her eyelashes, which were slightly itchy and protruding seductively to the side. Then there was the breathtaking kimono that she wore. While its sky-blue color palette complemented her pale skin and gave a lovely contrast to her hair, the design of flowers sprouting from snowflakes was the true show stealer. Considering how quickly Yumi managed to accomplish the lovely fabric, she was extremely proud of it. Then there was the white kanzashi that Murakumo expressed her fondness for… Truly, as Minori put it, Yumi came off as a princess from the heavens above when she wore such a garb.

But then there was a question: was it just beautiful, a little cute, or extremely sexy? As much as Yumi wanted to answer Shiki by texting back, "Cuteness is justice!" or a similar line, there couldn't be any doubt about some of the kimono's more… mature designs.

It was very deliberately designed to bring about the young man's attention, which meant opening up the top of the dress so that Yumi's breasts stuck out a bit and then tightening it so that they seemed to bulge ever slightly. As embarrassing as she felt, it couldn't be denied that the girl's appearance would certainly be attention-grabbing. As Shiki said when she advised Yumi to execute such a bold strategy, "Boobs attract views and sell hard!" Then there was the matter of how short-cut the kimono's bottom lining was. It was fairly high above the knees and certainly warranted caution if Yumi wanted to bend over to pick something up from the floor. But it was design choice of her own volition. After all, if phase two was going to go the way that she wanted it to, she would need as much soft flesh as possible. The bottom of her thighs would certainly be essential to that plan.

Taking her whole appearance into account and biting back a bit of her shame, Yumi texted back to Shiki, "Sexy. Please, don't go overboard,"

No more than a few seconds later, Shiki sent a winking face emoticon along with two thumbs up. Fearful of whatever her sister had in mind, Yumi sighed and shook her head. Then her phone vibrated again and she grumbled, "Don't hype me up for it, just set it up and get it over with," and was prepared to lightly chide the blonde.

Then she read Murakumo's name and saw the top of her message from the notifications bar along with the fact that it was a group text to everyone in the Gessen elite.

"EMERGENCY! Kotarō and Kagerō tracked him to his apartment but Oda was there! We're on our way-"

Sent into a state of complete alarm, Yumi swiped onto her phone and opened the text message to read it in its entirety. There, Murakumo detailed the whole situation and how shaken up both she and the young man were over the matter. Nearly losing herself, Yumi began to fidget and had almost dropped her phone. She fortunately caught herself but the situation had changed drastically in a few short seconds.

A reply came from Minori first, "MURAKUMOE GET AWAY FROM ODA GE'S GOING TO HURT YOU BITH! WE'L BE WAITING FOR YOU HERE AND WIL GETEVERYONE ELSE OVERHERE TO SVAE YOU!"

Yozakura then sent out a more sensible text, "Are either of you hurt?" followed by, "Minori, calm down. They're already on their way."

Murakumo then texted, "Again, we're both just shaken up. We'll be at the academy within the next half-hour. Do we cancel the plan?"

Shiki proceeded to send a few gifs of two angry heads shaking before answering, "I know we're in a dangerous scenario, but we shouldn't lose all of our progress in the plan because of this. Let's keep calm, eat our lunch, let Yumi execute phase two, and then we can discuss what to do while she and her lover-boy hold hands to comfort one another."

Minori commented, "That sounds so cute!"

Then Yozakura retorted, "The situation has changed too much for us all to just go along with that! In case you haven't realized, Oda is a serious man who is likely going to be confronting all of us very soon. We need to think about what we're going to do and what we're going to say!"

Minori answered, "Fair…"

Then Murakumo sent her final message, "Yumi, I'm sorry, but we'll need you to be the deciding voice in this. What do you want for us to do?"

Reading through the wall of texts that had suddenly enveloped her phone, the ice queen of Gessen Academy felt her face turn hot and itchy as the pressure came down on her. In a matter of minutes, her conflict of just trying to woo the young man had turned into a complex scenario of dire proportions. If Oda was truly onto them all and was on the move to intercept the boy then the answer was plain and obvious: they would have to drop most of the plan. There wouldn't be any comfortable talks on the couch about whatever came to mind nor would it be appropriate to try and hold hands while suggesting a movie.

After taking a moment to think, Yumi answered, "Yozakura, I'll come help you set out the food while we wait for Murakumo's arrival." When typing the young man's name, the girl had to refrain from adding any emoticons, "Minori, feel free to finish whatever decorations you're on but please be in the dining room within fifteen minutes. Shiki, give me a moment to text you. Let's calm ourselves down over lunch and then discuss our course of action with clear minds. If need be, we'll call Hanzō and Jasmine for advice. Let's avoid calling everyone else to avoid implicating them if a worst-case scenario comes to pass. Is everyone clear?"

Once a small round of affirmatives came in, Yumi nodded to herself before setting up message meant only for Shiki. After letting a bit of guilt flood through her, the girl texted, "If at all possible, please leave up anything you've set up for phase two."

It didn't take a second for the blonde to send a winking emoji followed by a, "I had no intention of letting my effort go to waste anyway."

Though she felt bad for even contemplating the idea, Yumi didn't to put off her romantic intentions for the young man just because Oda made a sudden appearance. At the end of the day, she wanted to be with the one who'd saved and consoled her. In an attempt to save some face with herself, Yumi muttered, "Who knows… Maybe I'll be able to soothe him or calm him down… or something…"

Not too long after her text, she finished prepping herself and made her way down to their personal dining room to help Yozakura in setting the table up with the wide variety of meals she'd cooked. It was truly a bit tragic, considering the fact that she'd made such a meal with the intention to celebrate a happy occasion of a man and woman, perhaps, coming together under the banners of love. Instead, it was being set out as a means to calm everyone down while they thought out their next move. Fortunately, Yozakura didn't seem too down about it.

Shortly after, Minori and Shiki came down to help prep the finishing touches, pulling some rolls from the cupboards and producing a few condiments. Then, as everyone was taking their seats, the sound of a door closing echoed from the adjacent hallway. Their eyes rose from their plates and watched as the door opened to reveal Murakumo and the young man walking in with tired postures as the former's dogs trotted in and found their food bowls. Just by the look on the boy's face and the dimly shaking arms of Murakumo, everyone could tell that they were still rattled by their run-in with Oda. There was a quiet murmur from around the table, "Hello," before the two were pointed to open seats.

Murakumo immediately sat herself down and leaned onto her elbows, something that Yozakura usually would have scolded her for. But the mood was too heavy to be so trivial. Then there was the young man, who idled a bit by the door before slowly stepping forward to an open seat. He glanced back and forth, making sure that there was nothing wrong with him taking that particular chair, before he pulled it back and sat down. His eyes were narrow and his face was grim but Yumi recognized the way that his shoulders ever slightly shook. It was the same as when they were both in her head and were finishing the correction. He was scared. Just like before, the young man had faced off against a force that could have killed him and he'd lived to tell the tale… But he was still scared of what could have happened and of whatever was going to come next.

While Yumi lowered her eyes, Yozakura broke the silence, "Please, feel free to eat." Though Murakumo nodded and slightly lifted the bottom of her mask to dig in, the young man remained still for a moment. A few seconds passed before Yozakura called him out by name and asked, "Are you alright?"

His eyes popped open and his body jumped in its seat before he turned over to the girl, "Sorry… and thank you for the meal."

However young as he was, everyone in the room could foresee the gray hairs sprouting on the boy's head as he repeatedly lost himself in thought. When Minori tried to start a conversation, he gave no answer while his fingers shook up and down to slightly tap against the table in-between bites of the night's appetizer dish, a yakitori skewer. Once his preset plate had been finished, the young man just sat silently and stared off into space with a look that shifted between anger, sorrow, and exhaustion. After nearly three minutes of him just sitting with an empty plate, Yozakura brought herself to ask, "Aren't you still hungry? Did you have a large breakfast or lunch?"

"Nothing much…" replied the young man without much thought, his eyes still lost and unfocused. Then, as if he smacked himself in the face, the boy turned to her and murmured, "Sorry… again. If it's alright, I'll grab some more…"

"Please, go ahead…"

"Thank you."

Part of Yumi wanted to study what foods the young man went after, seeking out ideas for herself to prep on future dates. She'd been wondering about whether or not he'd prefer the chicken dumplings, the salmon donburi, or perhaps the specially made spinach gomae. But his hands seemed to just drift mindlessly between the platters of food. Though his eyes were actively moving and his hands were using tongs to plop food onto his plate, the young man's mind was still far off. Then, just as he was resting himself back into his seat, a grunt emanated from his throat while a look of realization came over his face. Without warning, he set the plate down and turned to Murakumo, "Thank you for showing up when you did…"

From behind her mask, the woman replied, "It's fine."

"No, it's not," replied the young man with the tiniest crack in his voice. He leaned forward into the table and rested his head upon a hand, "At this point, it's… it isn't fine at all."

Sensing that he was on the verge of collapse, Shiki turned over to Yumi and tapped her spoon against the table. When her older sister turned to her, the blonde used the utensil to point to the young man and then to the door. Needing to take a moment to process the implication, a look of dismay came over Yumi as she mouthed the words, "Right now?" Again, Shiki tapped at the table, pointed at the young man, and then to the door. The message was extremely firm and clear. Yumi nodded her head, "Alright."

The girl stood from her chair and rounded over to the young man, whose fingers were actively trying to painfully dig into his forehead. She tapped him on the shoulder, to which he didn't respond at first, before lowering herself to wrap her arms around his abdomen to heft him up. Feeling his weight suddenly lift from the chair, the young man had to take a moment to remember what he was doing. He blinked and turned his head as much as he could to Yumi, asking, "Hu-WHA! What're you doing? Where're we going!?"

But the girl only murmured gently, "Just bear with me for a moment," as she took a moment to lean his body to one arm. Then, after giving him a bit of a bounce, she moved her other arm to wrap under his knees. Once Yumi was carrying the young man bridal style, she continued to haul him toward the door that led into a deeper hallway. Once at the door, she turned around to the table and asked, "Could one of you get this?"

As Minori stood up and began to gallop over, the young man stammered with a red face, "You can put me down! I can walk, I can walk!"

"Just bear with it, please," retorted Yumi as she stepped aside for the pigtailed girl to open the door. Upon hearing the doorknob's click, she surged forward and mouthed a thanks to her sister before stepping out into the hallway. The door closed behind her and everyone else was left to contemplate the situation by themselves, though they wouldn't be able to think of any proper resolution without their dearest sister on hand. Until she was done with the young man, they would just have to wait out the discomfort.

Back in the hallway, Yumi continued to carry her protesting object of affection until she finally found the door to the sparring room. A few thoughts rang through her head, some of them reflecting worries about what Shiki might have done to try and set a sexy mood in the room previously. But the young man's worrying behavior was at the forefront of her focus. Thus, she planned to merge phase two of her grand operation with her intentions to comfort the young man. For as long as the situation's stress continued to eat away at him, Yumi would not be able to sit comfortably nor think clearly. She didn't think it was something he deserved. Especially after what he'd done to relieve her own anxieties.

After a moment of standing in front of the sparring room, Yumi turned her eyes to the young man in her arms, "Could you open the door?"

"Or you could put me down," said the boy with narrowed eyes, "then you could open it yourself."

"Please," murmured Yumi, her eyes turning soft to plead with him.

The young man tried to resist but found himself without another choice. Breathing heavily and muttering under his breath, he reached one of his free hands over and slid the door open and quirked a brow once slow jazz began to echo from out of the room. Immediately, Yumi charged inside, used her foot to kick the extended frame, and listened as the door slammed shut behind her. Then she took in the majesty of Shiki's work and felt her jaw ever slightly drop.

While a stimulating jazz lulled in the background, Shiki had set up crimson wallpapers across every wall in the entire room. Having temporarily forgotten the fact that said walls were once a blue and white shade, Yumi advanced a bit to find that her sister had also moved their sofa from the living room and plopped it right in the center of the floor. With as much care as she could muster in her awestruck state, the elder sister dropped the young man onto said sofa and began to observe the other surroundings. Hanging from the ceiling was a sling of numerous flowers and snowflakes modeled from the design on her kimono. At that moment, Yumi realized that the lights were steadily beginning to dim. Though it took a bit of looking around, she quickly realized that Shiki must've set up a timed delay from when the door was opened. In addition to the numerous other features in the room, including the plush heart-shaped pillows on the sofa and the rose pedals scattered across the floor, Yumi was actually very impressed by Minori and Shiki's decorative efforts.

It was a terrible shame that circumstance had thwarted them all.

After huffing a heavy breath, Yumi walked over to the music player and turned it off before flipping the lights back on. Once the room was as normal as it could get for the moment, the girl then moved to the couch and sat beside the young man. Facing the prospect of a surely judgmental gaze, Yumi's face began to heat up while a terrible itch ran down her back. But she never heard him say anything. It took a bit of time for her to muster some bravery but Yumi managed to turn her head around to find the young man was leaning toward the far side of the sofa with one of his arms covering his eyes like someone who was desperate for sleep. After a moment of silence, the girl asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm tired…" came the boy's hoarse reply.

"Ah… sorry," murmured Yumi as she averted her gaze away. Then she remembered why she'd brought him in there in the first place. If only for the sake of repaying the debt she felt she owed for his correction, she dug around her head for words before beginning to yammer, "I'm… sorry the room is decorated in the way it is… All of this is… Hm… Ah…"

"Yumi…"

The girl jumped before nodding her head, "Yes?"

"I know…"

Her eye's shot open and her body froze up. Peeking out from underneath his arm, the young man lifted his head a bit before offering a sympathetic look with a veil of guilt. In the meantime, Yumi was doing her utmost to keep from shaking while trying to figure out how he'd discovered her crush on him so quickly and calmly. Part of her considered the notion that the young man had merely deduced it upon entering the room, especially since all of the decorations had left it fairly obvious. Yet, he seemed almost too calm and reserved about the matter, like he'd known it for a while. Maybe he was just much more overwhelmed by the threat of Oda but Yumi thought that a revelation like her liking him would have gotten a bit more reaction. Otherwise, he could've also just be immune since Asuka had already confessed to him. The only other option would have been if he'd heard Shiki a few nights before…

Yumi blinked once and felt a plain expression settle on her face as she considered about strangling her youngest sister, remembering just how loud and teasing her 'whisper' was. Then she reminded herself that it wasn't the time to fret.

Just as Yumi was about to say something, the young man piped up, "Are you alright?"

Her eyebrows rose briefly before they contorted downward. She lifted herself and slid toward the young man so that she could reach and grip his shoulders. Once he was in her hold, she declared, "I'm supposed to ask you that."

With unblinking eyes, the young man stated, "You already did. I've told you already… I'm tired…"

"Just tired?" asked Yumi as her expression grew more serious by the second.

Though her question was simple, it tripped up whatever the young man was planning to say. He fidgeted a bit before taking a heavy breath and turning his head away, "Of course not… I'm… also bit scared… a bit nervous… pretty angry- no. I'm actually pissed right now. I'm pissed at Oda, I'm pissed at my brothers, at the world… and I'm sorry to say it, but I'm also pissed at you guys…" Yumi flinched at his words while he raised an assuring hand, "Granted, it isn't entirely reasonable… You guys didn't ask for distortion nor can you control… the way you feel… But still… there's that."

For a moment, the girl's eyes fell somberly as she felt a few pangs of hurt stab into her. Then she dared to murmur, "So it's… partly the fact that you're here for our distortions that's… upsetting you…?"

"That…" whispered the young man as he turned back to face her, "and the fact that you… no, not just you. It's you, Homura, Asuka, and even Miyabi… All of you have…" Needing to take a moment, he covered his face and leaned against a hand before stating, "I'm sorry if this sounds arrogant coming from my mouth, but all of you very evidently have feelings for me."

Though her head remained toward the young man, Yumi's eyes shifted away as she mumbled, "…it's not arrogant if it's true… which I know it is for Miyabi and Asuka… though," before turning them back to face him, "has Homura done something to say so? From all I've seen, she's had feelings for Asuka."

"She does have feelings for Asuka… She also confessed her other feelings for me last night," admitted the young man.

Yumi's instincts immediately tried to make her jump up and freak out at the density of her competition. But her focus remained on the boy who sat beside her. For as long as he remained in the pitiful state that he was in, she wouldn't let her attention be diverted to lesser issues. One of her hands went up and began to rub the young man's shoulder as she soothed to him, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, none of us will get mad at you… just because there's some competition doesn't mean we're going to take it out on you."

"That isn't the issue," stated the boy as he trembled a bit under Yumi's touch, "The issue is this whole… overcomplicated web of exhausting bull that only the most paranoid lunatic would think up…" He lifted himself from both his hand and the sofa before beginning to pace around the room, gesturing wildly as he ranted, "If there's a confession and I reject it, then all the people I'm trying to correct may subconsciously regard me as cruel. If there's a confession and I accept it, I'm someone to keep an extensive eye on until I've proven worthy of accepting that confession," he waggled a finger at Yumi, "But wait! That's just with the confessor's team! The matter is quadruple-complicated when there's four groups of shinobi, each one containing a girl who's made her feelings known!"

Yumi's jaw went a bit slack as she commented sympathetically, "It's an extremely difficult situation," before standing herself up with extended arms, "but if there's anything I-" but was immediately caught off when the young man let out a frustrated cry and gripped his hair.

"There isn't anything that can be done though!" groaned the boy, "I've already told you that accepting and rejecting any of the four of you would produce bad results, but then there's the alternatives. With it being pretty much public knowledge that you guys like me, there's going to be an unwavering expectation that I give an answer! If I don't, I'm just stringing you guys along and that'll make me an asshole. Maybe if everyone was less in the know or if I came off as an indecisive fool, I'd be able to get away with it." The young man was brought to kneel down as the energy within him was beginning to drain. But, even as his frustrated tears began to sting against his eyes, he balled up a fist and smacked it against the side of his leg, "But that isn't where we are! Everyone knows your guys' feelings and that I'm aware of said feelings!"

After taking a moment to huff and puff, the boy stood himself up and continued to pace, "So, I try to think of a solution. Perhaps I gather everyone up and explain the situation and how the subconscious works? That might work for a while. But if you and everyone else's feelings aren't dropped, I'll still be the asshole stringing you guys along. Or perhaps I-" Without warning, the boy smacked both of his cheeks loudly and growled, "No. Spoiler alert: that plan wouldn't work either. Between the time I got home last night and now, I've thought up and calculated at least eight different approaches, each one careful and concise. Spoiler alert: NONE OF THEM WOULD WORK!" Having exhausted his energy, the boy collapsed onto the floor and had to fight to keep himself sat upright. Even still, he continued, "I'm screwed… That's the short version of it. Unless I'm sent a miracle, I'm just screwed and my whole goal of correcting everyone is dead on arrival. Then there's-"

A sob suddenly hiccupped from his throat that cracked his voice, "-fucking Oda… Of course, he had to arrive… Now, of all times, he had to arrive… Not after I determined the state of my crisis with you guys… not after I determined what the hell is up with fucking Sato… Now… He had to show up now… And with no other option, I can only throw a fucking tantrum on your floor while I wonder what's going to happen. Am I going to die? Am I going to prison for life? Will all of you also be punished? Where the fuck is Jasmine? I don't know any of that! I DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING AND I HATE IT!"

The young man rolled himself over to face the floor before pounding his fist hard against the wood, "WHAT DO I NEED TO DO!? WHAT CAN I DO TO GET OUT OF THIS!" As he continued to pound, the bitter tears that had long been threatening him finally began to flood out from his eyes, "SOMETHING! ANYTHING! FOR GODS' SAKE, JUST GIVE ME A LIFELINE! A CHANCE…! Fucking anything… Anything to at least FEEL like I've gotten a fair chance…"

His rant would have continued for much longer if Yumi hadn't knelt next to him to envelop the boy into her arms. In the same way that she comforted him at the end of her correction, she was holding him again, even tighter than before, and began to rub the back of his head with as much love as she could possibly give. At the time when all of the stress he'd been bottling up had come rushing out, she was there to embrace him.

Once his head was cradled under Yumi's jaw, the young man's crying only intensified. He began to mindlessly babble, "All of this bull… For what…? For a dirty conman? My own mother and father knowingly sent me into this contrived mess where there is no winning just to save my conman of a brother… THEY HAD A DECISION! A MURDERING BASTARD OR THEIR YOUNGEST SON!?" By that point he'd completely disregarded his notion to push away Yumi's affection. Like a small child, the young man clung onto her and cried into her collarbone, "And when I get angry and call them out… I'm disloyal… unfilial… my oldest brother's words, not mine. I'm a disloyal and unfilial brat who's already proven himself worthless for refusing to hold a blade… I ought to at least show my love by standing up for Haruo… A grown ass man, five years my senior, who deliberately handed my name over to fucking Jasmine and Hanzō…" After letting out a few coughs and pushing himself further into Yumi's hold, of which she was more than happy to allow, the young man sputtered, "And, after I've already bent over and have accepted this bull… It's situation after situation… Jasmine's yelling that I need to do something, that I can't be healed by whatever scroll she pulled out of her ass on my second day, then I can't reach her when I need help… when I do, I'm suddenly being called an ass…"

The boy pulled away and mindlessly grasped into the air, dropping his jaw as his puffy eyes continued produce stinging tears. After a bit of shaking, he stammered, "There has to be a limit… Like, I want to consider myself strong and I've done all I can to bite the bullet and hold out… but… there has to be a limit…"

Seeing the once stoic young man reduced into such a pathetic state nearly reduced Yumi into her own tears. Though she didn't know the full story behind how he'd been determined to come and correct everyone's distortions, she could see the toll that all of his stress had taken. Then she considered his issue with her and the other three girls' affection for him. While she, very thankfully, had never been put into a scenario where she was forced to turn away the love of her sister's or anyone else, Yumi couldn't imagine how lonely or isolating it must have felt. After all, by the way he was acting then, he didn't believe he had anyone to turn to. By the sound of it, he didn't talk to his family, he couldn't reach Jasmine or Hanzō, and bringing the issue to any of the girls would be counter-productive. With that single issue, he was absolutely on his own.

Almost instinctually, Yumi leaned forward to offer what she considered to be the most comforting thing her instincts could think of. When the young man looked up, the girl had lightly puckered her lips and was centimeters away from his forehead. Though he offered no resistance, he did clench his eyes closed in a fearful resignation that the girl was still going to pursue him despite the issue he had with that very thing.

His expression wasn't lost. Before her lips met his head, Yumi opened her eyes and caught the defeated look on the young man's face. She mentally slapped herself for not thinking her action all the way through before simply extending her arms to hold him. Weak to her touch and appreciative of her gesture, the young man leaned himself over into Yumi and allowed her to do whatever she pleased. In the end, she settled for just rubbing his head while murmuring soothing words, "We're all here for you… we're here…"

As Yumi patted her hand against the boy's head, she caught a glimpse of the sleeve to her kimono. Her eyes drooped a bit when she realized that the young man didn't even seem to notice the outfit which she'd slaved over to make… but then she realized she didn't really care. Even if it meant she'd have to take a temporary step back, Yumi was just happy that she could be there when the young man fell from his usually composed nature… and she would remain there for as long as he wanted her to be.


	28. Chapter 28: Heartfelt Revolt

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 28: Heartfelt Revolt

Around two hours after the young man and Yumi had exited the dining room, the remaining members of the Gessen Elite gathered themselves into their shinobi meeting area and awaited further instruction. None of them had even thought to contact the academy's teachers nor administration for advice, knowing for fact that doing so would mean having to expose the identity of their visitor. Thus, they simply waited in complete silence for Yumi to return, knowing her to be their decisive leader and the one with the most carefully laid plans.

Sipping on a bit of soda while clinging to her seat at the juice bar, Shiki took the occasional glance at her sisters and found her mood dipping further and further. Yozakura had taken to sitting on one of the armchairs, trying to maintain a sort of patience during their wait, before she kept awkwardly shifting positions. One moment, one of her legs were crossed over the other while she folded her arms; the next, she was sitting on her feet atop the chair cushion while sucking a breath of discontent into her nose and blowing it out of her mouth. Around the time the blue-haired girl was hugging her knees in anxiety, Minori had sat herself against one of the room's corners. Her face was despondent and her body remained unmoving, without even a hint that she desired to reach into her candy bucket. The only one who appeared to remain solid was Murakumo as she stood by the door, awaiting her fellow third-year's arrival. But Shiki could tell by the unsteady rise and fall in her shoulders that the masked girl was afraid just like the rest of them.

The blonde felt her frown deepen as she realized that their most stalwart sister was beginning to bend underneath the pressure. While trying to assure herself that she had to remain strong for them, Shiki reached over to her drink only to realize that her hand was slightly shaking. She compared it to the unmoving can and, just as she was about to try and calm herself, her arm suddenly began to quiver before it intensified into a spasm. At that moment, Shiki realized that she was in no position to try and act tough. She was just as afraid as everyone else.

Oda had made his first move against the young man, revealing that he'd somehow figured everything out or, more likely, had been watching the entire time. Without a doubt in anyone's mind, the menacing shinobi had to have also been aware of the girls' involvement with the boy. He knew that they knew everything: the young man was a terrorist who was actively seeking them out for correction, he was supposed to be pursued as a greater threat to all shinobi-kind, and working with him would likely constitute themselves as the very same kind of threat. All of that begged the question: what would Oda do to them after he dealt with the young man? Would they get lucky and get off with a warning since they were young? No, that was borderline impossible since they were well aware of their own actions. The most lenient punishment they could possibly receive would be imprisonment for a period of time, perhaps even life. They could also be demanded to partake in ritual seppuku to atone for their crimes. In addition to whatever else they were meted out, perhaps one of the direst things that could happen to the girls was getting stripped of their titles as shinobi. The very thing that they'd all been working towards was at threat of being taken away because of their involvement with the young man… To Shiki, that was the scariest thing of them all and there was no doubt in her mind that everyone else was fearing the same thing.

Then, slamming open the sliding doors and strutting in on an unexpected air of complete authority, Yumi made her way into the room and clapped her hands twice to rouse everyone's attention, "Come. Everyone to their chairs." As the rest of the girls took a moment to recover from the surprise and wondered how the sudden burst of energy came to be, their leader took her place at the shinobi meeting room's center, a small space with a couple of armchairs, a coffee table, and an empty space where their sofa should have been. Once she realized that everyone was lagging in the face of her summoning, Yumi clapped her hands again and barked, "Come! We need to act fast."

Forgetting their previous woes in the face of potentially earning the ice queen's ire, everyone double-timed it to their respective chairs. However, upon realizing that she'd moved Yumi's own chair out of the way so that there was more room for moving the sofa, Shiki offered, "Want me to slide over your seat?"

"I can stand."

"It won't take a minute-"

"I can stand."

Hearing the unbending tone in Yumi's voice, Shiki picked up on the fact that things were apparently more troubling than they initially came off as. She nodded her head and leveled her expression into seriousness, "Right."

Once she was sure that everyone was paying attention, Yumi stated frankly, "We all know what's going on. Oda's onto all of us and we have no idea how much time we have until he makes his next move. Thus, we'll need to be quick in our decision making." The girl took a short breath, closed her eyes, "However, before we can do anything," and opened them to look everyone straight in their faces. There was a brief moment of silence before Yumi stated, "I want- no. I need to know where all of you stand… Each of you are aware of the fact that you're all distorted?"

The rest of the girls exchanged a few confused glances before Murakumo commented, "Of course. You, Miyabi, and Homura were proof enough to the rest of us. Throw in the account of what happened to Asuka, it'd be hard to dispute it at this point."

"Exactly," Yumi said quietly as she nodded, her eyes falling to the floor, "The result of my before and after can't be denied… But that wasn't what I was asking." She locked her eyes onto everyone again, "When you were told that you were also distorted, did you believe it?"

The girls needed to take a moment of thought before their sister's message clicked with them. They were being asked whether or not they trusted the word of Hanzō, Jasmine, Rin, and Kiriya. But most of all, they were being asked if they trusted the word of the young man and the goal that he swore himself to. It took a bit longer along with some thinking before Minori responded, "Well… I do." Upon hearing that, Yumi let out an evident breath of relief as the girl kept going, "We know it happened to you… so… it can also happen to us. And we're also not supposed to be able to feel it or… something. But it'll still hurt us and everyone else at some point."

"You believe it then? In its entirety?" asked Yumi.

"Of course," Yozakura threw her voice into the ring, "We've all believed it since the start," before throwing her hand up, "Ah… If you don't mind me asking, what is this about? Shouldn't we be focusing on the issue with Oda?"

"I wanted to be sure you knew the stakes… and that you knew who was on your side this whole time," said Yumi, her voice calm but tinged with grimness.

Once the suggestion was rammed into their heads, the girls understood the implication in its entirety. There were two ways to dealing with the situation at hand. While one of them wasn't entirely figured out yet, that being the plan to go against Oda, there was an alternate route they could have taken: offering up the young man in hopes they'd be dealt leniency. Perhaps they could've plead that they were misled or were only dealing with him because they so feared the thought of distortion. While it wasn't a guarantee to safety, it certainly would have been a safe act of goodwill for their allegiance with the shinobi. Throw in the fact that Oda was rewarding to those who acted in earnest with him, which they could have very well convinced him of, the girls would still have been allowed to honorably keep their titles as shinobi without the threat of death.

While they went over the potential route they could take, the image of the young man, laying exhausted and wounded on a bed within the Hanzō Academy infirmary, ran through all of their heads. Then they remembered the harsh and cruel words that Yumi spouted before she was distorted, echoing the deliberate hurt that ran through their hearts and minds whenever she had demeaned them. All of those thoughts were topped off by the heartfelt apology that she offered them all, displaying the true love that she had for them as her sisters.

However tempting it was to take the easy route, rejecting the young man was as good as rejecting that apology. If not for him, they never would have been able to hear it. Without him, they never would have gotten their sister back.

Upon seeing the glints in everyone else's eye, Shiki turned her head to Yumi and declared, "Don't you ever think of something so silly ever again. We're together in this. All of us."

To that remark, Yumi slowly smiled and closed her eyes, "Thank you."

Everyone nodded their heads in affirmation, vowing to one another they'd stand beside the young man in the coming struggle. A round of smiles born from their united camaraderie fell upon all of their faces, save for Murakumo whose head was still hidden behind her mask. But, amidst the silent celebration, the masked girl then asked, "What is our plan to deal with Oda then?"

Just as quickly as they came, the smiles on everyone's faces slipped away and were replaced by mixed looks of fear, tension, and confusion. Fortunately, Yumi kept her back straight and declared, "There's already a plan in place."

To that remark, Shiki stood from her chair and kneeled up to the coffee table to lean on her hands in anticipation, "Already!? You were in that room for an hour- Ah! I get you, Yu – and – mi. You've been cooking one up since you heard about Oda, right? That's you. That's totally you."

But Yumi shook her head, "That's not the case at all. And it wasn't just me who thought of it."

Still sitting in her chair, Yozakura needed to rub her chin in before her thoughts went to the young man, who was reduced into a quivering mess the last time she saw him. With an evident tinge of disbelief, the blue-haired girl questioned, "You mean he helped plan it too? I-, Pardon me, this may sound mean, but is he… at all in a sound state of mind? Should he be planning something as serious this?"

"Even if he wasn't all there," Yumi retorted after taking a breath, "then I can only say that his plan is still very passable. Risky, sure… but passable. Aside from the suggestion I made that we involve the rest of the girls, which we'll be doing shortly, I couldn't find much else to improve the plan."

Murakumo's head straightened up, "We're involving everyone else?"

"Once we're done talking here, yes."

The masked girl crossed one of her arms while leaning her chin upon the other, "Not to say we don't need the help, which we very much so do… Wouldn't we be endangering everyone by involving them at this point?"

Yumi shook her head to that question, "We can only assume Oda's aware of their involvement at this point. He knows there's an infiltrator and that multiple adult members from varying academies are involved with him. Throw in the facts that we're sticking up for said infiltrator and that our friendship circle is rather tightly knit, he should already be onto everyone else too. No, it'd be better if we were all together in this."

Murakumo nodded her head and dropped her arms to the sides of her chair, "Right."

Feeling her thoughts drift on the state of the young man, Minori murmured his name before turning to Yumi, "Is he alright? Will he be taking part in the plan?"

"Yes… He's at the forefront of it," said Yumi as she tried to keep the worry off her face.

But Shiki locked her eyes onto the girl and asked, "But is he alright?"

There was an evident falter in her sister's response. Yumi slightly shifted from one foot to the other and replied, "He'll need some time… but he said he'll be ready by tomorrow… Ah… that'll be when we commence our plan."

Despite the doubtful looks that she felt being passed onto her, the ice queen of Gessen Academy didn't quite know how to describe the young man's state to the rest of the girls. At first, just as they all expected he would, the boy broke down and let out all of his sorrows while burying himself into Yumi's hold. Not long after, he fell silent and occasionally quivered while he was moved to the couch for the sake of his own comfort. For a while, the girl was content to just stroke his head and embrace him for as long as he wanted her to.

Then, much to her surprise, he suddenly spoke in a scarily clear voice, "We'll need to act…"

For a moment, Yumi wanted to offer continued assurance, fearing that he was acting willfully in an effort to break off from his internal strife. But, as she raised her hand to continue stroking his forehead, she caught a glimpse of the look in his puffy red eyes. He was staring straight up into the air, as if he was trying to look up to God, and reached a hand onto the couch to pull himself into a seated position beside Yumi. As she looked at him with tinges of worry, her face fell and her eyes widened a bit.

Keeping his eyes forward and completely averted from her, the young man's brow had fallen and his lips were pulled tightly into an unrelenting grimace. As he began to voice his plan on how to try and push Oda back from the advance, the only thing that Yumi could focus on was the face of the boy beside her. His lips curled into a snarl as he spoke, his nose was flared and all mucus had ceased its dribbling… and his eyes were like a nuclear explosive on the brink of detonation. From the one long look that she took, Yumi knew for an absolute fact that the young man was not going to break again in the same way he had earlier that day. Part of her was assured by his apparent air of confidence and ruthlessness… but the other was afraid, fearing the sudden change in his oftentimes soft demeanor.

Standing in the Hebijo practice room, Miyabi sucked in a breath of air before she sliced her katana forward. As metal rang, she exhaled and felt herself calm down just a bit more. Then, as she prepped herself for a different technique, her phone began to vibrate to the side of the training mat. Miyabi sheathed her weapon and adopted an irritated expression before strutting over to her phone as it vibrated a few times more. With a curious snort out of her nose, she reached down and swiped the screen to look at her text messages. Some of the texts were in a group chat, put on full display for everyone else to see. After a bit of reading, her eyes widened and all of her facial features tightened up.

However much her practice from a minute before was relaxing in the face of her prior frustrations, Miyabi's heart nearly stopped as she read the messages from the girls of Gessen Academy. She very nearly dropped the phone as she took a minute to process it all before clenching her eyes closed to murmur, "Shit… shit…" and rested a hand against her head. Then she saw the invite to a private chat between her, Yumi, Asuka, and Homura. Seeing the other members to the conversation, Miyabi already knew what the subject matter would be. Upon reading the first line, "Us four are already in a complicated situation but there is more you should know," she was on the verge of just pocketing the phone and saving the stress for a different day.

Then she read the message once, twice, and a third time. There were so many details to take in that Miyabi rested her sheathed katana to the floor and sat herself down. Despite being so calm a few minutes before and feeling mentally prepared for any other turmoil to come, her mood had pulled a one-eighty and invoked a headache of complete stress. Were it not for the situation with Oda, Miyabi would have acted on her urge to confront Yumi to confirm whether or not everything was true… but the situation was too serious to be a lie. Miyabi had to get the rest of the Hebijo elite ready.

Though she was initially in the middle of transitioning from one part-time job to another, Homura was dashing back to her home while growling into her phone, "I can't! There's a family emergency and I need to-," before she was cut off. Her employer roared at her as she pushed through everyone on the sidewalk, though she held no regard for what he had to say, "Just find someone to cover for- Don't interrupt- Do not interrupt me! I've already told you this is an emergency…! Employment or fam-, I don't give a rat's ass about whether or not I have a job with you tomorrow! Find someone else!" With a satisfying click, Homura ended her call and employment with that individual. She knew what was more important to her and moving furniture for some nag of a man didn't even make the list, especially since she could easily find a job that paid the same wages.

As she continued to run, Homura's heart thumped painfully against her chest as she went over the situation in her head. She cursed Oda under her breath, "Damn!" for his aggressive advance against the young man and for throwing a wrench into the overarching plan to woo him and Asuka. As much as Homura tried to avoid the thought of it, she knew very well that the old bastard's actions made the situation extremely delicate. Her mind didn't even dwell on why the young man couldn't date any of them, as explained by Yumi, seeing as the bigger picture decreed that one wrong move meant everyone would either be facing death or imprisonment.

Upon reaching the forest entrance, Homura realized that she was too panicked. It was more than likely that the rest of the renegades were also made aware of the situation and were fighting off their own bouts of stress. As their leader, she had to be steeled and ready for the plan that Yumi laid out. Even if her explanation about the young man's feelings were a bit out of nowhere, considering the other circumstances at hand, Homura couldn't deny the fact that the plan she laid out was as good as it would come on such short notice. Even if there was far too much openness to it, she certainly didn't feel as though she could come up with something better.

Setting her phone onto the table, Asuka held her hands together on her lap and felt her eyes fall as everything played out in her mind. With Oda on the advance, the young man faced off against heavy danger and the only thing that could protect him was one of the most reckless plans that the brunette had ever seen. He had two lines of defense, if Oda even allowed any of them the time: argumentative words and the girls' backup. Either the situation would be disarmed before a violence broke out or everyone would be facing extreme consequences.

Asuka could hear Katsuragi yelling out in distress from the other room, likely having also read the message in the group chat. The second-year closed her eyes and felt her thoughts linger on what was to come. She thought she'd be ready to face off against a dangerous force like Oda. It was one of the things she'd hyped herself up for since before she became a shinobi, since the time she first laid eyes on a Yōma, since the time she and Homura dueled from dawn to dusk in anticipation for such a day. But, in the face of such a fight where she had to be ready to use her words and, if needed, her weapons against a colossal foe, she could feel fretful goosebumps run up and down her arms.

Then Asuka reminded herself of the young man. He'd already gone up against Oda and lived to tell the tale, granted he only got away because Murakumo was there. Throw in the fact that he did so while under the extreme pressure of everyone's corrections and the weighty flirtations of his four admirers… Asuka decided she couldn't dwell on such things. She couldn't think about Oda nor the fact that she had a bunch of rivals for the young man's affection, a prize which apparently couldn't be reciprocated in the first place. When Ikaruga came into the dining room to check on her, Asuka had mentally prepared herself enough for the coming day. It was do or die.

With the deed done, Yumi rested her phone against the coffee table and looked to all of her sisters. With everyone else having been informed of the situation, all that remained was for them to wait for the next day. Whether or not everyone else would be ready wasn't known to them for a bit until all of the replies started to flood in. With wide and surprised eyes, Minori picked up her phone and read aloud, "Miyabi says her team will be there, Ryōna says she's in-"

"I'm surprised that pervert didn't leave a dirty comment," commented Murakumo as she looked at her own phone.

"-Ikaruga says she'll have everyone ready by eight tomorrow-, Murasaki sent a text! She says she'll get read- Haruka sent- Homura also- Asuka- Imu," as the replies continued on and on, Minori eventually threw her arms up and cheered, "Everyone's in! Everyone's in, everyone's in, everyone is in!"

Shiki joined her sister with a cheer, feeling uplifted by all of the shinobi coming together for the great task before them. Despite how simple their plan was and how risky it came off as, the support from everyone was absolute and final. On the coming day, they'd all be embarking forth into one of their biggest gambles. Even Murakumo and Yozakura joined in on the cheering, leaving Yumi to be the odd one out.

As happy and relieved as she was to have all of her friends on her side for what was to come, the girl still felt incredibly worried for the next day… No, it wasn't just that. The plan that she had participated in creating relied on the young man to call on them once he believed they were needed. Remembering his frightening face from earlier, one that held much more beyond mere determination, Yumi had to wonder whether or not he'd be willing to call for help at all. After all, he was someone that had been bottling up his frustration and sorrow all by his lonesome for a while and he would have contain a great stubbornness to go up against Oda despite the low chance of success. Would that kind of person be willing to admit that they can't save themselves on their own?

**April 20 – "Do not falter when your right to exist is challenged."**

Having spent the night at Gessen Academy, eating a small dinner and breakfast while remaining mostly reclusive in the room Yumi left him, the young man had finished calling into school as he left the train station a short way from his apartment. On that fateful Monday, he was going up against the man who needed only a second to kill him. After a night of lackluster sleep, rehearsing arguments with himself, and tiptoeing around the shinobi who were stepping up to help him, he knew that it would all come down to some odd minutes of conversation. As he continued down the sidewalk, wearing the same Sunday clothes from the day before, the young man sucked in a breath of morning air and felt his eyes stare onward.

Looking over all the cars in the apartment's parking lot, Oda watched grimly as the young man appeared around the sidewalk's corner on the opposite side of the street. Regardless of the fact that he couldn't reach Jasmine, Hanzō, nor either of their two lackeys, the large man was just happy to resolve the situation without needing to hunt the infiltrator. Yet, as he was about to head down the stairs to greet the boy, Oda couldn't help but take in the off-putting glare the boy offered him. He was expecting something a bit softer, something that was much more willing to try and talk things out, something that said the infiltrator was willing to bargain to save himself. But there were no such looks on the young man's face. His expression said clearly, "I'm coming with my demands. Hear them or get out of my house."

Still, Oda wouldn't be thrown off just because a teenager proved that he was willing to pitch a fit. While carefully eying the surrounding area, wondering if any of the girls would make an appearance, the veteran shinobi marched down the stairs and watched as the young man made his approach from across the street. Oda called over earnestly, "I admire the fact that you came back. You seemed to be the sort."

But the young man didn't seem to regard his comment. Instead, the boy's focus went to all of the cars in what was normally an empty parking lot. With a bit more confusion than what he cared to let on, the young man asked in a hoarse voice, "What's all this?" and waved his hand to all of the vehicles.

Oda clicked his tongue before shrugging his shoulders, "I made a number of calls yesterday to… Well, to everyone who had a stake in the matter at hand."

The young man repeated under his breath as he quirked a brow, "A stake in the-," before shaking his head and glaring up to the man, "I came to talk to you. Not a bunch of… officials or whoever else you may have in there."

"That's a shame then," murmured Oda before he stepped aside to gesture his arm toward the stairs, "because they're waiting for you. I ask that you don't be difficult."

Twisting his face scornfully, the young man spat, "What gall you have to ask that…" before marching up the stairs without a falter to his step, ready to take on whoever awaited him beyond the door. Ignoring Oda's roaring footsteps from behind him, the sound of a group of people talking within his apartment could be heard. The young man initially craned his head so that he could try and listen through the hole in his door but stopped once he could feel Oda's silver eyes burning into the back of his head. After shooting another glare at the shinobi, the young man slowly placed a hand on the door and pushed it open.

Waiting inside were seven other adults, all of whom were extremely varied in their appearance with small blades at sheathed at their sides. A tall and slender man in an extremely formal tuxedo was chatting casually beside a soft-looking woman with blooming pink hair. An elderly man wearing a suit vest was making awkward small talk with a stoic man, who wore his long white hair in a straight ponytail. Off in the corner, an equally dull-faced couple wearing spectacles were whispering in hushed voices to a man with jet black hair, who was the only one carrying a lengthy katana. The young man took all of them in stride, keeping his eyes locked on them warily as they all turned over to him. All of their conversations were cut off and silence took hold over all of them as Oda slipped in after the infiltrator.

As looks were exchanged between all of the adults, some mocking of their apparent target's appearance while there were a few murmurs about his age, the young man took a breath and parted his arms from his sides. He grasped and straightened his fingers as he took a long breath and continued to stare at all of the men and women before him. Then, as he stuck his nose up, the young man began to proclaim, "I don't know who you all think-" but was cut off when someone busted out of the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" cried the woman as she tripped out and flopped onto her well-endowed chest. With a pained groan, she pulled herself up to her knees and began to mutter, "I was fixing myself up when I heard you all go silent. Sorry, again, if I'm too late."

While everyone put on a mix of faces that ranged from embarrassed smiles to ridiculing stares, the young man could only look at the woman with wide eyes. Without much thought, he whispered down to her, "Asuka…? What are you doing in here…? Aren't you…?"

The woman looked up to him with confusion before her face blew up in alarm. She stood onto her feet and pointed an accusing finger, "You're the infiltrator that Oda told us about!? The one after my daughter!?"

"Oh boy…" murmured the overdressed man as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

It took a moment for the young man to comprehend what was happening before it clicked in his head: the woman before him, who could've easily passed as the girl herself, was Asuka's mother. At that moment, he could easily see the slight difference in her height and facial features. But why was someone like her… The young man cut off his line of thought. He looked again to the people all around him and realized that they were all, save for the elderly man in the vest, certainly related to some of the girls in some way, shape, or form.

As a new air of discomfort settled on the boy, Oda stepped forward and announced the young man's name, "He is the infiltrator and the reason why I called yesterday."

With a deep breath and a few thoughts behind closed eyes, the man with jet black hair stepped forward and drew his katana, "Then let's get this over with."

Reacting quick to the taller man's imminent threat, the young man threw up his arms and adopted a combat stance as nearly everyone else in the room stood between the two. A few voices combated over one another for dominance, with the Asuka lookalike repeatedly spouting, "Put it away, Jirō!"

The man in question attempted to shove past them all, barking out, "You shit! You're the one, eh!? You're the brat!" While the dull-faced couple looked at one another nonchalantly before stepping back to watch the scene, Oda eventually took hold of Jirō's arm and began to crush it in his grip. The man's threatening words were quickly replaced by a groan followed by short yells as he tried to wrestle his arm free.

The pink-haired woman began to cry out, "Oda, that's enough! Oda…! Oda, you're going to break it!" as she tried to pry the man's gorilla-ish fingers off Jirō's arm.

"If I wanted to just kill him," growled Oda menacingly while pointing his free hand at the young man, "I could've done that myself. Get back and remember why I brought you here!"

When Jirō nodded his ahead amidst his squirming, his arm was released and his body crumpled to the floor. When the spectacled man called over with only a tinge of concern, "It's not broken, is it?" the Hebijo principal wordlessly picked himself up and glared at the infiltrator whom he desired to kill.

Though the young man steadily let his arms fall back to his sides, he needed to take a few heavy breaths before he could completely straighten himself. While he was still recovering, the overdressed man stated frankly, "It's interesting that you thought you could take Jirō on."

"What're you talking about?" grumbled the young man. With a bit of condescension, the man raised his arms a bit to mimic the combat stance the infiltrator took a moment before. In response, the young man waved a hand and grunted, "I know that I wouldn't have won."

"Yet, you were still ready to fight."

"No~, really?" sneered the young man.

"Interesting."

Ignoring that last comment, the boy turned over to Oda and barked, "What all this then? Are you going to kill me or arrest me?"

"Whichever you'd prefer," stated Oda before raising up a finger, "though I'd ask that you hear my proposition first."

"Proposition?" the young man repeated under his breath before shaking head and glowering, "Speak frankly. Are you going to kill me or arrest me?" When Oda moved to repeat his previous statement, the boy cut him off with an, "Ah!" and raised a finger, "Unless that proposition means you're going to be letting me go, which I know is unlikely, just get to the killing already so I can haunt the lot of you to your graves."

"Oda!" Jirō hissed, "The brat's asking for it! You know I've got something to settle with him. Just let me do it!"

The large man dismissed the principal with a wave before remarking toward the young man, "As a matter of fact, the proposition I have in mind would very well mean you get to live."

In response, the young man did a doubletake before his jaw went slack in surprise. Then he began to analyze Oda's words before tightening his features, "When you say alive, you mean you'll be letting me go? As in, you're going to leave me alone, let me do my thing, and we'll never need to see one another again?"

"I said I'd let you live," murmured Oda as he clasped his hands together, "but I won't be letting you go."

"Then shove it," growled the young man, "It's bad enough that I'm on one leash. I don't need some old bastard with nonsensical interpretations of his moral code trying to get his dirty fingers on me." He gestured to the other adults in the room, "Especially when he's already brought a whole posse who're dead set on killing me-"

"That's not why I brought them here," argued Oda.

The young man wouldn't let the older shinobi have his say. He pointed over to Jirō and countered, "Then what the hell is the deal with that mangy fucker there?"

The woman bearing Asuka's resemblance moved to cover her mouth as the elderly man stepped forward, "There's no need for such language. We can be civil."

"Yeah," spat the young man, "you guys, the lot of home invaders who outnumber me nine to one, can be civil. But, in case you lack a brain, I'm arguing for my life here. So, in other words, fuck yourself."

The pink-haired woman stepped beside the elder, who was rubbing his neck as he stared with contempt at the boy, and proceeded to explain, "We're not here to kill nor intimidate you. Please, if you'd just listen to Oda's proposition-"

"If he wanted me to listen," bellowed the young man, "he'd get you all right out of here! If he wasn't trying to intimidate me in the first place, he wouldn't have even brought you here in the first place!"

"None of them are here to intimidate you!" declared Oda, "I've only brought them in to give chase if you decided to flee and so that they could confirm the state of their children! Nothing more, nothing less!"

With all the hate he had in his heart, the young man snorted before stating, "I won't doubt those reasons, but don't treat me like I'm stupid."

Having been decisively called out, Oda sucked in his lower lip and bit down to keep his patience. After a moment of thought and reflection, he nodded his head and murmured, "Very well," and parted his hands from one another, "In addition to all of the things I said before, I've brought them here to intimidate you into accepting my proposition. In fact, I would have brought more if we had more time to spare."

The elderly man bowed his head with a smile in response. He placed a hand over his chest and cheerfully said, "You've no need to worry, sir. Master Tairō will always keep himself available for you, even with less than a second of warning."

Before Oda could blow off the obvious attempt to try and suck up, the young man asked, "Who the hell is Tairō?"

"Master Tairō, you spying trash," called the elder.

"Civil, indeed."

"Tai-rō," Oda emphasized, "Is the owner of… well, the Tairō Corporation."

"Ah…" blinked the young man, faltering once he realized a renowned name was involved, "That Tairō?" before something else clicked in his head, "No, wait. Why the hell is some bigwig involved in this?"

Before the elderly man could offer his frustrated correction, Oda explained, "He's Murakumo's adopted father."

The young man pointed to the elder, "Then who's this fart? How's he related?"

"He's Mister Kubu, Tairō's personal butler-"

The elderly man began to complain, "Sir, I've told you a thousand times to please call me Mitsuo-"

At the same time, the young man ordered, "Tell him to fuck off."

The room went silent for a moment before Mitsuo rose a finger into the air, "Would you care to repeat yourself?"

"You're not related to Murakumo? Personally?"

The old man blinked before answering, "I'm Master Tairō's personal butler-"

"Fuck off. You don't have any business here."

For a moment, Mitsuo stared blankly before a dull smile fell upon his face. He turned over to Jirō and asked politely, "If you would still care to end this brat, you'll get no argument from me." Though Miyabi's father seemed as though he was about to advance, a stern look from Oda kept his feet planted to the ground. Without further warning, Mitsuo roared back at the young man, "I AM HERE TO STAND IN FOR MASTER TAIRŌ-"

"IF HE CARES ENOUGH ABOUT HIS DAUGHTER," boomed the young man, "HE'D BE HERE IN PERSON! GET OUT!"

Pushed beyond what he was used to tolerating, Mitsuo began to advance on the boy before Oda's hand gripped his shoulder. The bulky man pointed to the door and ordered, "Leave for now and wait in your car. We'll call you in once we're done so that we can prepare a report for Tairō." At first, the elderly man looked like he was ready to argue. Then, figuring the young man wouldn't be in the realm of the living for long, nodded his head and strutted toward the door. Once Mitsuo was out, Oda asked annoyedly, "There… He's out and I've confessed to trying to intimidate you. Will you hear out my proposition?"

The immediate look on the young man's face was one of further rebellion and defiance. But, after thinking it through, he knew it would be best to hear the big man out so that he could say he's heard every option. The young man nodded, "Alright," and clapped his hands a few times before gesturing, "let's hear it."

Relieved that he seemed to finally be getting somewhere, Oda exhaled a breath and began to speak freely, "Now, you're aware of my beliefs on the infiltrators. They're invasive and unlawful," to that remark, the young man had crossed his arms and nodded. Feeling the growing resentment in the boy's demeanor, Oda changed the course of what he was aiming to say, "Ergo, I was hoping you'd be willing to accept a deal. One that would protect your… liberty, let's call it since you won't quite be free of our grasp."

"I'll stop you there," barked the young man. "Either I'm walking free after this is all done or you can skip to the part where you eviscerate me because I'm some loose end."

The man of the spectacled couple, whose glasses, posture, and forehead told the young man that he was the father of Imu, whispered to the woman who was doubtlessly his wife, "He's certainly forward…"

While the woman rolled her eyes and nodded at her husband's statement of the obvious, Oda retorted, "You're in no position to make demands of this deal. You're the infiltrator, the terrorist and criminal who's come into my jurisdiction." He pointed a massive finger down to the young man, "Here's the deal: you'll cease and desist all of your interactions with the girls at once. After everything on that end is settled, you'll share information on your brother, Tsao. His weapons, his skills and capabilities, who he walks with on a morning stroll, I want to know it all!" The rising tone in Oda's voice put his complete desperation on display, "After you've told me all that, you'll guide me to that baby killer and will assist in our efforts to end him! Do you accept!?"

The young man just stared, his expression empty and devoid of any feeling. His eyes locked onto Oda's, studying the larger man's features and anxiety for Tsao, before rubbing his chin and taking a breath. After a few seconds, he averted his gaze and asked quietly, "And the girls' distortion? I'm sure you must be aware that exists. What do you aim to do about that?"

Oda waved his hand dismissively, "Distortion does what time is constantly doing. It changes people, yes. I won't ever deny that. But that's the sacrifice we accept when we become shinobi. It'd be better to uphold that cost than to let some magic man mess around with our heads." Once the young man fell silent again, the large shinobi barked, "The deal! Do you accept it or don't you!? WILL YOU LEAD US TO TSAO!?"

Without much reaction to the giant exploding at him, the young man turned to the other adults and asked, "And the lot of you are content to see your daughters distorted? You are content to let diabolical forces mold them because it's a sacrifice that you think needs to be made? Is that it?"

The looks on everyone's faces varied. While Asuka's mother was biting her lip down in what appeared to be guilt and worry, the overdressed man and the pink-haired woman were ever slightly nodding their heads. They weren't at all proud nor indignant in the face of the young man's quiet accusation. Rather, they seemed to unhappily accept that distortion was simply a part of reality that couldn't be safely dealt with. The white-haired man remained absolutely unmoving and expressionless like he had been through the whole interaction, keeping his thoughts and beliefs on the situation entirely unreadable. On the other hand, Jiro was pulling his lips into a grimace and seemed ready to violently pounce the young man. It was evident that he either didn't believe that distortion existed or simply didn't care. Then there was the spectacled couple, who both just shrugged and meandered next to one another like everything around them wasn't really their business to know or decide.

Feeling his heart fall a bit, the young man sucked in a breath of air and marched to the sink. Oda started to protest, "Oi! I need an answer right… Ah…" but cut himself off once the boy reached for a glass and began to fill it up with water. Thinking the young man just needed a moment to think, the shinobi gestured, "Have a drink then…"

But the boy took the glass into his hand and only turned around as a glare steadily began to come upon his face. He blinked and wiped the sweat from his forehead before balling up his free hand. The glare turned fiery and only began to intensify as the young man looked between all of the adults. In the heat of his rising rage, he took in a large gulp of water before splashing what was left in his glass against the overdressed man and the pink-haired woman. The two bounced back but their clothes were still striped by the splash. After that, the young man turned to Jirō and spat all of the water in his mouth, spraying the principal's entire chest and face in the process. While the spectacled couple quickly moved to keep back the enraged man, who began to violently curse the boy, Oda felt his eyes widen in confusion.

Then the young man screeched loud enough for the entire block to hear, "A BUNCH OF WORTHLESS CRETINS! THE LOT OF YOU!" before spiking the empty glass towards Oda's feet, to which he nimbly dodged backward, "HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELVES THE LOVED ONES OF THOSE GIRLS!?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU FUCKING BRAT!" roared Jirō as his two comrades continued to try and hold him back.

"NOBODIES AND BULLIES!" retorted the young man, "NOTHING MORE!"

Asuka's mother raised a hand to quell the boy's rage, "Please! There's no need for this-"

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT!" boomed the young man before he brought his arm to the counter and violently slid everything, from the utensils to a few stacked plates, down to the floor, "THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY OF THIS! FINALLY! A WORD OF COMMON-SENSE THAT ISN'T COMING FROM MY OWN MOUTH FOR ONCE!"

While Jirō continued to curse the boy and pulled at the spectacled couple to land a hit, Oda quickly began to spout, "If you don't calm down, I'll kill you right here! Shut your mouth!"

The young man turned his snarling mouth on the large shinobi, "DO IT, YOU FAT FUCK!" He pounded his chest, "EITHER KILL ME OR GET OUT! I'LL DIE BEFORE I DARE TO BEND A KNEE TO A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITICAL BASTARDS LIKE THE LOT OF YOU!"

"Oda!" cried the spectacled man, "We're having trouble holding Jirō!"

Rather than intervene, the shinobi took a long and hard look at the young man. He saw past the anger and could see the fear etched into his features. Despite how genuinely enraged he was and all of his tough talk, the young man was still afraid. After everything he'd said and the pedestal that he'd tried to put himself on, the boy was still only just talking in the end. Believing that a bit of rough work would be enough to turn the young man back toward his proposition, Oda turned his head, "Shōwa, Tomoe… Let Jirō have at him a bit."

The two parents of Imu looked over in alarm before they shrugged and let the man out of their grip. At first, Jirō tripped forward before he managed to straighten himself onto his feet. While the young man looked up in complete alarm, though he anticipated that Oda would do something to rough him up, the principal turned his head to the larger shinobi and asked in a hoarse voice, "How far can I go?" He pointed to the boy and stated, "I have a lot to avenge on this brat, as a shinobi and as a father."

"Don't kill him," ordered Oda.

Without further hesitation, Jirō whirled around and threw himself forward to sock the boy right in the jaw. The blow threw the young man into his counter and down to the ground. Before he could take a moment to even grasp at his bruising face, Jirō took hold of him by the hair and pulled him up to ask, "What am I to you now? Speak honestly."

"A nobody and a bully," spat the young man, pushing back his fear, "and you're only proving me more and more right." Despite the fact that he knew a severe beating was on its way, his pride bade that he didn't betray his principles.

While Asuka's mother pleaded for the altercation to end and the overdressed man questioned Oda about the ethics of what was happening, the larger shinobi just sat back and stared. In the meantime, Jirō growled, "If I'm nothing then I'll just have to show you how you're worth less than any spec we could find on the ground."

"Feel free to try…" murmured the young man, doing his utmost to focus on his anger so that he wouldn't regret the words that led to the following moment.

As everything in the background became invisible to his awareness, Jirō snarled something incomprehensible and whirled his fist down into the side of the young man's head. There was a multitude of things that the man wanted to do to the infiltrator who so arrogantly insulted him: he wanted to bash his own skull against the young man's, to find a cord and strangle the boy until he was inch away from death, and then there was the desire to bring him to his knees only to deliver a solid kick to the side of his head. But there was such a bizarre satisfaction with just landing a single punch above the young man's eye. Even if the damage was comparably less to the alternate options and inevitable soreness would come to his knuckles, Jirō decided he was content to stick to the punching… if only for the wonderful sound it made.

He delivered another strike followed by another into the young man's head, forcing small grunts of pain through the boy's teeth. Though Asuka's mother yelled for him to stop, her voice fell on deaf ears and no one was willing to do anything about it. Jirō rounded another fist straight into the young man's eye, sick of the contemptuous look the boy continued to give him. Then he punched him right in the throat to keep him from breathing before grabbing the boy's shoulders to pull him up and slam the back of his head against the counter. While the young man struggled to find his breath and let out a noise, Jirō delivered another satisfying punch into the side of his head only to be followed by another.

Then he stopped for a moment and picked the boy up, "Am I still nothing to you? Choose your answer wisely lest I decide to kill you despite my orders."

The young man peeked his uninjured eye at Oda, who had only crossed his arms and was eying the individuals around him to keep them in line. Not without rage, pride, nor principle, the young man coughed at the large shinobi, "You look at what you're doing, coward…" When Oda turned his head over and quirked a brow, the boy further spouted, "You ordered this beating… now watch it… Don't look away while this," before he turned his head up to Jirō, "nobody beats me to a bloody-"

The Hebijo principal couldn't contain his fury. He unleashed another round of punches into the young man's purpling skin while letting out a roar of unbridled rage. Despite how tough his words were a few seconds before, the infiltrator was reduced to yelling out after every punch and was soon reduced to yelps and moans. As the beating intensified, Asuka's mother and the pink-haired woman were actively yelling for Oda to stop Jirō. In the meantime, the overdressed man reached out to the principal only to be shoved away. The spectacled couple and the white-haired man watched silently, though they all took no joy at all from it. Despite the varied reactions from everyone around him, Oda kept his eyes on the pummeling before him. It was the wish of the young man that he observed without averting his gaze. If Jirō went too far and did end up killing the boy, Oda was willing to uphold what he determined to be his final wish.

Thus, the raging shinobi continued unhindered. He repeatedly struck the young man's head, carved his nails into his scalp, and occasionally slammed his head into the countertop. As the seconds of his assault passed by and no help came, the boy was reduced to crying out from the pain and letting out the occasional moan when Jirō was reeling to slam him into the counter again and again. While tears ran down his face and he struggled to even lift his arms to do anything about his beating, the young man was completely helpless while the man towering over continued to beat him bloody. At one point, his eye went red and he thought he'd been blinded by the relentless assault. Even still, there was nothing he could do about it. The only thing his working eye could see was the angry face of a shinobi who was determined to kill him.

After his attack started to get repetitive, Jirō grabbed onto the young man's shoulder's again before swinging him around a few times. Both he and the young man could hear a ruckus in the background, clearly involving more than just the seven other shinobi who were left to their own devices. Despite the new additions, Jirō could only see red. He took the young man and slammed the back of the boy's head straight into the corner of the countertop and let him fall to the ground. Then, as images of his daughter accompanied by the infiltrator ran through his mind, Jirō knelt down and continued to throw his fist into the top of the young man's head.

Then, after he landed a few more solid punches, Jirō felt himself getting pulled back and roared out, "A FEW MORE! LET ME LAND A FEW MORE ON THAT ADULTEROUS SHIT!" and rounded his fist to punch whoever was trying to wrestle him away from his desired target. Before he could even hope to stop himself, his fist connected straight into Miyabi's nose with an audible crack. The man's yellow eyes went wide as all of his paternal instincts came forward. Miyabi fell back, though the furious look on her face didn't slip away. Even as Imu knelt down and wiped away the blood trickling from her nostril, Jirō's daughter eyed him in a way that was colder than every other one of their interactions combined.

The only thing that the young man processed was the painful throbbing in the side of his head. According to the rhythm that he'd gotten used to in those last few minutes, he thought he was about to get slammed to the floor or into the counter again. He meekly raised up his hands to wrestle away from the nonexistent hands gripping him and murmured, "Off… get off…" Then he felt a different pair of hands take hold of him and his fear spiked in the face of another potential attacker. He cried out, "Get off of me! Get off! GET OFF!" and pulled away, swinging his arms around madly until he felt one of them connect into someone.

He pulled and scurried away until he could bring himself to turn around to find Asuka's mother knelt down and holding her cheek, the place he'd struck. A look of horror came over his face when he realized he'd dared to deliberately strike the woman in spite of all of his training and discipline. Then he made the petrifying realization that the girl before him wasn't at all Asuka's mother. His eyes widened and he began to apologetically cover his mouth before stammering, "As-, Asu-, Asuka… I…" The second-year looked at him with a look of hurt before she nodded her head understandingly. While the young man sputtered on what to say, he wondered if there was anything that he could do to properly show how sorry he was for striking her… Then it ran through his mind again: he'd struck Asuka, the girl who undoubtably trusted him more than she ever should have by being able to willingly withstand a correction.

Then, as he began to stutter out apology after apology, the girl reached out and embraced him. While the young man felt his brain lag behind from what was happening, he heard Asuka whisper, "It's okay now… It's okay now…" as she cradled him in the same way that she did in the infirmary after Yumi's correction. Her hand stroked his head and suddenly the young man began to look around the room in awareness of what was happening.

While Jirō was busy beating him to a bloody pulp, the girls had taken notice to all of the nonargumentative yelling taking place and stormed inside. While he couldn't make out much of what was being said, the young man could tell there was a large exchange of yelling taking place between Oda and everyone else. Then, as Asuka continued to stroke his forehead comfortingly, the infiltrator realized he was completely encircled by his friends. Minus Jirō, who was still sitting on the floor in shock, all of the other adults were herded back in the face of their daughters raising weapons up against them.

While the white-haired man wordlessly found a corner of the room and stood in it, an action that pleased Yagyū immensely, Hibari was busy yelling at her mother, "GET AWAY! GET AWAY AND STAY AWAY!" Off to the side, Ikaruga appeared to exchanging knowing looks with the overdressed man, somehow silently communicating how he'd wanted nothing of what Jirō did. Then there was Imu's parents standing by the one window in the room, perching onto their tiptoes to see past the wall of girls in search of their daughter. Once they realized she was tending to Miyabi and caught sight of Murasaki threateningly preparing to unleash her Root of Calamity ninja art, they scurried off to where Yagyū's father remained.

As all of the girls continued to yell for him to back away, Oda repeatedly threatened, "I can attend to him! Just step aside already!"

In response, Yumi always screamed right back, "Your actions have done enough damage! BACK YOURSELF AWAY!" and was supported by the cries of everyone else standing beside her.

The exchange continued between the two and the young man couldn't believe his eyes and ears. He raised his hand up to the side of his head, clicking his fingers a few times to make sure he hadn't gone deaf and mad before he felt at his eyes. Then fear overtook him as he realized he still couldn't see from one eye. He felt at a bloody area beside his nose and wondered if the organ had been ruptured by the beating before he heard a few words from behind him, "Lean your head back." Though he resisted a bit, he eventually bent his head backward and watched as Homura dribbled some water from a glass cup into his blinded eye. Then, just as suddenly as he couldn't, the young man was able to see again after she carefully rubbed the dried blood blocking his vision away.

He wiped his eye a few times and sputtered with a stupid smile, "I thought I was blind…"

Asuka hugged him in response before Homura joined in from behind. Miyabi, who was busy staring down her father, eventually shook her head and walked to the young man's side to rub her fingers against the back of his head. For a moment, Jirō remained in shock in the face of his daughter's defiance. Then his rage came back to him as he boomed, "This one!? Of all people, this is the brat you're going for? He's an infiltrator! A terrorist!"

"Indeed, he is… Father," growled Miyabi, who drew her blade in response to the man's aggression.

Jirō visibly recoiled for a few seconds as his breaths turned heavy in a mix of confusion and anger. His daughter, his own flesh and blood, had dared to raised her weapon against him for the sake of some boy she liked. Though he knew he shouldn't have been terribly surprised, it was nearly impossible to keep the hurt from putting itself on his face. So he had no choice but to let his face fall. Despite seeing her father vulnerable in such a way for the first time since before her mother's death, Miyabi's steeled look only further tightened. After a few seconds, she looked down to the young man and asked, "Can you walk?"

Still locked in the embrace of the two girls from his front and behind, the young man murmured, "Ah… hold up," before using his arms to gently push away the two. Though he struggled for a moment, still very dizzied from the multiple blows to his head, he was eventually able to pull himself up and leaned onto the counter, visibly bloody from him having been repeatedly slammed into it. He sucked in a pained breath of air as he reached to the back of his head and found the fresh blood that still lingered.

Homura spoke frankly, "We should get that patched up," before looking over her shoulder to Oda, who continued to rage in the face of Yumi's defiance of his orders, "though…" After a moment she shook her head and ordered, "Head off to someplace and we'll meet you there…"

The young man faltered in his response, "Wha-, hold on. You want me to what? Where?"

Homura repeated herself, "Head off to some place and we'll meet you later!" She gestured to the brunette next to him, "Asuka, help him down the stairs outside," before she turned around to backup Yumi as Oda began to aggressively shout at the lot of them. Standing beside her, Miyabi also gave the young man a look of certainty before turning around to push her father out of the circle of girls.

Before the boy could process it, Asuka wrapped one of her arms around him and ordered, "Lean on me," as they began to make for the exit to the apartment. From outside the circle of young shinobi, her mother called after her but the brunette made herself ignore every word. Once they were outside with the young man hanging over Asuka's shoulder, she echoed Homura's order, "Just head off to someplace… Anyplace at all. We'll find you and we'll patch you up."

"What about Oda?" murmured the boy, "I doubt he's going to just let you all walk away."

"He can't just kill all twenty of us," stated Asuka, "Especially not with some of our parents being right there." As they traversed down the stairs, Asuka continued to mouth off, "We didn't anticipate them but, like Haruka said, we can use the situation to our advantage… Sure, Oda can threaten us and maybe he'll try something… But he won't do anything… final…"

Her words sounded far too unsure for the young man's liking. As much as she tried to proclaim that Oda wouldn't do anything to seriously hurt them, they both knew that Oda was a force that would overpower all of them. But, before he could voice any of his thoughts, a black car screeched from around the street corner and pulled onto the curb just off from the parking lot. As the two teenagers finished their trek down the stairs, Asuka was the first to cry out, "Grandma! Grandpa!"

Stepping out of the vehicle was Jasmine and Hanzō, both carrying alarmed looks on their faces as they looked at all of the parked cars in the lot and spotted the young man's brutalized state. Hanzō dashed up to him first, stammering, "What-, was this… this couldn't have been…" before a look of uncharacteristic rage overtook his face. Without further hesitation, he gently patted the young man's shoulder, "Find a safe place and get yourself fixed up," before stomping up the stairs as he bellowed the name, "ODA!" and joined his yells with everyone else in the apartment.

By the time her husband made it up the stairs, Jasmine had finally brought herself to approach the young man and looked his wounds up and down. She murmured a few things, "I… I heard the call yesterday-"

"Fuck off," grunted the young man, much to Asuka's surprise. Jasmine reeled her head back, guilt evidently painting her features as the young man stepped away from the brunette's shoulder and pointed one of his hands up to the apartment, "For once… after everything these last couple of days… do something useful and head upstairs… make sure that no one else gets bloodied up…"

A small look of indignance came over Jasmine, though it fell when she reminded herself of her and the young man's positions. She had wronged him and deserved whatever he decided to dish out. Once she was sure that she wouldn't try to defend herself, Jasmine began to murmur, "About your call yesterday… I panicked-, I'm sorry, I-" but was cut off again.

"I SAID FUCK OFF!" roared the young man as he pointed up the stairs, "GET UP THERE AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MESS YOU ALLOWED!"

Another look of frustration came over Jasmine's face before she took a breath and nodded her head. Before she could be insulted again, the woman marched past the two teenagers and made her way up the stairs to join the fray. Once the young man took a breath to calm himself down, Asuka was about to comment on his remarks to her grandmother before deciding to save it for another time. Instead, she pointed off to the sidewalk, "You should get going… in case Oda or Jirō decide to… get violent with you again…"

As she turned to follow her grandmother, the young man caught a glimpse of something he couldn't ignore. He called after her, "Asuka… Hey," and walked up to her when she turned around. He looked down to her face and found the resulting bruise from his strike earlier. His mouth curled up in a mix of sorrow and distress before he stammered, "I'm sorry… Truly… I'm sorry." In response, Asuka stepped onto her toes and wrapped him into the biggest hug she could give without hurting him. Though he was a bit surprised, the young man hugged her back and didn't pull away. After a few seconds, he stated to her, "I'm sorry too… for not being able to uphold my part of the plan…"

Asuka nuzzled her head into his neck before whispering, "There's no need to be sorry about that. We all knew it could've failed. That's why Yumi planned for the rest of us to get involved. Plus," she pulled back from the hug and nodded her head, "Oda isn't really one who can be talked down… In all honesty, that was extremely reckless of you."

The young man averted his gaze, "I thought… I could argue him down… Maybe I could've gotten him to make some weird kind of exception… or something… To be honest, I lost myself in the heat of the moment up-""

There was a loud round of yelling from the apartment as Hanzō and Oda went back and forth with one another. Deciding to save her smart comment for a different day, Asuka pointed down the sidewalk and exclaimed, "Head off to someplace! We'll meet you as soon as this mess is fixed up!"

Nodding his head in response, the young man yelled out, "Thank you… Send my thanks to everyone! Good luck…" and began to make his strategic retreat down the sidewalk. After seeing him off for a few seconds, Asuka clambered up the stairs to add her voice into the barrage of yelling taking place at that moment, entirely unaware of the fact that a pair of eyes had been watching from afar. Once the brunette was out of sight and mind, Sato Hazuki began to head after the young man for what would be their first real confrontation.


	29. Chapter 29: Crushing Setbacks

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 29: Crushing Setbacks

Watching the young man stumble along the sidewalk from far behind, Sato Hazuki continued to trail after him with a faltering resolve. Though she knew that her penultimate goal would be within reach if she had just dragged him into an alley to do away with him, she was suffering from a terrible anxiety attack due to the rising anticipation of her offense and the perceived stares from the crowd of people along the sidewalk. While the young man certainly had most of the attention, with many people turning their heads to get a look at the ugly bruises covering his face, Sato couldn't help but feel as though some eyes trailed toward her. Even if she never did anything noteworthy, there was always a feeling that someone was scrutinizing her at every turn.

When she caught sight of a police officer on the other side of the street enjoying an early lunch at a local café, Sato had to resist against every one of her instincts' as they screamed for her to run away. After all, she was being deliberately truant for one of the first times in her life. But the rarity of the opportunity demanded that she kept moving to intercept. When the young man didn't show up for first period, Sato overheard Miss Osatani talking with Takatsukasa Sugiyama that he'd called in sick. From there, after reminding herself that the young man hadn't called in before despite past injuries, Sato decided to take a risk and moved to head him off at the residence she tracked him to.

While she didn't know why he was absent, she believed that it meant he was either knee-deep in shinobi business or on the verge of death. Her bet paid off in the fact that it appeared to be a mix of both of those things. From the disgustingly purple bruises on his cheek and above his eye to the open wound he had on the back of his head, it looked like someone had beaten him with the intention to kill. When Sato took one final look at the police officer to see if he'd taken notice of the young man's injuries, she was relieved to find the cop talking with a waitress that he appeared to be intimate with.

The girl turned her attention back to the young man, who was discreetly slinking into a pharmacy. Not wanting to lose track of him, Sato held her breath and quickened her pace around the surrounding crowds. If anyone tried to make eye contact with her, she never saw it. Her eyes remained glued to the concrete while her legs powered forward. It wasn't until Sato realized she had almost passed up the pharmacy that she decided to take a moment to calm down. After a few minutes, she turned around and peered through the window to find the pharmacist and clerk frantically running around the counters to treat the young man's wounds against meager protests. But, after the old man spoke some passionate-looking words, the boy ceased his fussing and allowed them to clean him up.

Sato's eyebrows fell low with envy upon catching the scene. Just as the young man was the center of attention when he was with the girls or Miki, even random strangers were going out of their way to give him affection. She wanted that. After taking a breath and reminding herself of what she was going to do at the right opportunity, Sato sat herself by the edge of an alley and waited for the young man to come out.

Soon enough, she would have what she'd been pining for. Just as it was when Sato realized that the young man was an infiltrator, it just boiled down to a game of patience. She was the hunter… and the boy who'd associated himself with the shinobi was the prey… All she had to do was wait for the perfect opportunity… No. She would take a few minutes to prepare and then set about waiting. All that really needed to be done was scour the surrounding area, find a makeshift weapon, and formulate a plan of attack.

Betraying the often-meek look on her face, Sato took a breath and adopted a worn-out smile. Her prize was finally within reach.

In the suburbs, the girls and parents were waiting tensely in the apartment's parking lot. Hanzō and Oda's booming voices could be heard from inside the young man's residence without any sign of quieting down. Occasionally there was a pause, though some snooping from Yayoi, Hibari's mother, revealed those brief silences were actually Jasmine making quiet retorts.

As Hanzō could be heard booming, "DID YOU NOT SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT BOY'S FACE!? HE'S A TEENAGER, YOU BEAST!" Homura turned from her position beside Asuka on the curb and opened her mouth as if to ask something before quickly closing it. Though the brunette turned to her and nodded her head to encourage her friend's thoughts, nothing was said between the two.

Fortunately, Yumi had the same question as the tanned girl and dared to ask from behind, "Have you ever seen or heard Hanzō this angry?"

"HE'S AN INFILTRATOR! A TERRORIST! THE BROTHER OF TSAO! THAT SAME TSAO WHO BUTCHERED THE ENTIRE HIRAIZUMI DIVISION!"

Asuka shook her head before protruding her lower lip and raising a finger, "Hm… Actually… There was- No, that was all in jest… In all honesty, I've never seen or heard him like this-"

"THAT'S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!? DO YOU AIM TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THAT BASTARD BY KILLING HIS BROTHER!? ARE YOU NO BETTER THAN HE IS!?"

"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO TSAO, YOU LYING SHIT!? I'M ACTING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE POWERS I'VE BEEN GIVEN BY THE STATE!"

"But… I have heard stories from… Mom," Asuka finished as she turned her head to the aforementioned woman, trying hard to not meet her eye.

Seeing her daughter taking a peek at her, Akari did her ultimate to put on an apologetic smile. But, unable to hold onto her front for long, the woman turned her head away and took a heavy breath as she remained seated against the side of her car. There was no denying the part that she and the rest of the parents played in the young man's confrontation. Even if she didn't raise the fist that pummeled him, she only stood by and watched. However much she screamed for Jirō to stop, it was plain and obvious that she and the rest of the adults could have just gone past Oda to pull him off. Akari knew that and so did Asuka… so the former would never shame her daughter when the criticism inevitably came.

"YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS, YOU APE! CERTAINLY, AFTER JUST ONE LOOK AT THE BOY, YOU CAN TELL THAT HE'S NO THREAT! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS, HE'S ALREADY CURED FOUR OF THE GIRLS OF THEIR DISTORTION!"

Despite Oda's standpoint on distortion, Akari was one who was inclined to believe its existence. After all, she'd seen other elite shinobi turn from bright and enthusiastic to cold and distanced over the span of a couple days. She initially attributed it to a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder, seeing as every one of those shinobi had gone up against Yōma at some point in their lives. But as the years went by and veterans kept getting hollowed out, Akari deigned to ask her father. In turn, Hanzō explained to her all about distortion and the role it played in changing people for the worse. Though she was split on the idea, especially when he explained that the only ones capable of 'correcting' it were a bunch of witch doctors called infiltrators, her previous observations couldn't be denied… So, when she thought about the issue at hand, Akari never really took a stance on the issue. She just knew that something was happening to veteran shinobi and that was that.

While her head shamefully faced the ground in thought, Masayoshi, Ikaruga's adoptive father, approached and murmured, "I wonder if Oda planned on beating that boy from the very beginning…"

Akari let out a surprised squeak before turning her head up to the overdressed man, offering a pouty look for having been scared. But, once her head fell back into place, she turned her gaze away and answered back, "I don't think he did… Oda's, without a doubt, notorious for being swift and brutal with his punishments… But he isn't- Usually, he isn't so…"

"SAY WHAT YOU WILL! YOU LIARS HAVE KEPT THIS BEHIND MY BACK FOR FAR LONGER THAN I CAN FORGIVE! EITHER WAY, HE'S A TERRORIST WHO SHARES HIS LINE WITH TSAO!"

"Barbaric?" asked the man.

"That's a word for it…" whispered Akari as she began to rub her chin in thought. She would have pondered why Oda was so rough if she didn't know the answer already. Even still, regardless of the hate that Oda felt for Tsao, the veteran shinobi had ordered them all beforehand to stay any aggression… until he let Jirō loose. The larger shinobi previously acknowledged that the young man seemed to be a composed individual, apparently being extremely tolerant to the girls' extremities despite some discomfort and pain. Yet, despite that compliment he paid, he still was willing to see him battered. Akari brought the hand rubbing her chin up to her forehead before murmuring, "It's weird… during the call he gave me… he even said the boy likely didn't have bad intentions…"

Masayoshi closed his eyes and stated, "Oda got emotional and caught up with the moment… maybe?" before he shook his head, "No… That doesn't sound like Oda…"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, JASMINE! YOU AND YOUR TWO-FACED HUSBAND WILL BE LUCKY TO JUST GET OUT OF HERE IN HANDCUFFS!"

"None of this is like him," said Akari as she glanced up to the door of the young man's apartment, "I mean, why involve us? I know our daughters are involved here but…" She cut herself off to think for a moment before stammering, "Think back to that school in Osaka. Was that three years ago?"

"LISTEN TO WHAT SHE HAS TO SAY!"

Masayoshi looked grimly down to her, "April thirteenth, little over three years ago…"

"I'LL HEAR NONE OF IT!"

The woman nodded before her grimace deepened, "He didn't contact any of the parents until he killed those five shinobi… None of the victims' or renegades' parents had any idea their sons and daughters were dead until everything was dealt with… So why contact us in this scenario? It couldn't have just been for intimidation… could it?"

"DO YOU WANT ANSWERS OR ARE YOU JUST LOOKING TO KILL AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER!?"

Looking down to Akari with a matching look of bleakness, Masayoshi began to say, "Well, to be fair, dealing with five young renegades is a bit different…" before his words died in his throat. He rubbed his neck a few times before murmuring, "No… it really isn't much different, is it? Save for the fact that someone has yet to be killed this time around, it really boils down one thing for Oda: there's a threat and he has to neutralize it…"

"INNOCENT BYSTANDER!? HE'S A TERRORIST WHO YOU'VE ADMITTED-"

"DO NOT CALL HIM A TERRORIST!"

Hearing the interruption, Akari looked up, "That was Jasmine that time, wasn't it?"

The man beside her nodded, "I was wondering what was taking her so long."

"I'LL CALL HIM WHAT HE IS!"

"THEN CALL HIM A BOY! THAT'S ALL HE IS!"

"HE'S AN INFILTRATOR!"

After a few seconds of pondering, Masayoshi concluded his previous statement, "I suppose there is one key difference… Tsao is involved…" He took a breath, "And if there's one thing Oda wants," and then exhaled, "it's that monster's head…"

"JUST LISTEN! YOU DON'T KNOW THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT BROUGHT HIM HERE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHY HE'S HERE!"

"So, we're in agreement then?" asked Akari.

"Depends on if we're thinking the same thing," replied Masayoshi.

The brunette turned her head to Asuka, who met her eyes with a mix of hurt and confusion while murmuring with Homura. Then she looked back up to her friend, "Oda didn't call us out of the goodness of his heart… Nor to try and talk sense to our daughters like he said…"

"I DON'T SEE WHY I SHOULD CARE ABOUT WHAT MOTIVATES SOME TERRORIST LAPDOG TO COME HERE AND DO WHATEVER HE DOES TO THOSE GIRLS! ALL I KNOW IS THAT TSAO IS HIS BROTHER AND THAT WE HAVE A KEY TO AVENGE EVERYONE HE'S KILLED!"

"Maybe he really did just bring us along to intimidate a young boy…finished Akari, "Nothing more and nothing less."

"I already had that figured out from the beginning," stated Masayoshi, "Didn't you?"

"I've always been a little slow to figuring these kinds of things out."

"ODA, PLEASE JUST LISTEN!"

"If I remember correctly, the kid pointed it out too… back when we were all upstairs."

"Again, I am slow."

"I WILL NOT LISTEN TO ANOTHER WORD! I'M HEADING OUT TO PICK THAT BOY UP! ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, I'LL GET TSAO AND THEN HE'LL BE MADE TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING A FUCKING CHILD-MURDERING SHIT!"

"I'm pretty sure Oda admitted to it too. Plus, he just yelled about Tsao-"

"Do you just like broken records or something? Is that something rich people like?"

"Sometimes, when it boosts my ego."

"HE NEVER WANTED TO BE A TERRORIST, YOU DAMN FOOL!"

Upon hearing those last few words, Akari and Masayoshi's eyes went up to the apartment in confusion before facing one another. Just as one of them was about to ask if they heard the same thing, the dull-eyed mother of Imu and Murasaki, Tomoe, turned to her husband and asked, "Strange claim that she just made. How do you think it works?"

Standing next to her by one of the support beams to the apartment's stairway, Shōwa replied in turn with an equally tired look, "I'm sure it's a long and complicated story… One I'm sure that Oda isn't willing to hear." But, when the booming yells that once rang out of the apartment ceased and were replaced by quiet chatter, the man shrugged his shoulders and took off his glasses to give them a cleaning, "Yet, that may be exactly what he's doing… There's a first for everything."

Not too far away from them, Jirō kept his head down as he grumbled, "Don't be too sure. Oda knows that Jasmine's been crafty in the past… and Hanzō isn't much better…"

Shōwa turned to the Hebijo principal, who was sat up against the building's wall, "Say it were true, though… would it make a difference in how you dealt with the boy?"

"Maybe you didn't hear the same story as I have," growled Jirō. He stood up and loudly shouted, "He has the nerve to claim my Miyabi's attention, along with three other girls. Even if he wasn't an infiltrator, I would have to kill him for my daughter's-"

"You're an embarrassment," called Miyabi's voice from beside Yumi. When her father turned to face her, doing his utmost to restrain his rage, she continued, "Say what you will about him, whether you think he's faithless or is out to dirty me," before adopting a large scowl, "he's far superior to you." Jirō balled up his hands, a gestured his daughter caught as she added, "And he doesn't even need to raise a fist to do so."

Relaxing himself before he did anything stupid, the man clenched his eyes closed and calmly began to say, "If this is about what happened earlier, I'm sor-" but was cut off midsentence.

"We both know you're not being sincere," jabbed Miyabi as she advanced away from her comrades towards her father, "so don't say another word."

Without hesitation, Jirō stepped away from the wall and towards her. Fortunately, Shōwa stepped away from his wife to get in front of his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Easy… You'll only make things worse if you do anything else… calm down."

Though a violent look of frustration came over the man's face, Jirō stopped making an effort to move. Even when Miyabi advanced more and more until she was about a meter from him, the man forced himself to focus on the bruise he left on his daughter's cheek before his temper finally wavered. In all truth, he did feel terrible about the accidental punch he delivered. Though he would never willingly admit it, Jirō wanted to prostrate himself to apologize then and there …

But his pride forbade it. Jirō was the principal of Hebijo Academy, the one who took full control after Dōgen was killed. His position and superiors demanded that he remained did his utmost to retain control by being swift, impartial, and brutal without exception. Beyond that, if he was being entirely honest with himself, Jirō knew that he was never fit to be a proper parent. When his wife announced her pregnancy, he feigned a small bit excitement behind a cold persona and did everything he could to keep the fear off his face. As his daughter grew up, he let her mother take the central role in raising her while he made himself scarce more often than he ever should have.

Looking at the bruise on Miyabi's face solidified everything that Jirō feared from the very start of her life: regardless of how powerful a shinobi he was, he was doomed to fail as a parent… Being a father was never for him nor was it something that he ever deserved to be called… But, of course, he'd never admit to that.

Before either Jirō or Miyabi could say anything more to one another, both sets of their fiery yellow eyes turned up to the apartment when they heard the front door slam open. Before either could move to get a better look at who was on the balcony, Oda stormed down the stairs and pointed to Miyabi, "You." Having already been hardened by the fact that her parent had struck her, the white-haired girl wasn't much fazed when the larger shinobi inserted himself between her and Jirō. Even when he demanded, "Tell me what exactly brought that boy to all of you… right now," she kept her face as firm as stone.

"Circumstances brought about by his brother," Miyabi answered.

"Tsao?" snarled Oda in surprise.

"Not him, the other one."

The big man tilted his head for a second before he asked, "Haruo then…?" The girl nodded to him before he looked at her carefully, "You're sure?"

"It's as we said," Jasmine called as she stepped out from the apartment, "the second brother-"

"Shut it," barked Oda as he turned his head over to Yumi and began to advance before something clicked in his head: he couldn't rely on the information of cool and composed individuals capable of scheming against him. Without further thought, he redirected himself toward Minori, who stood anxiously by the border of the parking lot, and growled, "Do you know how he got here? The details?"

The smaller girl stepped away as Yumi moved to try and insert herself between the two, "I can answer-"

"She can speak for herself," barked Oda as he pointed his finger at Minori, "Tell me. How did that boy come to be here?" The pigtailed girl sputtered a few times, tears welling in her eyes out of pure fear, as she turned to her sisters for help. Unfortunately, despite their protests in the background, Oda continued to press, "Just tell me. Why is he here?"

Ultimately, the girl covered her face and cried, "HE SAID HE WANTS TO BE FREE! IN THE SUSHI PLACE, THAT'S WHAT HE SAID! THAT'S ALL I REMEMBER, I SWEAR!" before she fell to her knees under the massive pressure the giant pressed on her.

While Yozakura and Shiki flanked around the man to compose their sister, Oda narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Free from what? Be specific."

"Oda!" yelled Jasmine as she descended the stairs, "we've already told you-"

"I won't take the word of a couple liars!" yapped the shinobi as he turned back to Minori, "What does he want to be free from!?"

"He didn't specify," called Hibari from Asuka's side, "but we know he doesn't want to be an infiltrator… So… maybe that's what he was referring to?" When Oda turned his gaze to her, she shrunk a bit and stammered, "At least, that's what I got out of it…"

Before the man could aggress any further, Ikaruga also decided to step in, "He explained that he was in the middle of trying to leave before this mess started to snowball…" She gestured to Jasmine and to Hanzō, who had followed just behind his wife, "According to everything we've heard, those two were after Haruo after an… incident with Renka…"

"Renka," Oda repeated, "I don't believe I'm familiar with her…"

"From a mountain village, some odd kilometers out of the city," answered Hanzō. When his ex-partner didn't do anything to interrupt him, the old man continued, "His brother, Haruo, attempted a correction on her but… he wasn't…" before sighing, "the only good he did was in getting rid of the distortion… but her mind's a mess now… and there's been no sign of recovery since…"

"And you hunted Haruo for it? Despite Tsao?"

Hanzō adopted a remorseful grimace, "We wouldn't let it go…"

Oda paused for a moment and stared before clicking his tongue, "So why the boy? In the apartment, you said you blackmailed him and brought him here. What did he have to do with it…? Unless…" After a few thoughts ran through his head, Oda let out a sarcastic snort and grumbled, "Hypocrites… the both of you."

While Hanzō sucked in a shameful breath and closed his eyes, Jasmine visibly recoiled, "What're you-"

"You rail on me about having the boy beaten senselessly," declared Oda before he pointed an accusatory finger, "but you say that you went after him because you thought it would get to a selfish shit like Haruo…"

Hanzō tried to interject, "That wasn't all-"

"I don't want to hear anymore," growled Oda as he waved his hand dismissively, "I want to listen to the boy explain to me everything that's led to this point. After that…" He turned his head and faced all of the girls, "Only after that will I conclude what must be done…" before he clicked his tongue again, "The lot of you better hope he's a good speaker because I am low on patience."

Despite all of his misgivings and the openings for lies, Oda was silently convinced of the story that Hanzō and Jasmine gave him. Considering the fact that they could have ironed out the details with the girls, the veteran shinobi was surprised with himself for even entertaining the thought that there were some unfortunate circumstances to the young man's presence… Yet, all of the boy's mannerisms fit the bill extremely well. Defiant and frustrated like an animal getting pressed further and further into a corner, he only got more and more aggressive as Oda continued to press him. Throw in the line that the young man had said earlier, his declaration that he was already on one leash, then that only meant one of two things: either the story about him being blackmailed was true or, even within the heat of the moment, the boy was a good enough actor to keep composed and build off the elaborate explanation that had been cooked up. But, considering how poorly the young man and Hanzō tried to sell their previous story, the one on how he happened to meet the girls coincidentally, and the fact that constructing such a backup story was a completely monotonous detail that wouldn't usually ever be needed… Oda was inclined to believe it.

Turning around to march towards the parents, Oda considered how such a story threw a wrench into two of his key principles. He was already acting on one, that being to enforce the law with little exception. But then there was the one that'd been engrained into his head since childhood.

"**Have pity on those who are forced to act on the whims of the world, those same whims that we call circumstance. Even if they do the best that they can, they will always be sheep on their way to the slaughter… Only the kind hand of one who is free can release them. Oda… be that kind hand whenever you feel that opportunity is deserved."**

Remembering the fact that he would likely be living a terrible life in poverty if his grandfather hadn't extended a hand to him, Oda couldn't bear the thought of abandoning that principle for anything. Even if the young man was Tsao's brother and an infiltrator, the shinobi couldn't just ignore the fact that the young man was a victim of circumstance. Moreover, Oda could never ignore the fact that the boy was apparently working to leave the life of an infiltrator behind him only to have it taken away.

Ultimately, it would depend on what the boy had to say and whether or not he stood by that story. Either way, Oda would have some deep thinking to do. Maybe he couldn't let the young man get away scot-free but he wouldn't kill him if the story checked out.

After waving over the rest of the parents, Oda ordered simply. "Spread out and find the boy. Bring him back here in good condition." When a couple of the girls began to speak and offered to help, the veteran shinobi cut them off with a sharp, "The lot of you are staying here in my sight. We'll wait for him and see what can be made of this mess." When Jirō began to head off, Oda called after him, "Oi, I'll need your help keeping watch over these girls."

While the Hebijo principal cussed under his breath, Oda sat himself on the apartment stairs beside Jasmine and Hanzō. The married couple looked at him, wary of whatever Oda had in mind as he closed his eyes and began to meditate on what options he could offer to try and satisfy the young man's demands for freedom… in anticipation that everything being claimed was true.

Upon exiting the pharmacy and offering a thankful wave to the respective owners, the young man began to make his way down the sidewalk. He gave the occasional scratch to the bandage wrapped around his head but ultimately felt a lot more clearheaded than he did before. Though there was a bit of an awkward stumble to his walk, he was able to think more clearly and was capable of reflecting on the situation at hand.

But, just as his face fell in remembering that the girls were all still with Oda, the young man heard a few frantic footsteps from behind him. At first, remembering his jog with the girls of Hebijo, he thought it was Murasaki. Between the sound of how the perpetrator's shoes tapped against the sidewalk and how erratic the pacing was between each step, the young man was sure he was about to turn around and find the purple-haired girl with all of her anxiousness on display.

Instead, he found Sato quickly surging toward him. Her straight dark brown hair bounced and waved a bit but her ocean blue eyes were narrowed through her round glasses with complete seriousness. Upon processing her presence, the young man clenched his eyes closed and repeatedly cursed in his head. Of all the times for her to suddenly show up, she chose the one where he'd just been interrogated and beaten less than an hour before. After remarking to himself about how much he hated life at that moment, the young man took a few steps backward from the slowing girl before nodding his head and turning to walk away. His ultimate hope was that he could try and blow off whatever she was planning to do.

Unfortunately, his sliver of hope that it was all just a cruel coincidence rang empty. Without warning, the young man could hear Sato's footsteps pick up in speed before a hand suddenly clasped onto his shoulder and aggressively began to guide him toward an alleyway. When he tried to resist and pushed against her, a massive shove threw him forward into the alley. After another attempt to free himself by trying to maneuver around the girl, he was shoved again and fell onto his rear while a few onlookers humorously made retorts.

"Oop, he's got something coming."

"Do you think they're boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I wonder what he did to piss her off?"

In that moment, the young man decided that he not only hated life, but he also everyone and everything. Before he could yell for help, Sato quickly clasped a hand over his mouth before she pulled him up by the arm to spin him around, hold said arm up to his back, and pushed him deeper and deeper into the alleyway. Considering the fact that he was a bit taller than the girl, the young man was completely surprised by how strong she apparently was. Then, remembering why he had a bandage around his head in the first place, he also concluded that the blunt force trauma he took was not helping the situation.

After turning around a corner that lead toward a dead-end of brick walls and a bit of muffled yelling on the young man's part, Sato threw him to the ground before leaning down to a corner where she had stashed a lead pipe. In the middle of picking himself up and spinning around, the young man barely had a second to spare when Sato swung the makeshift weapon downward straight for his head. He scrambled backwards and listened to the ringing of metal loudly clashing against concrete. Feeling himself go cold in realization of what his opponent was after, the young man looked up to the girl in wide-eyed alarm.

When Sato began to advance, he picked himself up and raised up his arms while trying to adopt a combat stance. But, despite how hard he tried to focus and retain the posture, there was still far too much of a wobble to his movement. Fortunately, upon seeing his pose, Sato let out a quiet snort before speaking with a grimace on her face, "That posture…?"

Well aware of the situation he was in, the young man spoke through uneasy breaths, "What about it?"

Searching for the right words, Sato answered back with a mumble, "It explains the bruises… from then…"

"From then?" repeated the boy before he realized that she was referring to the day after his fight with Yumi. While still trying to steady himself and balance out his posture, he considered his options. No matter how the young man looked at it, Sato had a serious advantage over him. She was armed and had him cornered with no place to flee while he couldn't even adopt a proper combat stance to literally save his life. When Sato took another step towards him, he sought to try and delay her with conversation by stammering, "So what is this then? Assassination or just some random murder you're going after?"

Taking another step towards him, the girl replied frankly, "Assassination."

The young man hoped to have her start monologuing in order to buy some time to think out a plan. But Sato, being the silent student that she was, gave a one-word answer and blew his attempt out of the water. Still, he was desperate to try again, "So, what then? Is that it? Without even trying to… I don't- to talk it out? After only like ten words, you're going to kill me?"

"Yes," replied Sato as she stepped closer, holding back her weapon in caution despite the fact that she had the advantage and was in range.

Realizing that there wouldn't be a way out, the young man took a breath into his nose before exhaling out his mouth. Despite the fact that he was in no condition to fight, Sato wasn't going to give him a choice in the matter. Keeping his arms raised up, the young man asked with a determined hoarseness to his voice, "Answer me this, at least… I know you saw Asu- the shinobi in class some days back… By the way you're going about this, I know you're not an infiltrator. So… are you a dignitary?"

"Yes," answered Sato as she suddenly swung the lead pipe around, her face cool and composed despite the fact that she was getting into her first real fight ever… with the intention to kill, no less… Of course, that was what true focus and determination did to desperate people.

**Duel: Sato Hazuki – Silent Dignitary of Meager Origin**

The young man dodged backward into the alley's dead-end, sloppily tripping his feet while doing so. Once his back was to the wall, he looked to both of Sato's sides to see if there was any room for escape. Though the alley, itself, was about three meters wide with plenty of room for movement, the young man's opponent stuck to the middle with her lead pipe and would be within strike range no matter where he ran. One way or another, he'd have to get through one of her blows in order to get away.

**BE FREE! That's what they'll be,**

**To any end achieved…**

After killing the momentum of her last swing, Sato gripped the lead pipe with both of her hands before leveling it to her waist to hold it like a dagger. While it wasn't at all pointed, there was a large fist-sized nut screwed on the end that would certainly do damage if jabbed into any fragile bones. Her bright eyes scanned the young man's body, marking each point where she expected to be able to do the most damage. After taking a few looks at his head and knees, Sato reeled back the pipe and kicked herself forward.

**NO HEED! Not they who plead,**

**Against lies long foreseen…**

Hoping her momentum wouldn't be easily slowed, the young man slid his body to the side and extended his hands to try and get control of the weapon. Much to his surprise, Sato managed to angle the pipe toward him enough to skid against his hip. But, with only a small bit of pain ripping into him from the scratch, the young man was mostly unaffected.

**Neither balk,**

Similar to his fight with Yumi, the boy clasped one hand onto Sato's wrist while extending the other for her shoulder to try and use her own momentum to throw her into the wall. Closer to the ground, he was also kicking forward one of his feet straight for the girl's ankle. Though he managed to get both grips and effectively hooked his foot to her leg, Sato broke her free hand away from the pipe and decked the young man straight in the nose. He held strong at first but was forced back to the side of the alley when the second punch nailed him in the eye.

**Breaking line,**

Though his attack was completely countered, the young man was no longer backed into the end of the alley. Since he was at Sato's side, all he really needed to do was maneuver for the exit while making sure she didn't cut him off. The dignitary was aware of this and began to sidestep to block the young man but, unwilling to sit and wait, the boy raised his arms and began to run as a feint. When Sato inevitably jumped to cut him off, he rotated his body and extended his arm forward. He almost clotheslined her neck before she ducked her head and whirled around her pipe straight into his elbow to produce a nasty crunch.

**Only actor's talk,**

A searing pain screamed through the young man's arm while he grounded his teeth together to maintain focus. Catching the fact that Sato was going in for another blow, he dodged backward and found himself trapped again at the end of the alley. After all that, the young man had made no progress and only had a broken bone or two for his trouble. Still, he wasn't out of the fight. Since he held his own against Jirō, he believed that escaping the alley and Sato would still be very possible. It was either that or the young man would be punished with the ultimate price.

**Losers pay the fine!**

Deciding to change up his strategy, the young man held up his broken arm with gritted teeth and charged forward. While a number of strategies came to his head, almost all of them were too similar to his previous attack. He knew that, just before escaping, the most important part of the fight at hand was remaining unpredictable to Sato so that he couldn't be easily countered. To bolster that element of unpredictability, the young man intended to use his broken arm as a shield while he made a desperate dive. Unfortunately, his strategy was instantly seen through.

**Though a swan's flight may go the distance,**

**Come hawk talons,**

**To run through,**

**His Dreams…**

At first, Sato played along with his strategy. She swung her pipe for his broken arm and the result was a painful snap in the middle of his forearm. The young man let out a mortified and pained groan but his flight instinct kept him running for the alley's exit. Then, just as he had passed Sato a bit, the girl arced her still swinging weapon up so that it wouldn't collide with the wall of the alley and angled it straight for the side of the boy's leg. Just before collision, she caught his eye and saw the look of horror as he realized he'd made a serious error. Then there was a loud pop followed by an agonized yell.

**Despite great strength in his metered dives,**

**Birds of prey trump,**

**Patient lots,**

**Through time!**

The young man tripped forward and landed on his face while he did his utmost to suppress his pained screams. But just as he began to try and pick himself up, Sato raised the pipe and slammed it straight into the boy's spine. A breathless noise wheezed out of the young man's mouth as he fell onto his side, feeling all of the pain that shot through him with great intensity before he realized something. With wide eyes, the young man realized that he could… No… He was going to die. When he tried to move his legs, there wasn't even a twitch. Looking to his arm, he found it bending horridly just past the elbow. Devoid of options and unable to think clearly, he looked up to Sato with a look that begged for mercy. In response, she gripped the pipe in both of her hands and bent over to press it against the young man's neck with the intention to strangle him to death.

**THEIR SWEET WINGS,**

**LIVING HELL!**

The fight was in its final seconds and both opponents knew it. While Sato continued to look at him with a cold and detached face, with maybe a hint of remorse, the young man mustered all of his remaining strength in a final attempt to fend her off. Raising his one good arm to get between the pipe and his neck, he pushed and resisted with everything he had left in him. He envisioned everything he dreamed of when he would have been freed from the life of an infiltrator. A home that he could stay in permanently, without the need to move every year or so… Friends that he didn't need to keep secrets from… A life where he didn't need to be afraid!

Summoning a strength that could only be produced from the most desperate and wanting of hearts, the young man shoved back the pipe and threw Sato off balance. His first instinct was to kick her before he remembered that he couldn't move his legs. Stuck with the only other option that he could think of, the young man used his one good arm to try and crawl away. In a quick and flailing rhythm, he managed to get about two meters from Sato before his instincts bid him to turn his head around toward her. His face fell once he saw that she was swinging back the pipe.

**FORCED COLLIDE,**

**TIL ONE'S FELLED!**

With blood pumping hard through her veins like never before, Sato took one long look at the young man. His teeth were still grinding together in an open mouth, his cheeks were pulled tightly while he continued to tensely try and pull himself to safety, and his eyes looked like they were about to cry. He knew what was coming before even she did… It was almost enough to keep Sato from striking again until she remembered all of the times that she had a similar face in the mirror. All of the nights that she spent alone while her parents lazed on the couch… while her brother locked himself in his room to play his games… all while she just wanted to talk with someone and admit that she never wanted to be a dignitary. But there was no one she could talk to nor anyone she trusted to confide in. So, seeing as there was a bounty for infiltrators, Sato thought she would play the system and free herself in a different sense.

So, she swung the pipe forward and the fight was over.

**Win's to she who came forth,**

**More desperate for life…**

There was a sickening pop as the pipe blew straight into the side of the young man's head. His eyes remained open, he even blinked in confusion a few times, before his head slumped to the ground. His mouth kept taking long and heavy breaths as blood began to pool from the part of his head that was slightly caved in. As everything caught up to her, Sato's face turned from cold to completely mortified by her actions. As far as she was concerned, she had just killed the boy in the most gruesome way that she could conceive… all after he'd taken an evident beating earlier that day.

When his teary eyes looked up to her, vaguely aware of his surroundings, the only thing that Sato could say was a choked, "Sorry… I'm really sorry…" before she began to make her way out of the alley, dropping the pipe to the ground along the way. Before turning the corner, she took control of herself and kept the tears back. Sato knew completely that she had no right to cry in front of the young man after what she'd done to him. After taking in a breath to calm herself, she turned around and stuttered to the boy, "Thi-, this is… All because I'm a selfish bitch… who stands to gain the one thing she's been vying for after so many long and tiring years…" With that, she turned away and began to scamper out of the alley, "This is… all because I want to be free… I'm sorry…"

Left alone with her parting words, the young man could hear the sound of the lightly urbanized area around him… yet, he couldn't. Every word that came out of Sato's mouth, he took in and understood them… but he couldn't reflect on anything. Instead, the only thing that he could focus on was the fact that he appeared to be back in his room from junior high. Everything about the room was just the way he remembered it, decorated with what few knickknacks he was amused by and with some clothes piled in the corner. If he remembered correctly, he even had a signed… something from someone. What and by who, he couldn't rightly remember for some reason.

When he tried to move to investigate what he was doing back there, he found himself trapped underneath the covers and completely immobile. He struggled a bit more but one of his arms and neither of his legs would obey his bidding. In the end, the only thing he could really do was use his one good arm to try and pull himself up. Then the thought occurred to him, to which he voiced, "I'll be late…" He sniveled through his cold nose, which was dribbling for whatever reason, and began to weakly call out, "Hey… Grandpa…? Grandpa, I need to get up… I need to get up…"

Struggling alone and deliriously in the alley, the young man continued to weakly murmur, "I need to get up… I gotta… I need to get up…" and shuffled his torso back and forth. Mindlessly, his arm began to grab at the ground, nearby trash and debris, along with anything that it could latch onto. With his eyes still blurry, the young man tearfully continued to incoherently whisper, "I'll need my back-, backpack, I'll need…" and yelled out, "I need my backpack!"

Walking with a completely unmoving face along the sidewalk, Kin silently wondered how such a mess came to be. At first, just like the rest of the parents, he was supposedly called over to talk some sense into his daughter and the rest of the girls. But based on what he'd seen, Yagyū was dead set on defending the boy and with a completely clear mind. It wasn't like she had wrong information or was being misled at all. Beyond that, she also appeared to trust the young man when he was around Hibari. Having read all of the letter's that Yagyū sent about that girl, Kin knew that was a great sign of trust.

Then there was Oda and Jirō's grand performance toward the end of the confrontation. While Kin, himself, wasn't a complicated man and didn't consider law or politics to be within his realm of expertise or understanding, he thoroughly believed that attack went too far. Were it not for the fact that there was room for him to be wrong, for the boy to indeed be a dangerous terrorist capable of great atrocities, then he would have stepped in… Looking back, Kin knew that was the wrong choice. Perhaps Oda scared him much more than he was willing to admit.

Kin wondered what he was doing. He considered Oda's orders for him to search the boy, apparently with the intention to cross-examine Jasmine, Hanzō, and the girls' story. It was such a rapid change in the veteran shinobi's direction that Kin couldn't help but be suspicious, wondering if it was all a ruse to calm the girls down while they dragged the young man back kicking and screaming. Either way, whether Oda was earnest or not, Kin was prepared to search the boy out, if only to check on the bruises and wounds that Jirō inflicted.

Part of the white-haired man wanted to slap the rest of the search party silly when they went on about searching a bunch of different locations. But he decided to let them make asses of themselves. As everyone went to search in parks, theaters, and wherever else, Kin wasn't nearly as shortsighted. The boy had an injury on the back of his head that would need to be treated and would, ergo, go to a place to get some medicine. Thus, Kin darted to a few clinics in the surrounding area, asking the doctors if they'd treated someone of the young man's description. After some truthful denials that they'd seen the boy, the man then set out to a local pharmacy. Part of him cursed, believing the young man to be a fool if he aimed to treat the wound on the back of his head by himself… then again, maybe he was just trying to be secretive? Kin shook his head before he delved into overthinking the situation at hand. He just had to search around until the young man was found.

Then his sharp ears picked up a weak, "I need to get up…" a little bit after accidentally bumping his arm into a skittish girl wearing a pair of round spectacles. Recognizing the pitch and sound, Kin began call out the young man's name. Each time, the only response he got was the same, "I need to get up…"

Following the noise as best as he could with the louder crowds around him, Kin eventually followed the noise toward the mouth of an alley. Every now and then, a few people would glance into the space upon hearing the noise before shrugging their shoulders and turning back to their friends and phones. Put on edge by the weak sound in the young man's voice, Kin pressed on with his stoic expression while anticipating the worst.

Unfortunately, he still wasn't prepared for what he saw.

Crumpled on the floor of the alleyway, the young man kept murmuring with visible delirium, "I've gotta get up… I've got… I need to get up…" with his arm bent horridly just a bit past the elbow. Most concerning was the bit of skull that was slightly caved in on his forehead, leaving the boy in a fatal condition. At first, Kin almost began to panic before he cooled himself and remembered something within Jasmine's possession.

After calming himself down and thinking out what he was going to do, the white-haired man pulled out his phone and dialed a number before waiting with an anxiously tapping foot. Once he heard the line click, he blurted out with no room for interruption, "Jasmine, I found him. Ready up that scroll of yours. Get Oda or Hanzō, they've got thick skulls. Hurry and do not waste any time. It's an emergency."

Before Jasmine could even make a noise, Kin hung up the phone and impatiently stuffed it back into his pocket before kneeling beside the young man. At that point, he knew he'd have to be extremely careful. After all, moving someone with a serious head injury without medical experience was an extreme risk in and of itself; Kin didn't need to be an idiot and unintentionally kill the boy because he was in a panic. While he worked quick to slightly elevate the young man's head and shoulders to minimize the head injury's risk, the boy resisted and began to yell out, "I need to get up! I need to get up…!" while waving his one uninjured arm.

"We're getting you up. Don't move," ordered Kin as he tried to keep the boy from hurting himself.

"I'll need my backpack," whispered the young man, not at all aware of Kin's presence.

"I've got it," murmured Kin without a second thought, "I've got it," as he tried to heft the boy up. Suddenly, the young man let out an agonized scream, to which the white-haired man quickly set him back down. Watching as the boy tried to roll himself around with no visible movement from either his hips or legs, Kin began to suspect that there was also a serious spinal injury. After considering the prospect of an ambulance, the man brushed the idea aside in favor of getting the boy to Jasmine. Even with medical treatment, there was still an almost sure chance that the young man would be dead before even arriving at the emergency room. No, Kin wouldn't let that risk stand. He gripped the boy's hand and whispered, "I'm sorry. This will hurt," and once again moved to lift him.

That time, there was only a lighter noise of pain from the young man before he went completely silent. Kin looked to the boy in his arms with alarm and began to whisper, "Are you alright? Talk to me." But, while his swollen eye remained closed and peaceful, the young man's untouched eye was still slightly open with tear stains running down to the cheek. As no word nor even a tremble came from the boy, Kin began to fear he was going into shock, "Oi… Oi, oi, oi, OI, OI, OI! Say some- shit!"

The young man was still alive… but he was in his own little world. There, he laid on a warm bed within a living room of sorts. All around him, the girls he'd met were all getting into their usual antics. Imu was making jealous looks at Miyabi while she was giving some attention to Murasaki. Ryōna was off to the side, getting beaten by Ryōbi with a smile on her face. Homura hurdled around with Asuka in tow, leaving the rest of the renegades curled up by a fireplace. Ikaruga was trying to explain something to Katsuragi, who was groping Yagyū's breasts, who was hugging Hibari close without much regard for the blonde. Then Yumi came in, dressed as she was the other night, with Yozakura in tow to serve some snacks. Of course, Minori snatched the bowl and began to make off with it. Fortunately, Murakumo stopped her by uttering… something… Shiki was also… what was Shiki doing?

The young man was still comfortable, but everything was starting to turn weird. He could no longer see any of the girls and the room was shifting from shape to shape, from cube, to a sphere, to a pyramid, and then into a prism of sorts. Just like it was when he first came to the city, the young man was alone and confused… And, also just like then, a sudden bit of frustration and anger took him… He didn't know where he was but he was furious for some reason… He didn't know why but he was bombastically furious…


	30. Chapter 30: Perpetual Desperation

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 30: Perpetual Desperation

A soft and lulling heat began to envelop the young man as he continued to simmer in his anger. Whenever he tried to focus on what it was that enraged him so, his mind would go completely blank as the world around him continued to shift into a variety of shapes. The only thing that he could really bring himself to focus on was the fact that he was still trapped in his bed, one of his arms and both of his legs completely immobile. Hating the confinement, he let out a frustrated yell that echoed into the void.

From no particular direction in the emptiness, there was the sound of wood slamming into something while a stoic voice ordered, "Clear the futon," as a bunch of alarmed cries followed after him. If the young man concentrated enough, he could barely identify some of the voices as some of the girls. At the head were Asuka and Yumi along with Hibari, Minori, Yomi, and Ryōna. Less clearly, he could hear panicked demands for some kind of explanation from Homura and Miyabi with some additional support from Katsuragi, Murakumo, Mirai, and Imu. Despite all of the aforementioned voices and others expressing concern for him, the young man couldn't bring himself to care too much about them in that moment. All he could really know for sure was that he was unable to move and that he hated such a feeling of confinement.

Pushing the cries and yells out of his mind, the young man tried to push off the bedcovers enveloping him with his one good arm. However, as the heat around him left him lightheaded, his focus was turned toward different sounds coming from the void… strange sorts of mumbles. After a bit of thought, he bewilderedly recognized them as the girls despite the fact that he'd heard them from elsewhere just a few moments before. He slowly tried to call out, "Hey… Hey…!" only to find his voice dying out before anything else could be said. Though he could make loud noises and even yell if he wanted to, something was keeping the young man from formulating proper words.

Along with multiple panicked cries that contained his name, the boy could hear the same voice as before ask, "Where's Jasmine? He's been bleeding the whole way here… Nearly two pints, I'd wager…"

"I've got it! Sorry, I had this buried out back…"

"Alright, pass it here…"

"What? Why not me…? Look, Hanzō, I can handle-"

"Quit bickering and would one of you two just do it!"

While that exchange continued to loudly echo all around him, the murmurs in the void got closer and closer to the young man. He didn't know if he should have been frightened or… if he should have been doing something else… It wouldn't have made a difference either way. By the second, the warmth burying the young man only got heavier and heavier. There were a few faint presences that suddenly came to his mind that took all of his focus instead. As the murmurs continued to surround him, soothing and assuring him with their indistinct lulls, the young man reached out his arm and groaned, "Gram…? Gran…? What're you two… doing here…?"

"I'll handle it, Sayuri!"

"Hanzō-, give- No, damn it!"

Then, just as quickly as the presences and voices surround him, a familiar blue light suddenly shined from high above the young man's bed. The heat was gone and the murmurs had fallen completely silent. With a few blinks of clarity, he was suddenly much more aware of the space that he was in. Though he was still bound and confined to the bed with three unmoving limbs, the young man could understand the conversation taking place from somewhere nearby.

There was a pained yell from Hanzō followed by a groan. After a few seconds with many people expressing concern and yelling over one another, the old man weakly grunted, "I'm good, I'm good… Ts… Ah-ha-how-ow… Whatever hit him packed one hell of a punch…"

"Let me check your head," came Kin's stoic voice. After a few seconds, he continued, "Alright, it doesn't look like the skull's cracked… There's still some bleeding though. We'll handle it from here. Go get bandaged up."

"What're you talking about?" groaned Hanzō's voice again, "We've still gotta worry about his arm, back, and knee. I can handle those too."

"You're already bleeding from the head," said Jasmine's iron voice, "We don't need you walking around with anymore broken bones."

"One wounded shinobi is a lot better than four… I can handle it, Sayuri. Hell, I've survived how many years of marriage with you?"

Despite his joke, there was a long pause before the young man could hear Jasmine respond, "You're sure…?"

"I've got it."

"Alright… I'm trusting that this won't cripple you… old goat…"

Whatever was happening, the young man didn't understand all that much. But just as he was trying to make sense of it all, he looked to the shapeshifting room around him and sucked in a horrified breath. What he thought had been an innocuous living room, once populated by the voices of the girls he'd come to know, was actually a barred cage with no exit. As the blue light above shined upon his horrified face, the young man began to desperately shake his head, "No… Oh, come on… Where the hell am I…? Where the hell am I!?" As the line of blue light was broken by the shadow of the cage's bars, he began to scream in complete and utter fear.

Despite his terror, the only remote response that he got was a voice from outside. "What's with his eyes?" Akari could be heard asking, "They're moving and blinking…"

"It's probably an intense dream," came Masayoshi's calm voice, "Just hold his arm steady. We don't need the bone fusing out of shape."

As panic from his confinement continued to rise, the young man let out another panicked yell as the blue light brightened again. Despite the fact that he was suddenly able to lift both of his arms up to cover his head, the boy was too focused on the cage's shifting shape as it continued to try and block out the light. Following his cry, Hanzō let out another groan before saying with little breath, "Metal… Nngh… Something blunt and metal hit him, for sure… Oh…"

"Are you good to continue?"

"Mmmmmmhm… Do it and get it over with…"

Once his scream came to an end, the young man huffed and puffed for breath as he did his utmost to compose himself. But just as he was about to call out for help, a new voice- no… An emotionless voice he'd known through all of his life confronted him.

"Little brother…"

At the foot of his bed, the shadow of the young man's oldest sibling stood over him. Feeling his fighting spirit deplete in an instant, he could only whisper under his breath, "Tsao…"

"Why're you laying down? Head out, finish the job, and come home… or, if you'd like me to, I can handle it for you… that way, you can stay safe."

At first, the young man was going to explain his situation and how he didn't know why he was confined. Then the last statement hit him. With newfound liveliness, the young man growled under his breath, "How many times have I told you…? I'm not coming home after this. That was the agreement. I'll finish this and I'm never going to…" His voice faltered a bit in his throat before his hands gripped the bedcovers. With his fiery eyes practically glowing, he raged, "We're never going to see each other again!"

"Quit it with that nonsense," said Tsao, speaking despite the fact that neither his mouth nor jaw were moving, "You're an infiltrator. One of the best, I'd theorize."

"Shove it!" barked the young man.

"Grandpa said the same thing." The figure stepped towards the side of the bed and leaned forward in a show of dominance, "In his own words, he said you'd embody everything an infiltrator should be. He sees that kind of potential in you and I do too. Please, come home," before the blue light flared up again.

There was the sound of a loud crack followed by an agonized groan from Hanzo, "NNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnngggghhh… Ah-," followed by a quick breath and moan, "Ha… Knee's busted… Definitely busted…"

"Get yourself tended to!" ordered Jasmine, "I can handle the spine." A frustrated grunt came from her husband, who sounded as though he was about to protest. But, with a bleeding forehead, a fractured forearm, and a shattered kneecap, he could no longer bring himself to defy her demands. There were a few sounds of reluctance before Jasmine could be heard uttering, "I've got this…"

While looking up to the top of his cage, the young man planned to blow off his oldest brother's statement before an immensely enraging voice taunted him, "You'll just do as you've always done, baby brother…"

The young man looked back to the foot of his bed and found Haruo in the same place where the oldest once stood. Without even a second's worth of delay, the boy's eyes narrowed and his face tensed up as he growled through grinding teeth, "Haruo!" before trying to launch himself up, forgetting the fact that he was still unable to move his legs.

"Keep laying there," mocked the man, "It's our ritual, right? Something just between us two brothers." He theatrically gestured to himself, "I do something in the heat of the moment, very much so usually the result of an honest mistake on my part…" To the last couple of words, the young man spat loudly as Haruo finished, "And then there's you, who'll help pull me from the gutter as always."

"Fuck yourself…" whispered the young man in a dark and violent voice.

Tsao stepped forward and gestured to the middle brother, "He's family. Like it or don't, we need to stand by and help each other."

Haruo shrugged his shoulders and said through his unmoving mouth, "In all seriousness, the issue with the shinobi is completely overblown. It's just some odd number of brats and bitches. Inexperienced hooligans, I hear! Nothing you can't handle."

Tsao sternly turned to him, "Don't try to butter him up," before turning to his most cherished brother, "He's trying too hard to ease your worries. In reality, the girls are training as the elite of the class. Go with caution."

The young man was about to retort before he was cut off by a smiling Haruo, "Just handle it. C'mon, it's no real biggie. This is what brothers do for one another." He snapped his fingers and spun his hand around, "Remember the year before you went to junior high? You happily took that problem and swept it under the rug. Because of that, you were smiling because you helped me and I was smiling because I could pay off those rotten apples."

Remembering the hundreds of dollars in savings that were stolen from him, the young man was about to call out his brother's lies before being cut off again by Tsao, "Back then, you helped Haruo and saved him from those dealers. Now, it's the same thing with different circumstances… Though, if you'd rather not, I can help… I can clean house, easily, within a couple of nights."

"It's just another favor-"

"For family."

"-and, not to come off as entitled, but you kind of owe me…"

"You can do it. I know you can."

"After all, being the obnoxious baby brother that you are-"

"Again, if you want me too, I can fix it easily."

"-you held a lot of mom, dad, even our grandparents' attention-"

"You don't need to sever yourself from us."

"-so, I think I'll just cash in on that childhood of mine that you ruined."

Jasmine's pained scream was synchronized with the young man's lengthy yell of frustration, all while the blue light above shined brightly as the cage's bars continued to twist and convolute themselves. Then there was only the sound of people rushing to the former's aid along with heavy breaths filling the quiet void. Feeling his two older brothers stare him down, the young man felt himself wiggle his toes from underneath the bed and let out a resigned breath of defeat. Even if he stood up and let out his voice against the two, it would do him no good.

"_Tell me_…_ why d'ya stay quiet_?" came a quiet but proud voice with a hint of brashness.

The young man's eyes went up in recognition. While his brothers continued to rail against him, he spoke tiredly into the void, "_Not much point t'being loud, Grandad_… _'s all_…"

"_Wit' an head like that, y'r asking to get skull-fucked by life itself, ne'er mind those two little banjaxed cunts hoakin' for you_…_ n' I know you ain' the sort to take this shite lyin' down_."

With little to no energy to speak of, the young man just shook his head and stated, "_Tsao told me there're twenty elites, Grandad_…_ They' been in fights, some of 'em killed an' done Gods knows whate'er else_…" As though he were about to accept the hand he was dealt, the boy's face fell to the covers over his legs. He made a pinching motion, "_I was this close, Grandad_…" before throwing down his hand, "_I was so close to leavin' all this behind_… _I don' wanna die nor do I wan' to hurt anyone_… _But with all this attention from 'he other webs and those two shinobi, no infiltrator 'll let me walk the Earth 'less I correct those girls_. _At the end of the day, 'm fucked_."

"_Fuck off. S'your just gonna give it all up then_? _Y'dreams, life, all that_? _Void because some radical stoaks 're givin' you the hardest time in y'life_? _Call me a fuckin' doaty, but y'didn' stay in m'fuckin' house f'r five years jus' to be a prick about it now_!"

Throwing up his arms and feeling the frustration creeping through his shaking fists, the young man yapped, "_The fuck y'want me to do about it_? _I' done m'thinking an' I' tried to explore e'ry other option_. _There's shite_!" After taking another breath, he finished by asking, "_Y'r ass is hangin' out the window if y'think I can do something about it by myself_…"

The old man didn't need to be seen for the young man to know he was dismissively waving a hand, wherever he was, "_You're overthinkin' this bullshit, boy_. _All you need is to light a fire in you_. _The same kind that got y' to slice Tsao's ugly fuckin' ear five years ago_."

"_I won' stand a chance against twenty shinobi, Grandad_. _Fur'er more, that'd be a real fight_. _Not some sparrin' session against m'jakey brother after 'e had a few more rounds 'n he should've_."

"_I'm talkin' about what was behind y'r strike from back then, y'daft cunt_! _Tell me what he said back then_! _What unforgi'able thing 'id he say that sent y'r sword flyin'_!?"

As the memory flashed through his eyes, a sudden fire sprouted from underneath the young man's bed. While voices from outside the cage were pestering and asking how he was, he uttered dangerously, "_So long as I'm with family, I should be grateful_… _Whether or not said family treats me kindly or like a slave_… _'e said blood was thicker than water an' that I should be grateful to even have relatives when so many don'_!"

"_Why did that piss y'off_!? _Let me hear it_!"

"_'Cause I'm human_!" growled the young man as the fire spread, engulfing the two figures of his brothers as they stood by with no hint of moving, "_I'm a fuckin' human an' my birthright is freedom_! _If I want to live a peaceful existence, why should I care f'r what some mangy lapdogs have to say_!? _Whether those dogs are strangers r'family, enemies r'friends, I should not 'ave to stand by and watch as someone tries to mold m'whole life in the way they want it to be_! _That's my life 'ey're touchin' and I will not stand to have some fuck dictate it_!"

"_Well, those same fucks're on the move as we speak, boy_! _They're comin' to take you for all y'are_! _They're gonna grab you in their big fuckin' hands an' they're gonna mold you! What'll y'do about it_!?"

The fire scorched at the young man as he boomed with teary eyes, "_I'll fight_! _By whate'er means I can_! _Even if I need to do so with my bare hands, I'll fight_!"

"_Then what the fuck are y'waitin' for_!? _Will you fight now, when y'fuckin' back's to the wall, or are y'words hollow_!?"

The inferno screamed with the young man, "_They're not hollow_! _BY NO MEANS OF THE WORD, THEY'RE NOT HOLLOW!_"

"_THEN WHATTAYA PLANNIN' TO DO!?_"

With the whites of his eyes being the only thing to glow against the raging wildfire around him, the young man threw off the covers of his bed and looked at the burning figure of Haruo at the end of it. Hating the haughty smirks and devilish looks that he always casted, the boy pulled himself up before throwing his body forward while reeling back a fist.

"_ROTTEN PIECE OF SHIT_!"

Having had his crippling injuries healed, the young man pushed aside the arms of whoever was trying to tend to him and pulled himself up into a standing position atop the futon before diving forward with an animalistic screech. Standing there, Jirō's face reflected complete surprise at both the boy's speedy recovery and his sudden outburst. There were numerous yells, many of surprise with a few of relief, before everyone saw what was coming.

While Jirō was trying to step back, still trying to process the sudden turn of events, the young man pushed one foot down into the futon to build further momentum as his fist continued to reel back. Then, kicking himself forward with his eyes dangerously narrowed on target, his abdomen arced back around and twisted to send the punch home. Hooking his fist straight into the side of Jirō's jaw, all of the kinetic energy from the young man's foot soared throughout his body and flowed right into the point of delivery to echo the ugly crack of a dislocated mandible.

Before the wide-eyed audience throughout the entire room, the young man had sent Jirō stumbling backward a few steps. After realizing he'd been punched by the boy who had his head caved in a few minutes before, the principal just held his jaw in place while staring frustratedly at his attacker. In the meantime, before the young man's body could continue to fly forward with his momentum, Shiki and Yozakura caught him in their arms and had begun to repeatedly yell, "Stop moving! You need to calm down, right now!" At first, their words had no effect as he continued to try and throw himself at Jirō. But, as his eyes scanned the room and realized he was back in his apartment, the young man eventually slowed.

There was a loud crack as Jirō put his jaw back into place, a move that received a look of disapproval from Shōwa, "You're not supposed to do that on your own."

But the man waved his friend off, pointed an aggressive finger at the young man, and threatened in a low voice, "You'd better be expecting me to repay that one, you son of a bitch…"

The boy was taking heavy breaths as he tried to calm down, jumping a bit when a few reassuring hands touched his back. Upon turning his head around, he found Yumi and Homura looking to him with tearstains across their cheeks. Though they were putting on awkwardly forced smiles, the young man could see the strange mix of relief and sadness in their eyes. Off to the back, he also spotted Asuka resting down Jasmine down onto the bed that he was just lying in while the latter struggled to keep her balance. The two of them were also looking at him with similar looks.

Feeling a bit of guilt for his display, the young man murmured, "I'm sorry-" before whipping his head around to Jirō, "Not to you, _lavvy head_!" Yumi and Homura squeezed his shoulder to calm him down further, which succeeded wonderfully. While the man he punched was raging loudly in the background, the young man turned to them and said, "I'm sorry you guys had to see me like that…"

"You don't need to apologize at all," replied Miyabi, who'd been standing off to the side of the futon. She stepped forward and, after offering a reassuring pat to the young man's head, inserted herself between him and her father. As Jirō continued to madly yell about how he was going to avenge the insulting punch that he just took, raving his head back and forth as he tried to get a look at his much-hated target, Miyabi bellowed, "THAT'S ENOUGH, YOU FOUL DISGRACE!"

A look of disbelief came over Jirō's face before he moved to say something, only stopping when Oda took him by the shoulder and ordered, "Head home for tonight." Though the Hebijo principal moved to protest, the larger man turned to all of the other adults, "That goes for the rest of the parents in here!" He pointed to the door, "Once everything is resolved tonight, I'll update you on your daughters' conditions. In the meantime, none of you have a place here. Out!"

Many of the other adults' faces fell with Oda's order, though Kin and Masayoshi only offered simple nods to their daughters before heading for the door. On the way, the former was thanked by the large shinobi for having found the young man, to which he simply answered back, "I was given an order and followed it. Nothing more."

Following after the two, Shōwa and Tomoe also offered curt nods to their daughters and left before they could acknowledge Imu's reciprocated gesture. Beside her, Murasaki just stood and buried her mouth into Bebeby while averting her eyes. Deciding to keep close to his only real friends, Jirō shook his head at Miyabi before storming off with his pride in tow. Not one person gave him a second glance. Finally, side by side, Akari and Yayoi gave two quiet goodbyes to their daughters, which were quickly and earnestly matched, before they also left with an air of worry.

Having finally been left alone with all of the girls, his two ex-friends, and the young man in the cramped apartment, Oda felt as though the lot of them were ready to talk. Keeping in mind everything he'd heard about the boy's past, the old man took in a heavy breath and declared, "I'd like to have a talk with you. No games, no intimidation, nothing of that sort… Just an honest talk to clarify some things before either of us do anything."

Pulling a bit from the arms that were restraining him from before, the young man raised his head and looked Oda up and down with narrowed eyes. After a moment of consideration, he crossed his arms and looked as though he was about to insult the man. Then a different thought seemed to have hit the young man, beckoning him to take a deep breath and shrug his shoulders as he frustratedly grumbled, "What other option is there…?" Stepping out of the girls' reach, he blew some hot air through his teeth and gestured to the large man before him, "Let's talk then… What did you want to… clarify…? Is it about my attacker?"

Oda's eyes danced back and forth around the room, thinking about what he wanted to ask, before meeting the boy's eyes, "We'll hold off on discussing whoever attacked you. I'd like to give you some time to recover first. Rather, I'd like to discuss your involvement with the infiltrators… Particularly, the part where you apparently wanted nothing to do with them. That's true?"

Sharply clenching his eyes in thought for a moment, the young man answered back, "Since a little bit past my tenth birthday, if we're going to be exact, I've wanted to leave the organization. Around that time, I stopped regarding the infiltrators as… I don't know… I stopped regarding them in the same way a child regards all of those old stories about legendary samurai."

Oda nodded before adding softly, "For someone so young, it must have certainly been a bit different for you to be thinking so independently. If you don't mind me asking, what broke the illusion that your family was probably trying to set?"

"_Grandad_," answered the young man in a frank voice before his face twisted in embarrassment. He raised an apologetic hand, "Grandfather. I meant grandfather… sorry."

"Don't be," called Hanzō, who was tending to Jasmine and ensuring her comfort despite his fractured arm, before he turned to his old comrade, "His grandfather is the man we mentioned before. The more… principled infiltrator who kept showing up in our reports until about twenty-five years- Grngh!"

While Hanzō resisted the urge to double over in pain, Oda quickly berated him, "Good gods above, sit yourself down already!"

Upon turning over to check on what had happened to the old fool, the young man flinched upon seeing his battered form. His forehead was bandaged, though there was some smeared blood along the side of his face that implied heavy bleeding. In addition to that, he had a makeshift sling of sheets on his forearm and was standing on one strong leg while dangling the other in the air. While Hanzō let out an acknowledging groan of pain, Jasmine used her arms to pull her upper body up to look at the young man's surprised eyes.

At first, the teenager was about to begin questioning what had all happened before the memory of his fight with Sato hit him like a particular lead pipe. All over again, he could remember the sight of his shattered arm and knee, the crippling pain of his spine being split into two, and the paralyzing fear as the spectacled girl delivered what should have been a fatal blow to his head. Comparing his previous injuries to the married couple before him, the young man stuttered out, "Hey… hey, hey, hey! This is…?"

"The scroll," Jasmine murmured as she reached to the side of the bed and raised the item into the air with mock triumph, "Have you forgotten the last time we used it?"

The young man's eyes glowed as he relived the aching pain of his first night correcting the girls and the morning after. Back then, when Jasmine found him in his suffering state, she produced that very same scroll and had taken on each of his cuts and bruises. Though he had made a few demands for her to use it since that time, the young man was still surprised to see its… miraculous, for lack of a better word, powers. Regardless of whether or not he was acquainted with it, he still had to ask, "Just what the hell is that thing?"

"The Scroll of Equivalent Exchange…" Jasmine said, with an odd mixture of pride and remorse. She closed her eyes and held her head, "Originally, it was supposed to be an… extremely potent healing scroll of a different sort… It was a project that I've been working on for a few years but…" Her eyes opened and she looked to the young man, "I'm sure you can already tell that it failed its original purpose."

"It's still a healing scroll… kind of," mumbled Oda, trying to raise the woman's spirits. Just by listening to the pitch of sympathy and forced friendliness in his voice, nearly everyone in the room could tell that there was much more to the story.

The young man wouldn't push it though. Instead, he slowly asked, "So… You two took on my wounds through that scroll, yeah? Then…" before he pointed to Hanzō, "shouldn't your skull be broken…?"

The man snorted, "That isn't how it works, fortunately enough in this case." He folded his hands for a moment and made a few incoherent noises of thought before explaining, "It's like this… the thing being exchanged by this scroll isn't the injury itself. It… goes back to the point that you were hurt and finds out what caused that kind of damage, in this case a metal of some sort. Afterwards, while taking away that past trauma from you, my body will react as though I were hit by that metal something. While your skull cracked in your case… which would have led to your death… no joke."

The young man's head reeled back as he gave a confused mumble, "Shit… I'd believe it…"

"I," Hanzō gestured to himself, "in this case, have a much stronger and thicker skull than you do. Thus, when the… exchanged damage was inflicted on me, it didn't… Well, it doesn't feel like it cracked my skull, but it left me with a pretty bad wound on the side of my head."

Feeling a bit guilty for having had his injuries transferred onto Jasmine and Hanzō, the young man's eyes fell as he sorrowfully spoke, "Well… I suppose I should thank you for that then…" He looked up to meet both of their eyes, "Thanks… both of you. While you've both been pissing me off these last few days… and beyond… I appreciate the fact that you saved my life."

"In more ways than one," Oda stated as he crossed his arms. He nodded his head to the couple, "They've… filled me in on your circumstances. Honestly, I was going to take a bunch of time to… crosscheck and interrogate you to see if they were being honest." After a few thoughts flashed through his eyes, Oda sighed and murmured, "But, I can see through that tired look in your eyes… If you didn't go through what they've told me you have, then you've at least gone through something similar."

"Being sold out and offered up by one's flesh and blood tends to do that to people… Tire them out, that is," remarked the young man, putting on a weak smile before offering a final nod of thankfulness to Jasmine and Hanzō.

"Well, since the story is mostly confirmed," Oda mumbled before clapping his hands, "perhaps you could fill in a few blanks?"

"Shoot."

Not expecting the young man to be so open about his private life, Oda had to take a few seconds to catch his brain up. Setting aside the argument he had planned to try and convince the boy to be more open, he instead stated, "I know about Renka, Hanzō and Jasmine hunting Haruo, how they were already acquainted with your grandfather, the deal arranged with your parents, all that…" He took a breath and asked, "But how will coming here allow for you to be free?"

Nodding along with the giant's words, the young man raised a finger and asked right back, "You're referring to me correcting everyone, right? You're asking how that'll free me?"

Oda gave a grunt of acknowledgement, "Now, perhaps I'm just getting old and my logic has fallen through the gutter… But wouldn't that engrave you further into the organization of infiltrators?" He gestured a hand to the side, "Before, you were going to be officially let out because of how little you contributed to them… because of how unremarkable you remained. But now," Oda shrugged before gesturing to the surrounding crowd, "correcting these girls will only embed you into the works of an infiltrator. How will that free you?"

"And you'd be right if it weren't for my grandfather," remarked the young man, casting glances to his friends. Minori, as though she were watching a drama, was leaning onto Murakumo's shoulder with a curious look while Murasaki was hugging Bebeby close, doing her best to hide her face for whatever reason. Hikage was staring blankly, seemingly curious but not really paying much attention to the details as Ikaruga's face was unreservedly worried. Not at all daring to be dishonest with all of them, the young man continued, "Keeping in mind that, shortly after his immigration to Japan, he'd become a second-generation infiltrator, my grandfather had plenty of time to gather information on infiltrators everywhere. Different web locations, tactics, warehouse storages, and even emergency safehouses… he knows just about everything important to the entire organization."

Oda raised and tilted his head, "So why couldn't he just use that information then? Why not just threaten to leak that information to the government and make the rest of the infiltrators release you?"

The young man narrowed his eyes on the man, "You're assuming that he hasn't already… that they haven't already bent their knee to him in submission… and that they're the ones with the chains… They're not," before rounding his head towards Hanzō and Jasmine, "In truth, the ones I'm earning my freedom from is you two…"

Remembering the two's hand in forcing the young man to correct them, everyone turned toward Hanzō and Jasmine with awkwardly twisted faces, offering small hints of interest and scorn. Amidst a few murmurs, Asuka stepped toward them and quietly asked, "From what I heard last time, you two forced his parents to make a decision, right? You were… Knowing you two, I'd bet you were just trying to intimidate them? You didn't expect them to make that decision and only just…"

"It's like you heard back in the restaurant," Jasmine answered, "but there's much more to it than our deal with his parents…" Her face fell slightly before she turned her head away, "Let's discuss this lat-"

"Jasmine," called the young man, "we're going to discuss it now." He narrowed his eyes on her before gesturing to Oda, "He won't be giving us a second chance."

While his wife took a deep breath, hating the revelation that was to come next, Hanzō stepped beside her and nodded his head, "Go ahead."

Turning to face all of the girls, the young man quietly proclaimed, "I mentioned the fact that there was a deal back then… but I didn't share the exact details beyond the facts that my grandfather arranged a meeting with my parents and that they chose Haruo, did I?" He took a frustrated breath and uttered, "I'm truly thankful for the injuries you both managed to spare me from…" before blinking his eyes and staring coldly at Hanzō and Jasmine, "but you were going to do something horrible back then of your own volition… Would you like for me to tell it or yourselves?"

To that, Hanzō wobblily stood up, "I'll do so," and turned to the girls while ignoring the screaming pain in the knee that he was keeping off the ground, "His grandfather didn't just arrange a meeting with his parents… He knew what we were planning to do from the get-go… He knew that we were willing to force the only grandson he truly cared for into correcting the lot of you, regardless of the favors he'd done us in the past… And…" Despite his efforts to continue speaking, the old man began to break out into a mumble.

"Please," Oda said with a furrowed brow, "I'd like to hear this."

Hanzō pressed his lips together, feeling the shame and weight of his actions beginning to crush him in a way that was more insufferable than all of the injuries that he took on. Not being able to find the right words, he began to stammer, "It's important that all of you know… Sayuri and I were furious and… rash at the time. In complete honesty, we regret what we were almost- No… What we were going to do…"

Jasmine hung her head and faced her unmoving legs as she declared more aggressively than intended, "If he survived correcting you all…" and pointed to the young man, "If he somehow found a way to get each of your distortions fixed… We planned to… hurt and harass him further, repeatedly call attention to him with other shinobi, and… other things, so on and so forth…"

"And doing so would have gained the attention of every infiltrator within the region," stated the young man, keeping himself cool and composed as he closed his eyes, "With that kind of persecution from a shinobi, they wouldn't have let me go… Not when I'd be the renowned infiltrator who'd cured twenty girls, only to be further hunted by the shinobi who hired him on. Word would spread to the other webs… then, quite suddenly, I go from being the infiltrator who offered extremely little to being a name that most webs wouldn't willingly let go…"

As everyone read into the implications left in the air, Oda growled, "You two couldn't have told me this earlier?" as he took a few aggressive steps toward Jasmine and Hanzō, "When I asked you what the boy wanted to be free from, this was it!?"

Hanzō averted his eyes from his ex-friend and focused on the girls instead, feeling his heart break bit by bit as he saw the looks mixed with horror and disgust. Just a year ago, he was uniting them all together amidst a Shinobi Battle Royale. At the time, he was either the one they looked to for advice or the butt of some joke since he was a shameless pervert… In that moment, Hanzō wasn't at all confident that he'd be on the receiving end of those same looks anytime soon… not for as long as he kept quiet on who was responsible for the threat they made. Still, he'd never deny the extent of his own part in the situation. Once he finally realized he still had to answer Oda's question, he stumbled, "We… We were hoping-"

"Don't take the fault for it, Hanzō," ordered Jasmine, keeping her eyes unbendingly narrow as she turned to Oda, "I was at the head of that threat. Renka was one of my assistants during the Millennium Festival and pursuing Haruo after what he did to her was my idea. Once we lost the trail and only had his brother to show for it, thanks to the bastard selling him out, I made the call to go after the kid… Between the fact that he was away from his family and the fact that he was living with his grandfather, who I knew had a distaste for infiltrators… I quickly figured that the boy must've also had a distaste for the lifestyle of an infiltrator…"

Oda stared at her with contempt, "So… you knew you were screwing him then…?"

"Very much so," Jasmine answered with no hint of pride in her actions, "I wanted Haruo but couldn't have him… Since I couldn't avenge Renka that way, I thought I'd settle on making someone related to him suffer… Fortunately, the deal his grandfather made had… kept us sensible." She turned her head to all of the girls, who were looking at her in the same way they'd been looking at Oda, "In the end, we agreed only to the correction of all twenty of you. We'd provide him a home, with some cost of upkeep going to his parents, and would let him go once everything was done."

"Using an innocent to get to someone else…" Oda shook his head, "That's the kind of thing that disgusts me most."

Without another second passing by, Jasmine turned her head to him and sneered, "Yes, it is disgusting. It's one of the most revolting things I've ever done and one of the worst things I've ever made Hanzō take part in…" She took a long breath before pointing an accusatory finger at the man, "But you were doing the exact same thing until this morning," and bellowed, "IF I'M DISGUSTING, SO ARE YOU, ODA!"

The large man was about to defend himself before the young man strode over to the woman's bedside, "She makes a fair point." While Oda fell silent with disbelief, the boy narrowed his eyes and declared, "There will always be a part of me that will be angry with her and Hanzō for what they've done… I'd even say that part of me hates them… But you were attacking me for the exact same reason."

The shinobi retorted, "I went after you because you were an infiltrator-"

"But that isn't the only reason, is it!?" yelled the young man, "Yes, you probably were chasing me because some small part of you wanted to uphold the law… But, after everything I've seen and heard out of you, I know that you were after me solely because you wanted to get to Tsao!"

"He is part of the reason," Oda yelled right back, "but he was not the sole reason at all! My job is to uphold the law of the land and see its enforcement!"

For a brief moment, the young man bared his teeth and growled incomprehensibly. Then he calmed himself and murmured, "Can you really say that after what happened earlier?" Feeling the bruise from Jirō's beating still on his forehead, the young man pointed up to it and asked, "Do you mean to say that, despite your demands for Tsao beforehand, he had nothing to do with this? Would you beat an average person to a pulp just because they were an infiltrator? In this case, an infiltrator who wasn't even physically resisting against you?"

Oda felt his face fall and heat up. Then his eyes and cheeks relaxed as he inhaled and reflected on himself. By the second, despite his internal protests that having the young man beaten wasn't just because he was Tsao's brother, his shame continued to build more and more. In the end, Oda knew that the young man being an infiltrator really had nothing to do with anything. Since the beginning of the pursuit, once he recognized the facial features and details of the boy and connected the dots to his brother, the only reason he'd been so persistently tailing him was because of his relation to Tsao. Nothing more and nothing less. On trying to admit to it, Oda could only stutter out, "I-, it's all just…"

The young man took a single step forward, "I'm pissed at Jasmine and at Hanzō… but I'm willing to respect them a hell of a lot more than you… They've always been willing to admit their wrongdoings. Can you not do the same?"

"I'm at great fault…" admitted Oda in a quick voice before he closed his eyes, "I pursued you because of your relation to Tsao… I'm sorry" and began to shake his head. While it felt like some weight had been lifted from his shoulder, there was still no denying the shame that continued to rip away at him. He wanted to leave the room then and there to be done with the day. He wanted to go home to his wife and daughter to beg for their forgiveness. More than anything else, Oda wanted to lower himself before whoever reigned above for having failed his principles… But he couldn't leave. There was still an infiltrator that he was aware of and he had to enforce the law.

But, before Oda could get a word out, a pair of arms reached out from the crowd of girls and protectively grabbed onto the young man to pull him in. When the boy turned his head up to the perpetrator in confusion, he found Yumi with her eyes staring intently at Oda, "You're still planning to do something… aren't you?"

Once those words were thrown out, nearly everyone else in the room scrambled to get between the young man and Oda. If they weren't able to grab a defensive hold on their friend, the girls were spreading their arms out or were readying their weapons for a grand fight. The sudden formation brought complete surprise to the faces of all the adults and the young man, especially considering how silent everyone had been up until that moment.

In an effort to dispel their caution, Oda began to offer, "While I must act, I am able to make a deal-"

"Shove your deals!" declared Katsuragi, who was pushing one arm against the young man's chest while balling her other hand into a fist, "Let him finish with us and leave him alone!"

"I wish it were that easy-"

"It is that easy," stated Haruka as her mouth remained curled into an uncharacteristic frown. The arm that she kept around the young man's neck pulled him back a bit as she continued, "No other government official knows of his existence and I can only assume you've made no record of what's been happening, considering the lack of other law enforcement in the area. Just let him go."

"Listen, I really want to! Just calm-"

There was a metallic click of a rifle's action being locked, beckoning everyone to turn toward Ryōbi and the weapon that she had aimed straight for Oda's head, "You're going to back off…"

Seeing that the situation was spiraling into chaos, the young man realized that he needed to act quickly. While some of the girls were yelling for Ryōbi to lower the gun, he summoned every ounce of energy that he had to try and pull away from the grips that were binding him. Despite the fact that his effort turned out to be futile, seeing as there were multiple shinobi holding onto him that were each stronger than him by themselves, the young man still managed to loudly declare, "I'm willing to make a deal with you!" After a few seconds, everyone's faces slowly turned and faced him in bewilderment.

Then Miyabi stammered to him while her katana was still pointed at Oda, "Huh!? Hold up, hold up! You don't need to do anything!"

Yagyū turned around to rest a hand against his chest and pushed him back a bit, "Just leave this to us for now. We can handle this."

Even Asuka and Homura, who were both wrapping their arms around his waist and pulling him back, spouted, "Just forget about Oda, please! We'll fix this for you!"

"You don't need to submit yourself to him!"

Despite all of the craziness that erupted from his statement, it was Oda's quiet and confused, "Wai-, what?" that somehow stuck out in the young man's ears.

With everyone still loudly yammering away beside him, the young man acted again to try and regain control of the situation by letting out a loud, extensive, and demanding, "QUIET!" before curling his mouth into a grimace. Fortunately, the volume of his voice far outmatched the girls' and they were all willing to obey his order, albeit while cautiously watching Oda for any sign of aggression. After ensuring the peace was going to be kept, the young man said to Oda, "My terms are the same as before… I still want to be free- completely free of all of this once it's done."

Oda closed his eyes remorsefully as he began to say, "There's… Look, I want to but-"

"I'm willing to pay the price," stated the young man, "You need to bring in an infiltrator, right? I can give you the infiltrator."

The large shinobi didn't catch the implication at first, "You're… what? Are you saying you're going to turn yourself in?" His question made nearly a quarter of the girls in the room jump with alertness before questioningly turning toward the young man.

The boy quickly shook his head to correct him, "No, you don't understand… THE infiltrator. I can give you him."

After a few more seconds, Oda's eyes began to widen in a mix of shock and excitement. Despite the frown on his face, his movements were much more energized as he gestured to the young man, "Tsao…? You're offering Tsao…? Your brother, Tsao!?"

"He's only a brother by blood," mumbled the young man, "While I'll always be attached to him in that way, he played a part in hiding away Haruo when Hanzō and Jasmine were hunting him… In turn, that led to all of this… Throw in the fact that I hold no real love or respect for that mass murderer, then I don't see why I shouldn't be offering him up."

Despite the mix of looks from all of the girls throughout the room, with some like Mirai nodding their heads in approval and others like Yozakura looking on in complete disbelief, Oda's focus remained squarely on the young man. The silence was heavy with neither party daring to say a word before Jasmine questioned, "I thought infiltrators, even those with families, moved their living spaces continuously. Does Tsao have a permanent residence?"

"I can give that information," said the young man before he turned back the larger shinobi, "if we have a deal…"

By the look on Oda's face, the man was practically salivating at the opportunity to go after the killer he'd been hunting for so long. But, after a moment of thought, he cleared his head and stated, "It's… extremely tempting-"

Before any hesitation could be expressed from his adversary, the young man quickly interjected, "It isn't just his location either! I'm offering you everything! Every residency he's ever visited, places where he'd most likely go out to drink, part-time jobs his wife tends to work, the sort of schools that my niece goes to… Anything that might help you track him!"

On those last few remarks, Yozakura couldn't help but interject, "No, hold up!" and stepped from the group to get between the young man and Oda, "Your brother is one thing… and I can't rightly judge that situation… But you'd also give up your sister-in-law and niece!?"

Averting his eyes away and feeling his face fall with guilt, the young man had to take a breath before he could resolutely face off against the girl, "Yes, I would." He gestured to himself, "I know they haven't done anything. Despite being an infiltrator, my sister-in-law has never gone on a mission before… and my niece is only an eight-year-old… the only harm she could do is by calling someone a name or something…" After another long breath, he steeled his eyes, grimaced, and stared hard into Yozakura's core, "But it's exactly like I told you in the restaurant… I'm a selfish bastard who's within reach of getting the one thing he's only wanted… I know that makes me a piece of shit and I will always feel guilt for it… But I would not regret selling any of them out."

Ultimately, when he was so forward and honest about his stance, there weren't any words that Yozakura nor anyone else could offer to him. Some wanted to rebuke him and others wanted to plead with him to reconsider. But the words wouldn't come to any of their mouths, so they could only just remain silent.

At that moment, Oda cleared his throat and awkwardly stammered, "Your… offer would be extremely appreciated… but-"

The young man wouldn't be denied his plea for freedom, "I can offer more. While I won't give you everything else until I have a signed document that you'll let me go, I can also give you everything about Tsao's combat techniques and weapons."

Oda reeled his head back, thinking about how many lives would be saved if they could find a way to counter the killer's methods. Yet, with an infiltrator before him, "I… want to-"

"He uses grappling guns, I'm sure you're aware," spouted the young man, his face filling with desperation more and more as every word passed his lips, "But he has more than the two handhelds. Aside from the guns, he has a pair attached to his wrists, shoulders, and calves. They allow for him to move much better and more flexibly in any off-ground environment that contains buildings or trees. In addition to those, he wears a booster pack. With the push of a button, that thing will launch its user up to thirty kilometers an hour. For those who launch themselves with particular techniques, that number can be doubled."

Oda raised his palm and mumbled, "Alright… I think…" before resting his head in his hand, thinking about how dangerous those tools would be in the hands of killers across the world.

"He's often equipped with two handheld shotguns and two liuyedaos, each sharp enough to cut through bone." As the young man continued to talk, his eyes grew more and more maddened, "He uses slugs for his shotgun, due to their exceptional accuracy, stopping power, and range, and loads them in micro drum magazines for two second reloading… Ah… In addition to all of that, I know he carries a dagger. He showed it to me when I was young but I don't really remember what kind it is…"

Waving his hand to try and calm the boy down, Oda tried to say, "Look, I think I-"

"In every combat engagement he's taken part in," spouted the young man, his voice breaking off into panicked mumbling while still looking Oda in the eye, "he's always brought about twenty to thirty other infiltrators… They're all-, the lot of them, they practically worship Tsao like a war god of sorts. He commands-, commands-, he leads them using-, commanding their loyalty. They follow him in a way-, like he's a father!"

"Easy," yelled Oda, "easy! I get it!"

"Now that I've told you all of that," boomed the young man as he stretched his flattened hand out, "do we have a deal!?"

Every single eye in the room was trained on Oda, who's face was tense and alert. More than anything else, he wanted to take the young man's hand and accept the deal. Even without Tsao's location, the information that Oda had just taken in was more than he was able gather over the course of years. But then there was the principle he had in regards to enforcing the law… what was he to do with that?

"Please…" came Hibari's quiet murmur from the side, "just let him and the rest of us go…"

There were a few other murmurs, with all of the girls practically offering puppy eyes to try and sway Oda's decision. While the man was trying to stabilize himself, Hanzō called to him from the side, "You can take a guilty man instead of an innocent man…" He smirked knowingly, "C'mon, you know the answer already. Don't leave us in suspense… Just say it."

The only one who remained silent was Jasmine, who was staring right at Oda. Even in her crippled state, she was daring him to refuse with a threatening glare. With so many throwing him off balance, Oda sighed and turned for the door, "We'll meet at Hanzō's restaurant tomorrow… There, we can discuss this matter and finalize everything…" he turned his head over his shoulder, "Furthermore, you can also share the details on who attacked you earlier… Just give me some time to… sort my head out."

With that, he made a hasty retreat to the door and left the room in complete silence. Nearly everyone was exchanging looks with one another, each conveying their conflicting feelings on all of the new developments. Despite everything, Yumi and Miyabi were looking at the young man in the same warm way that they always did. They knew that his offer would bring potential harm to his sister-in-law and niece but, knowing how open and honest he'd always been, they found it difficult to fully blame him. Even if he insisted that he was a selfish piece of garbage, they would always believe him to be a mere victim of circumstance.

There were others who appeared to share their sentiment, between Murasaki finally lowering Bebeby from her face to skittishly approach the young man and Yomi patting his shoulder while asking if he was alright… But then there were others who were much more conflicted, such as Asuka and Homura. When they heard the young man's willingness to make others suffer so that he didn't have to, they couldn't help but question their image of him. Seeming to be along with them, Yozakura stared harshly at the boy while Imu rubbed her chin in thought. Though he'd announced it from the very start, to see his selfish behavior firsthand was a major blow for all of them.

Then there was the young man, himself, who still had his hand extended toward where Oda was once standing. He blinked and clicked back into reality before he lowered his eyes to the floor in reflection of what he'd said and done. While he was extremely confident that Oda would take the deal, he knew that his selfish statement had done extreme damage to some of his relationships with the girls. He wouldn't blame them at all, especially since he admitted to the fact that his sister-in-law and niece were purely innocent in the matter.

Raising his head up and facing the doorway, the young man pondered a thought before nodding his head. In the end, he was glad that everyone saw his selfishness. It would do damage, certainly, but it would have been much more catastrophic if he tried to hide it. Ignoring the worried looks that Jasmine and Hanzō were throwing to him, the young man decided that he'd deal with whatever happened next while keeping his head high. Just as he promised his grandfather, he'd fight until his bitter end… It was all that he could do…

"**To be selfish is to live with guilt and to be selfless is to die with a clear mind. With all of the injustices that we've performed throughout our lives, any honest person who is aware of that fact knows which side of the spectrum they fall on. Neither side is good nor evil. It is a matter of whether or not one prioritizes themselves over others or vice versa… and there is nothing wrong with choosing oneself. Everyone is human and we are all of equal value. Why should one life matter more than another just because they aren't you?"**


	31. Chapter 31: Without Uncertainty

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 31: Without Uncertainty

**April 21 – "Yin and yang, the balance of light and dark. Where there is good, there's also evil. If there are any exceptions, check again."**

There was only one person Takatsukasa would willingly talk to while at school but, quite unfortunate for the both of them, she had a few surprise arrangements that had to be tended to. Thus, with a disappointed scowl and averted eyes, the bulky teenager sauntered through the halls and made for the exit. Students and teachers alike turned their heads as he passed to gossip about his menacing aura while others took a few steps away when he got close. It worked well for Takatsukasa, seeing as he considered himself the furthest thing from a social butterfly. Even if his part-time job was in hospitality, he always found a way to uphold his duties out of sight and mind.

All would have gone according to his ritual if a certain interruption didn't turn his way. While making one of the last turns toward the exit, the distinct sounds of yelling came from the principal's office. Wondering who'd set the obese bastard off, Takatsukasa dared to turn his head to the door and felt his face stiffen. Looking up to his bulky classmate's eyes, Miki sat by the principal's door with the face of a sad puppy. Intending to leave the interaction without incident, Takatsukasa turned his head forward to leave before his fear came true.

Miki tried to call him over with a gentle, "Oi, Sugiyama!"

Speeding up his pace to get away, Takatsukasa murmured, "No," and powered forward.

"Wait, could you hear me out-"

"No."

"I've got a thousand yen-"

"No."

Having been shot down three times in a span of five seconds, the shorter boy lowered his head to the ground and rested his chin onto his hand in thought. Takatsukasa felt for him just a bit, figuring that he either wanted someone to talk to or, in a more unlikely scenario, wanted help in busting the young man out of the principal's office. Even still, there was no need to act.

Takatsukasa definitely did feel for the young man, especially after having seen the large bruise across the top and side of his head. Yet, having heard from Miki's loud mouth, the two transfer students both knew the consequences for calling in sick. Principal Shinohara, while lazy and unreactive to most issues that plagued the school, would bust the back of anyone who dared to skip even a single day. The young man was well aware of that but still decided to call in. Maybe for something important, like a hospital visit, but there were still cruel consequences that wouldn't be ignored. While wondering what he'd do if he were caught in such a scenario and remarking that there was no way he'd allow such trouble to pester himself, Takatsukasa began to subconsciously pat at his pockets to make sure he had everything before continuing on his way to the exit. By that time, Miki had already turned back to the principal's door in thought and had completely forgotten about the previous interaction.

At that moment, Takatsukasa realized that he did not have his wallet on him. His eyes flashed back to the moment he last had it, reminding him that he'd handed it over to the one person he actually talked to. He only intended to gift her with the two theater tickets inside before she received a call from an unexpected appointment. Not thinking clearly in that moment, especially since the woman had a distractingly cute pout on her face, Takatsukasa figured he'd leave her with the wallet so she could discover her gift later. But, with his brain having gotten her off his mind, he realized just how stupid he was in that moment… He was too new to that sort of affection. The worst part was the fact that Takatsukasa couldn't just go back and ask her for the wallet, seeing as she'd already gone off to one of her meetings. Perhaps he could've waited for her but, by the time she was done, he already would have been late for work.

Just as he was about to stomp off, grimacing at the fact that he didn't have enough money for his train, Takatsukasa remembered Miki saying something about a thousand yen. Turning around to look at the boy, the bulky student took an anxious breath while trying to swallow back his pride and shame. He was used to giving quick statements and replies, even with the woman he was falling for. But, especially since it was Miki, he'd have to mentally prepare himself for a conversation and for whatever request the boy was offering the money for.

While Miki was still listening in on the verbal smackdown that the young man was receiving, Takatsukasa nervously stalked up to him from behind. Not at all used to initiating any conversations, the large man could only muster, "Ah… Hm…" Deep in thought, Miki didn't hear him. The bulkier student tried clearing his throat and grunted in his deep voice but received nothing in return. Seeing no other alternative, Takatsukasa whispered in a hoarse voice, "M-… Miki…"

That time, the boy turned around with a curious look on his face, "Eh-," before it fell into shock, "Wha-, you said my name!"

A sarcastic statement had to be drowned in Takatsukasa's throat, "I did."

With a sly scratch to the side of his head while seemingly forgetting about the situation that he was just worried about, Miki asked, "Can I ask you to say something else?"

There was a twitch in Takatsukasa's eye as he slowly nodded, "Mm…?"

Under his breath, the shorter boy murmured, "Gotta make it count, gotta make it count…" before snapping his fingers, "Fun… yeah, that sounds fun…" Grandiosely pointing up to the large man before him, Miki excitedly declared, "Repeat this: la li lu le lo!"

Takatsukasa blinked before asking without hesitation, "Pay me for it?"

In turn, Miki tilted his head, "What?"

"This is what you wanted?" asked the larger man, uncomfortably circling his finger in a counterclockwise manner.

After a few seconds of thought, Miki clicked his head back into place before he slapped himself, "Focus, focus, focus…" and pressed the tips of his fingers together, "When you passed by? You're referring to that, right?"

"Mhm."

"Cool," Miki said with a proud nod before checking to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them. Of course, with Takatsukasa being one who was always regarded for his extreme silence, several people were watching his conversation curiously. Even Sato, who would've made straight home by that point, was creepily peering around a corner to apparently watch them. Despite the watchers, Miki decided he'd go through with his plan anyway, "I actually need your help with something…"

"I'll get the yen?"

"Yes."

"Tell me."

Miki smiled earnestly for a second before it turned dangerously sinister, "We're springing my boy out of the office."

Takatsukasa immediately hung his head, "Oh God…"

Meanwhile in the other room, the young man was being railed at by Principal Shinohara, whose flabby neck and chins rippled with every yell, "WHAT IS IT THEN!? WHAT EXCUSE COULD YOU HAVE TO EMBARRASS ME!? TO EMBARRASS YOUR ENTIRE SCHOOL!? DO YOU ENJOY THIS!? DO YOU STAND THERE WITH THAT STUPID LOOK ON YOUR FACE AND MARVEL AT HOW IDIOTIC YOU MAKE US ALL LOOK!? WHAT EXCUSE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR!?"

With an ugly bruise still extending from his forehead to his cheeks, the young man just stared with droopy eyelids. There were so many openings for a sarcastic retort, but he knew that daring to utter one wouldn't help his situation… and he wouldn't have been able to choose between any of them anyway. Instead, with a level tone, he simply uttered, "I suppose I don't have one…"

"EXACTLY!" roared the morbidly obese blob, "EXACTLY! THAT, RIGHT THERE, IS AN ACTUALLY SENSIBLE THING TO SAY! TOO MANY DEFEND IDIOTIC BEHAVIOR! TOO MANY MAKE EXCUSES FOR THEIR FAILED RESPONSIBILITIES! THANKS FOR THE HONESTY, BRAT! NOW I CAN CUT STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!"

The oaf reached for a pink slip that read "Detention" and immediately began to jot a few notes down. Knowing what was coming, the young man clung to his patience and kept himself from rolling his eyes. He knew that he was going to face the consequences, even if they were complete bull, and that detention was nothing compared to what was going on outside of school. If he lost himself to frustration at that moment, there was no way he'd be able to draw out Sato or any accomplices that she potentially had.

While taking solace in remembrance of her surprised look when he walked in that morning, to which she very apparently questioned whether or not their encounter the other day had happened in reality or delusion, Shinohara slammed the pink slip on the desk, "Sign this and report to the library right away. You will not read, nor do homework, nor do any other activity. You'll just sit there and think about what you've done."

While the oaf considered it to be an effective punishment for the most obnoxious of individuals, the young man thought to himself that he'd just pass the time by taking a nap. He gestured to the lower half of the slip and asked while reaching for a pen, "Sign this line here?"

However, blowing off his question, Shinohara slapped his hand away and declared, "DO NOT JUST TAKE SOMEONE'S THINGS WITHOUT ASKING! WAS I WRONG!? ARE YOU NOT AN HONEST INDIVIDUAL!? ARE YOU ACTUALLY A DEGENERATE WITH NO WORTH TO SOCIETY!? ANSWER ME!" When the young man raised a hand to try and calm the principal down, it was just smacked away again, "DO NOT RAISE YOUR HAND AT ME! IS THIS A GAME TO YOU!? YOU'RE JUST NOT TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY, RIGHT!?"

At that moment, someone began to frantically knock at the door. Quickly calming himself down, Shinohara moved to stand up before breathlessly buckling under his own blubber. Doing his best to hide his embarrassment and cool his reddening face, he sternly ordered the young man, "Let them in."

The boy turned himself around and quickly opened the door before Miki popped his head in, "Sir, there's-"

"You're to address me as principal, boy," ordered Shinohara, waving his pointer finger around like a dog trainer.

"Principal…" Miki repeated back slowly before continuing, "Someone's brought in a rock from outside and started swinging it around by the trophy cases. I'm afraid that he'll-" Without warning, he was cut off by the sound of glass loudly shattering. Though his face went pale as his heart stopped, Miki couldn't help but pat himself on the back for the timing before stuttering out, "…Ah… He's already… He has already broken something…"

While his principal's face sizzled with rage, the young man was clenching his lips together to keep a humorous accusation at bay. Then, summoning all of his strength, Shinohara stepped himself onto his feet and moved toward a table on the side with a computer resting on top. With all of his breath, he kept uttering, "Cameras… cameras…" and began to shuffle through the different screens until he found what should have been a view of the trophy cases. Instead, there was a paper dangling right in front of the lens with a crudely drawn penis on the front with the words, "Shinohara receives from his mother," written underneath. Brimming with rage, the man let out a guttural growl and waddled straight to the door, pushing Miki aside to personally survey the damage.

Once the principal was out of earshot, Miki ordered, "Grab your slip, tell everyone you've served your detention, and keep your head low. He doesn't talk much with the other teachers and will probably forget about you within a few weeks."

Pushing aside his urge to question how large Shinohara's levels of incompetence and spite were, the young man instead asked, "What did you do out there?"

"I'll tell you outside," replied Miki as he snatched the pink slip and offered it to his friend. Giving a quick shrug, the young man took the paper and followed after the boy as they both left the office. There were a few echoes from down the hallway, mostly from a frenzied Shinohara as he loudly demanded an explanation for what had happened. Fortunately enough, the two made it out of the school without being called upon, though Miki was quietly concerned about any potential witnesses who'd come forward. But, by that point, it was all up to fate and there would be no benefit to worrying about it.

After a few minutes of travel down the sidewalk with some explanations as to what had happened, the young man was looking at Miki bewilderedly, "So, when you said Sugiyama… our class' Sugiyama… You know, the same guy who's only said a collective ten to fifteen words…" The boy pressed his lips together before sputtering, "He smashed the trophy case?"

With much more pride than he should have had for the vandalism, the light brunette nodded his head and cheerily replied, "All for a thousand yen. Neat, right?"

"Neat? I don't know about that," mumbled the young man while shaking his head. Determined to try and put the logic together, he scratched his ear and asked, "I mean… for the equivalent of ten chocolate bars, Sugiyama was willing to… Gods, how to list it?" After a moment of thought, he raised a finger, "He's risking potential suspension, if not expulsion," then another, "a lawsuit for the damages," and then another, "and a criminal charge of vandalism…?" When Miki nodded at him, like there was nothing strange about everything that was said, the young man asked with great emphasis on every syllable, "How the hell does someone do that for a thousand yen?"

An innocent look came from his friend, who responded, "He's really desperate for a thousand yen?"

The young man was not even remotely satisfied with that answer, "But why? What would compel him to be so desperate? A date? A job? An abusive parent?"

Without missing a beat, Miki answered, "Perhaps his real name is Ebene-, Ebinigh-, Ebelenis… Scrooge, his real name is Scrooge."

"Ebenezer?"

Frustrated by the fact that the young man didn't even blink when he pronounced the name, Miki pointed a finger at him and growled, "You suck."

His friend snorted loudly out of his nose before falling into thought again. After a few seconds of consideration, the young man asked with a smile, "So, was that you or Sugiyama?"

Miki turned over to him, "With what?"

"That picture over the camera."

"Oh!" Without further prompting, Miki launched himself forward and threw his arms into the air, "Me! That was totally me! I will not cede credit to anyone else!" He turned back around to the young man with growing excitement and began to explain, "I drew that towards the end of my first year. Ever since then, I knew there would a time when I'd be able to use it…" With a bit of shuffling back and forth, Miki sprung into the air with his fist up triumphantly, "Worth it! Totally worth it!"

Despite the boy's excitement, the young man's upper eyelids lowered in disbelief as he asked "So… what then? You've just had a penis that you drew sitting around in your backpack since December? Maybe earlier?"

Unwilling to surrender his glory, Miki turned his eyes over to his friend and haughtily proclaimed in a quiet voice, "I don't think there was ever a better use for my backpack. Don't you agree?"

"Did you carry that rock on you too?"

"If you ever say I'm unprepared in the future, I'll smack you until this incident's engraved into your brain."

An obnoxiously squeaky voice called out from behind them, "So that was you two who had Sugiyama smash the trophy case?"

Upon turning around, the boys found their fellow classmate, Ebi, approaching with her arms crossed over one another. For a moment, the young man's face faltered with worry as he wondered if she intended to report them both. But, upon seeing Miki's nonchalant expression, he calmed down and observed their accuser. As per usual, her cheeks were puffed out and her nose was wrinkled in a way that said she smelled something sour. Thinking quickly to try and throw her off, the young man was about to casually explain, "We were just roleplaying the incident-," before Miki confrontationally jumped in.

"Are you planning to snitch on us? Be a lapdog to Shinohara?"

Repulsed by the suggestion of being an underling, Ebi flapped her hand at him in a flaunty manner and dared to proclaim, "I am no teacher's pet. Even if you guys and Sugiyama broke more trophies than your stupid prank was worth, I won't spare either the three of you any of my precious attention."

Miki's eyes narrowed in a mix of suspicion and irritation, taking note of the fact that she must have been a direct witness to Sugiyama's act, as he slowly asked, "So… if you're not going to report us and you don't want to spare us the attention, why stop us here? Go home already."

As if his suggestion was the most preposterous thing she'd ever heard, Ebi scrunched up her face and prattled on, "You would want to get off scot free, wouldn't you? Well," she snapped her finger before pointing at the two boys, "that's not how the world works! You want me to keep silent? Buy me something."

Getting more and more annoyed by the moment, the young man willed himself to take a breath and kept his lips closed while Miki pointed a finger right back at Ebi, "Extortion? Really? Are you sure you really want to try that?"

Keeping up her guise of control, the girl stuck her nose into the air, "You say that like it's terrible." After a second, she lowered her head and eyed Miki, "I saw you pay Sugiyama some yen to do your dirty work. All I'm asking for something for me to keep my silence." Before either of them could reply to her, she waved her finger around dramatically and raised her voice, "Like it or don't, I am a woman of integrity. Sugiyama can go through all the intimidating emo postures and you guys can act like a couple of buttholes while acting like you're the victims, but I will not be silenced." She then turned her attention to the young man, "Anything to say, attention-grabber?"

To that, the young man quietly repeated, "Attention-grabber?"

"Oh, don't give me that," barked Ebi before waving a hand toward his face, "you came in last week all beaten and you came in this week with a bruise like that after skipping school? What would you call it?"

Not entirely sure how to really respond to the question, the young man gave a slow shrug as he answered, "Victim of physical assault… on two different days within close proximity…?"

His suggestion brought a snort out of Ebi, who looked as though she were about to laugh. But, surprisingly, she instead sighed and shook her head before speaking in a pitiful tone, "Your victim complex is beyond help. I don't think there's anything I can do or say about it… so, I'll just have to leave it be." Just as the young man was about to make a sarcastic remark, she said something that he couldn't ignore, "Be grateful that I'm not going to press that particular issue any more than I should."

"Grateful," repeated the young man quietly before saying it again in a louder voice, "Fucking grateful?" Immediately, Miki knew to step aside and let his friend go on the attack. Though Ebi wasn't a worthy target of such rage, he knew that the young man probably had a lot of pent of frustration from his experience with Shinohara and whatever occurred the other day. The silently raging student took an aggressive step forward and jabbed his finger towards the girl's mouth, "I'd be grateful if you would just remain quiet for one day. That mousy voice of yours is like nails on a chalkboard. Especially," he raised the pitch of his voice to be unbearably squeaky, "when you get loud like this!" before quieting himself to retort, "Shut your face. There's nothing you do that I'm grateful for."

In response, Ebi was about to let her own anger ring out, "Pig! You pig, what did-," before she was promptly cut off by the young man's louder voice.

"In fact, I can't think of a single person who would be grateful for you," yelled the boy as he stood over his shrinking target of ire, "All you are is the residential drama queen who goes out of her way to make a scene and call attention to herself. Barring everything that's happened before today, what would you call the stunt your trying to pull? Extortion? No, you don't really care about that. You just want us to grovel before you so that your great expanse of an ego can be sated its daily feed, which was so unfortunately deprived today because people were talking about my ugly fucking face." The young man pressed his reddening face closer to Ebi, "Bull! We don't cower to you and no one else does. The response you got here today is the same that any sensible person would give!" before his nose was just a few centimeters from hers, "Your drama is that unwanted and insufferable! If everyone could take a vote between being stuck with you for a day or getting the hell beaten out of them by some dickhead in their own homes," and loudly boomed his final syllables in a guttural voice, "EVERYONE WOULD TAKE THE LATTER OPTION THRICE!"

Letting out a few squeaky whimpers with tears in the corners of her eyes, Ebi looked as though she were about to break into sobs then and there. Then she raised up her hands to try and strangle the young man, which was entirely ineffective since her grip on his neck was too weak, "YOU ARE SUCH A JERK! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT!?"

Watching the scene from the side, Miki just blinked a few times before walking up to the pair to insert himself between the two. With little effort, he managed to pull Ebi away while she screamed a handful of choice words at the young man. Once there was a gap within her ramblings, Miki ordered her, "Just buzz off already and rethink your life," before gently pushing her away. Flustered and indignant, the girl made a rude gesture with her finger and speedily stomped her way down the sidewalk.

Once the frustrating girl was out of sight, the young man turned toward his friend with a grimace. As if they were having a silent conversation, Miki sucked in a breath and shrugged before throwing his hands up into the air. After some odd seconds, the young man finally stated, "I lost my cool a bit there."

"You think so?" replied Miki with a sarcastic smirk and narrowed eyes. A snort was the boy's reply along with a nod. Without much thought, he pointed up at the young man's face and asked, "Did any of that stem from your bruise there?"

His friend went silent as the previous day's events flashed through his mind. After a moment, he gave a reluctant nod and admitted, "I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't…"

Miki gave the young man a supportive pat to the back and gestured to the sidewalk to continue their trek. The two began to march off in silence, maneuvering past the city crowd around them with ease as they began to settle down from their previous encounter. However, while waiting to pass an intersection, Miki randomly sprung the question, "So, was Hazuki involved with whatever happened yesterday?"

At first, the young man's brain lagged a few seconds behind while he registered Sato's family name. Then, once he was caught up, he quickly turned to Miki and asked in as calm a manner as he could, "Hold on, hold on… where'd that come from?"

Without much reaction to his friend's sputter, Miki took a breath and slowly replied, "Well," and averted his eyes, "she kept passing glances at you through the day… more than she usually does. You know, for a while, I've been pretty sure that she's had a crush on you or something-"

The young man couldn't catch himself before he retorted, "Don't be silly."

"I don't think that now," stated Miki as he turned his head back to the young man, "considering those terrifying glares that you kept throwing at her through the day… and the fact that she's gone out of her way to avoid you like the plague at every turn."

Having not even been aware of the fact that he was apparently glaring at Sato, the young man murmured while scratching at the corner of his mouth, "Ah… in that case, I'll give you the short version of what happened," and paused for a moment.

After a few seconds of silence, Miki nodded his head, "Go on," and started walking once the crowd around them began to pass through the crosswalk.

Without facing his friend, the young man slowly explained, "We happened to meet each other yesterday… I was in a bad mood, due to the… ah…" and gestured to his bruise. He paused for a few seconds before finishing, "I suppose she was too and we got into an argument about something stupid. However it went, she said a few things I'm not happy with and now I'm… pretty pissed at her."

Also averting his head to not even try to meet the young man's eye, Miki said simply, "I think I understand."

Upon reaching the other side of the crosswalk, the young man raised up his head and quietly mumbled, "Almost forgot," before turning to Miki to say, "I'm taking a different route today. I have a meetup to attend."

The boy next to him turned his eyes to face him, "Those girls, I'd guess?"

"Right on the money," replied the young man before he diverged from their usual path, "You have a good day and… you know," and gestured up to his face, "be safe…"

"You too," said Miki as he offered a nod and a smile. With that, the young man turned around and began to make his way toward his destination. Once he was left alone, Miki's face fell to a frown as he quietly remarked to himself, "There's more to it… definitely more," before shaking his head, "but I'm a little scared to ask." Shivering a bit as his imagination went wild, Miki continued on his route home with no incident.

Meanwhile, relaxing in a miniature playground that was surrounded by a few office buildings nearby, Asuka held up her phone to Homura and Yumi to show off a text, "Yomi says that Grandpa and Grandma are doing fine. That doctor Kiriya talked about finally arrived and is currently checking for any signs of permanent damage."

Standing a bit away from the bench that the three were sitting on, Miyabi turned her head and asked, "He'll be taking special care with Jasmine's back, right? He'll be careful and thorough?"

"Both Kiriya and Oda have vouched on the man," stated Ikaruga as she knelt on some grass beside Katsuragi, who was idly daydreaming, "Besides, there's not many other options available. Unless you think we should lie to public hospital personnel, this is the best option at hand."

"Right, right," replied Miyabi with a wave of her hand before she turned back to the sidewalk, awaiting the moment that the young man would appear.

Catching a glance of the white-haired girl, Yozakura and Murakumo both sucked in tired breaths as they continued to supervise Minori and Hibari playing on the swing set. After a moment, the masked girl turned to her sister and asked, "Can I assume we're uncomfortable for the same reason?"

"You're talking about the exchange, right?" asked Yozakura, doing her utmost to keep her head directed on the two girls who were swinging around without an apparent care in the world.

Murakumo nodded and grunted in response before also turning to face forward. While there were many things running through her mind, she was completely divided on the issue at hand: they were accompanying the young man to exchange his family's information to Oda. On one hand, she was completely behind him and was proud to have volunteered her protection and company. After all, like any good shinobi, he was going to do what had to be done in order to catch one of the worst shinobi killers in history. If that meant a few other infiltrators were caught in the crossfire, then that was the unfortunate reality of it. It was either a few lives or a hundred more shinobi… On the other hand, the young man seemed so unreactive to the fact that he was offering up his family. Though he was certainly panicked and desperate at the time, he was still thinking clearly enough to mention his sister-in-law and niece amongst the other things that would track Tsao. Considering the fact that he experienced one of Oda's more brutal methods firsthand, Murakumo expected that he would have at least hesitated or begged for the large shinobi to show some mercy on the two. Before all of that though, the one thing that both she and Yozakura expected was for him to stand by his family… but then that was a different conflict in and of itself.

They were all well aware of the young man's history. They knew everything that had happened which led him to the point they were at. In addition to that, they knew what horrible people his family could be. But to them, to every shinobi who'd been deprived of their loved ones in some terrible way, they couldn't truly understand why someone would turn their back to their own blood before proceeding to offer them up on a sacrificial altar. Even Homura, who resented her own family for casting her out, wouldn't have done such a thing…

Yet, most of the girls had volunteered to join the young man to either offer their support or protection. The rest stayed behind in his apartment to watch over Jasmine and Hanzō, including a few of his supporters, but everyone else had still chosen to join him. Whether to hold his shoulder and encourage him to press on or to just offer their weapons in case his attacker decided to make another appearance… In Yozakura's case, she was extremely verbal of the fact that she was going to try and convince the young man to withhold the information that he was going to give to Oda. From the moment the large shinobi left the day before until the lot of them camped outside with the young man in the spacious parking lot, leaving the cramped apartment's bed to Jasmine and Hanzō, she had pestered him about the matter with little breaths in-between. Through it all, from every accusation and to every bit of chastisement that Yozakura offered, the boy either remained silent or gave a few words of acknowledgement before turning his attention to his phone. He didn't act pitifully nor defensively, he never whispered or yelled… He would only say something along the line's of, "You aren't wrong," or, in cases where someone tried to offer comfort, "I'm fine," before turning back to his texting.

Amidst Murakumo's pondering, Hikage called out while hanging upside down from the monkey bars, "He's here."

By that point, Miyabi was already moving to greet him with Yumi springing up to her feet to follow. Sitting by a slide out of the line of sight, Murasaki and Imu were also getting up from where they sitting while Ryōbi turned to her twin and threatened, "Keep your mouth shut. He's not going to."

Ryōna began to chime, "He can offer me! He really can! Oda will surely beat me until he's satisfied and we can all go home! Everyone wins!" before her sister grabbed her by the lips and wrested her up, much to the blonde's pleasure.

A few meters away, Yagyū grabbed hold of Hibari's swing to calmly tell her, "We'll play later. Time to go for now."

While the pink-haired girl began to pout, Minori launched herself from her swing and rolled onto the surrounding woodchips before rushing toward Yozakura. At first, Murakumo thought the girl was just going to ask if she could be brushed off, which their sister would have done anyway without any prompting. But, just as Yozakura reached forward to pat away some dirt and woodchips, Minori asked her, "Please be nice today?"

The blue-haired girl quirked her head to the side, ignoring the round of awkward greetings that the young man was receiving at the playground entrance, before she sighed and said, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable yesterday… But he's planning to do something that I cannot support." Her voice was cool and sympathetic but was also laced with an unbending sternness that wouldn't be easily lifted, "Please, just understand…"

Minori was already shaking her head, "I'm not going to understand if you're not going to understand."

Pressing her lips together while taking a moment to close her eyes, Yozakura shook her head and rotated her finger in the air to have the pigtailed girl turn around. Once her sister abided, she began to brush off the dirt and woodchips from her back while saying, "I believe I already understand well enough. He's offering up his family, some of whom are people who aren't a part of this conflict. That isn't something I can just forgive… It isn't something Murakumo, Shiki… Katsuragi, Ryōbi, Mirai… nor even Asuka and Homura, despite their feelings… none of us can forgive it so easily… If I were any bolder, I would suggest that you shouldn't forgive him either… But you're entitled to your thoughts and beliefs…"

After a few pats to her side, Minori was made to turn as her eyes fell. While Yozakura continued to brush her off, she began to frown before adding, "But you're all aware that he doesn't want to, right?"

"Only a madman would," replied Yozakura as she swiped the girl's arm, "but he's still doing it anyway. He's accountable for his own actions, whether he's pleased with himself or not."

Once Minori was made to face forward, she quickly asked, "But isn't it like us and fighting?"

Murakumo turned her head over while curiously tilting it to the side, "What do you mean?"

Yozakura, after having finished her light cleaning, was a bit hesitant to look up to her sister's eyes. Once she managed to lift her head, she found Minori locking onto her with watery orbs and downcast lips. At first, Yozakura recoiled but then caught herself and nodded for the girl to speak. With a softness unbefitting of her usually excited voice, Minori quietly explained, "We fight and hurt people, sometimes our friends even…" and gestured to the girls from the other shinobi groups. Her lips curled further downward as she added, "Sometimes, when we spar, we even hurt each other…"

Yozakura nodded to her with a bit of understanding, "And it's all for our own good. It's all to train ourselves up to fight Yōma. In some cases, it's to reach our own personal goals."

"Fighting is bad," stated Minori with a shake of her head before locking her eyes back onto her sister, "but I do it because, if we win enough times, nobody will need to fight anymore… once that happens, everyone can just play and get along and not be hurt-"

"If you're implying that I'm doing something similar…" came the young man's commanding voice as he turned his head to them while standing at the playground's entrance. He took a long breath and finished in a low voice, "…then I should correct that."

Minori shrunk her head a bit, thrown off by haven been interrupted, while Yozakura felt her face go slack. From beside the young man, Miyabi and Yumi reached out to him while quietly urging phrases like, "We can talk about this later," and, "Please, don't worry about it for now." But, seeking to confront the problem before there was any possibility of escalation, the boy shook his head and pulled away from them to approach the sisters by the playground.

In a calm and level voice, the young man gestured his hand to everyone present, "I know there are people who have issues with what I'm going to do and their points can't be denied." Once he was on the border of the play area, he looked to Asuka and Homura as they sat side by side one another with saddened eyes, turned his head over to an irritated-looking Ryōbi as she kept a firm hand over Ryōna's mouth, and finally turned to Minori while she was flanked by Yozakura and Murakumo.

Feeling a bit squashed by the pressure of the young man and her two sisters, the pigtailed girl murmured out, "You don't… I know you don't want to hurt your niece and sister-in-law, right?"

"I don't," replied the young man, "but me selling them out isn't a woeful tale on my part." He turned to Yozakura, keeping his eyes from shifting amidst the uncomfortable atmosphere, "At best, this is just me committing a horrible act… at worst, I'm a complete hypocrite doing the same injustice that my brother, Haruo, did to me. Bear in mind, while my sister-in-law has been a longtime bystander to my own suffering, she's never done anything to deserve something as cruel as this. She's gone on no missions as an infiltrator and her worst crime is the unleashing of her sharp tongue… And my niece…" The young man's eyes went soft as he stopped for a moment, "Little Nian… she's never harmed a fly… She's eight years old, for the love of…"

Minori tried to chime in, "You're doing it for a good reason-" but was immediately cut off.

"Sacrificing two people to save my own life isn't a good reason," remarked the young man with a hint of aggression. After taking another breath, he calmed down and continued to explain, "What I'm doing is a horrible and selfish act. What I'm doing is not for the sake of catching Tsao… rather it's just to save myself. I will not deny that. No one else can deny it either. I'll own and face it. If everything turns out for the worst and Oda does hurt them, I'll bear the weight of it as though I'd done it myself. Regardless of whatever blame Oda is owed, I'll hold myself in the utmost contempt for the worst to come."

"Why do it then?" asked Yozakura, her voice matching the young man's level tone, "If you know you're going to hate yourself for it, that you'd regret it… why go through with it?"

"Because there's no alternative that I can see," stated the young man in a low voice. He clenched his eyes for a moment before speaking further, "Oda wants Tsao… but that man doesn't leave a visible trail. He works under numerous false names and leaves no physical signs that he's ever existed in any of the residences that he's ever stayed in. The best thing you're getting is his DNA, though that's only because he knows that the government already has his identity." Pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts, the young man continued, "But he loves his wife and daughter more than anything. For all the evil that is Tsao, he is a family man. Every holiday, any significant event… he'll be there for his wife, child…" he gestured to himself, "for his brother even."

There were a few nods of understanding from the crowd, though Yozakura continued to just stare at the young man in the same way she did when they were in the Hanzō Academy gym. Amidst their standoff, Asuka stood up and left Homura's side to try and offer a few words, "I… think we understand… you don't need to-"

"Tsao isn't away from home for long," stated the young man, seemingly not hearing the brunette's words, "Once a mission is finished, he collects a commission from whoever contracted him to do a 'correction' or murder… He considers them to be synonymous at this point… then he heads home and enjoys his life. The only setback for him, at that point, is the fact that his wife enjoys working as a part-time waitress and that he is very particular about the schools he sends his daughter to… and those both leave paper trails." The young man turned his head to face the girls' conflicted expressions around him before turning back to Yozakura's unbending eyes, "They're a package deal. If anyone wants to track Tsao, they'll need to track his family. Even if he's out on a mission, he won't run to save himself if he finds out that the two people he loves most have been seized… He'll come running… Anyone who knows him can guarantee that…"

"You're making this too hard…" declared Homura in a low voice from the bench, clenching her fingers around its edge to keep herself seated.

Turning his body to face her with a tired look on his face, the young man responded, "I want you guys to know the full story…" He held a flattened hand to his chest, "I'll hold myself accountable for the horrible act I'm going to commit… and I know that this is even more selfish of me to wish for…" before looking Homura dead in the eyes, "but I don't want any of you to hate me for this. I know I'll be deserving of that hate… but I… really hope that…"

"Well, I kind of want to hate you!" growled Homura as she stood herself up and began to rapidly approach him in long strides. Though Asuka stammered her name in confusion a few times, the tanned girl got right up into the young man's face and grabbed ahold of his arm. He reeled his head back a bit, positive that a verbal or physical lashing was coming his way, before he realized that Homura had fallen silent. He looked to her and she to him, neither saying a word.

Yumi took a step forward with the intention to get between the two before a knowing look came over her face. Relaxing herself, she stood down as the young man quietly said, "Then hate me… you've every right."

Flushed and evidently frustrated, Homura spouted, "Yes, I do…" She rolled her head back while sucking air into her nostrils before loudly exhaling, "You can be such a dickhead-"

"Indeed, I'm a dickhead."

"-what with the way you're… all this." As if to prove her point, the girl gestured to the young man's body before swinging her arms outward, "Beyond this dilemma that you're… that you're, admittedly, trapped in… you're infuriating. You're so… forward but not forward at the same time. You go on about everyone needing to trust you while doing something that would absolve any trust we would already have for you. This act of yours, this cowardly act, in addition to another…" Homura brought a hand up to her forehead and stated, "I confess my feelings for you, Asuka confesses her feelings for you, Miyabi," she slowly emphasized every syllable to the woman's name, "confesses her feelings to you-"

The white-haired girl quickly interjected, "Actually, I…" before faltering and turning her body away, "I haven't… directly come forward to him…"

Ignoring Miyabi's interruption, Homura continued, "And, rather than answer to us, you wait until Yumi confesses to have her send a message: oh, by the way, can't date. Thanks for the confession," the girl waved her hand, "Buh-bye."

Quirking his brow at the sudden change of subject, while also feeling his face heat up from the confrontation, the young man nodded head while sucking in his lips. After a moment, he replied, "I'm sorry for that." He waited a few seconds before admitting, "For a sensitive matter like that, I should have been direct with all of you from the get-go… It was, indeed, cowardly of me to put it off in the way I did. Cowardly and selfish."

"And now you're doing something far more cowardly and selfish," declared Homura while trying put strength into her every word, "You're doing something far more extreme than putting off a sensitive matter."

"I am," replied the young man.

"And then…" the girl paused to wipe at her glimmering eyes, "And now, I should say… Here you are, openly admitting to all of it… I should hate you right now. I should abandon my feelings so we can avoid the fiasco that Yumi mentioned." Through a shaky intake of breath, Homura opened her mouth with the intention to yell before her voice died in her throat. She looked at the young man, who was looking at her with no intention to defend himself from her verbal assault, and she couldn't bring herself to yell anymore.

Asuka was about to step forward to intervene before Miyabi extended her arm to gently block the girl's way, "Let her say what needs to be said."

"But I don't hate you," mumbled Homura, whose shoulders relaxed as she said the words, "I don't hate you at all… In fact, I love you. Despite how much of a coward you are, I love you. I know that I said just I liked you before… But I love you." The young man was about to raise his hand into the air to signal for Homura to stop. Yet, she aggressively patted it down and said, "I'm saying it, so don't make this the thing that you're going to argue. Alright? I do love you. When you're truthfully forward, you're easy enough to read and keep yourself easy to understand. You've been honest since we've come together as a group, you've accepted my and everyone else's faults at every turn without criticism, and you're proving yourself to be accountable at this very moment…" She gestured to the boy, "Even now, when I'm seeing you at you're most cowardly, you uphold all of those traits."

"I wasn't forward with you guys when you all confessed your feelings," declared the young man, speaking without thinking through any of the words that came out of his mouth, "and I've proven myself to be a capable liar on the many occasions that I acted like I wasn't aware of those feelings."

Homura was about to cut him off to shut him down before his last statement caught her ears. She loudly exclaimed, "How long have you known!?"

"Since the end of our karaoke night!" replied the young man, his face flushed as his mouth moved faster than his brain, "So, yeah! Honest and forward? Not at all. Not me. Accepting? On some levels, sure. On the other hand, I'll get annoyed and hold grudges for the pettiest of reasons. It doesn't matter who it is! And accountable? No-ho-ho~! In the back of my mind, there is a large part of me that is still trying to peg every terrible thing I'm doing as Haruo's fault. He was the first domino to start this mess, right? Of course, that'd mean he's responsible for the decisions I make, despite the fact that I'm a grown ass man making conscious decisions. So, accountable? No… not even slightly."

By the time the young man had managed to pull the brakes on himself, everything he wanted to say had been let out. With all of the hot air he'd bottled up having been deflated, all that was left was a boy heaving for his next breath. On the other hand, Homura stared at him with narrowed eyes before shaking her head, "You're such a dickhead-"

"Yes."

"-with how you handle these kinds of things." While the young man processed her words, she snapped her fingers at him and jabbed a finger into his chest, "Listen and listen good. Regardless of the way you see yourself, I still see all of those things in you. Even if everything you said was completely true with unmentioned stuff to back it up, I'll regard you like I have been. That's just the way I see you." The young man was about to speak before Homura pressed her palm against his mouth, "I love you. As for Asuka, Miyabi and Yumi? I'd say they still love you too. We can't just throw those feelings away. So, get deciding. If you think anyone else's trust will be affected by a relationship or rejection or whatever, let us know. We'll talk and or fight about it until an understanding is reached. That's how we do things."

Unable to say anything with the hand covering his mouth, the young man looked over to Asuka, Miyabi, and Yumi. Much to his mix of relief and confusion, each of them offered him a smile. Despite everything, from the threat a relationship posed to the horrible exchange he had planned, they still had feelings for him. Whether that would be a good or bad thing, he didn't really know. Either way, the young man was partly relieved.

Releasing her hold over his mouth once she realized he'd relaxed himself, Homura took a breath before nodding, "I'm glad you understand," before stepping away from him to clap her hands together, "Right, let's get a move on then. You've got a shitty deal to go through and then you're going to explain what happened yesterday." After finishing her last sentence, she spiraled around and pointed a finger at the young man, "And I mean everything! If we find out you're holding back any information for any reason, you'll wish that person finished you off! Capeesh?" Homura's response was an alarmed and fervent nod, to which she mumbled, "Good…"

Taking a moment to collect herself, the girl began to make her way to the playground's entrance. With his mind still lagged behind and comprehending everything that was said, the young man could only stand in place. At one point, after Homura called back to him a few times, Asuka stepped forward and squeezed his arm before giving him a pull, "C'mon… We'll be with you…"

Though the young man nodded his head, he still didn't move. After a few seconds, he turned his head to Yozakura for the first in a while and took in her level look. Her lips were tightly pressed together but her eyes were soft and sympathetic. Daring to offer her a few words, the young man could only say in a hoarse voice, "Hate and condemn me if you believe I'm worthy of it… Don't hold back… I only ask that you understand."

Yozakura's eyes fell to the ground before locking back onto the boy. She wanted to argue and push him away from what he intended to do, just like she had done through most of the prior day. Yet, she could offer no alternatives. The young man wanted freedom and Oda wanted Tsao, who was a terrifying killer who needed to be caught. She could only whisper, "I do understand… I do…"

The young man nodded to her, "For what it's worth… I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't have to be."

With all of that said, the entire group cleared out of the playground. Following just behind Homura, who began to lead the group towards Hanzō's restaurant, the young man dwelled on Yozakura's words to him. If he interpreted them one way, they implied that she understood and that the young man's place in the situation was excusable. If interpreted another way, they meant that the young man shouldn't have been making the decision in the first place if he was sorry about it. Either way, his decision was final. He had the information texted onto an online document and he fully intended to hand it over to Oda.


	32. Chapter 32: Bygone Standoff

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 32: Bygone Standoff

Oda closed his eyes before he looked back down to his phone resting on the restaurant table, "You'd still have me butcher him? Even after everything I've told you about the boy?"

The deep voice of a woman on the other end of the call murmured something incoherent before she spat, "I'm saying that, if you show you're picking sides between infiltrators and dignitaries, the other side is going to come in force. If we want to come off as impartial to both, kill the boy and send a message."

"Daidōji," barked Rin as she stood from her tatami mat beside Oda and jabbed her finger down to the phone, "the dignitaries are already preparing to make a move. Kiriya's still keeping an eye on them but he's sure that they're gathering weapons in the factory district. Large ones."

"And the secret service has already gone on secondary alert," retorted Daidōji. "That matter will be dealt with before they even have a chance to launch a terrorist attack."

"The Russians had the same plan a few years back," mumbled Oda in a gruff voice, "but that didn't stop that attack at Sheremetyevo Airport. Plus, the church bombings across the United States last summer had plenty of warning… Yet, with a little switcheroo in attack locations, dignitaries were still able to get away with it." Before the woman on the other end of the line could argue, he continued, "Like it or don't, Daidōji, the dignitaries won't change their plans if we spare one infiltrator and I won't consider that argument to my decision valid."

There was a bit of silence before a reluctant, "Very well," came from the phone. After a few seconds of silence, Daidōji questioned, "Well, if you're going on the offensive against Tsao, you'll need me down there."

"Absolutely not," replied Oda as he impatiently thumped his hand against the table, "Continue your investigation through Kyoto and make sure there aren't any lingering threats going for the Prime Minister." Before he could receive a reply, the large shinobi pressed his head toward the phone as he quietly threatened, "You'll make sure that those Yōma stay put down. I'm clear?"

"Very much so," came Daidōji's level reply, "but who'll be hunting Tsao?"

Taking a breath to relax, Oda sat himself back onto the tatami mat and explained, "I've already spoken with a few division leaders. Ultimately, they're bringing Onoda's advanced team back from Taiwan."

"Haven't heard from her in a while," replied Daidōji, "at least, not since those Yōma started to spark up in Yunlin County."

The front door to the restaurant opened and Homura awkwardly peeked her head inside, silently mouthing to the adults as their heads peeked up, "Is it a bad time?"

Rin shook her head and gestured for the girl to lead everyone in before she took the opportunity to ask Oda, "Last I heard, there were still a few Yōma attacks in Yuanchang and Dongshi. Should Taiwan be without reinforcements?"

"The sightings and attacks are still underway," admitted Oda with a nod of his head to the woman beside him while ignoring the group of teenagers streaming into the restaurant, "but, fortunately, Hong Kong's division has agreed to send a sizeable mop up force. They're less experienced but Yōma sightings in the rest of southeast Asia have been negligible for a while now… About eighteen months? Either way, they have the forces to spare and they'll be sending them. As of now, Onoda's expected to arrive within forty-eight hours."

"Alright then," came Daidōji's voice, "I'll continue overwatch in Kyoto… Just be wary of that infiltrator."

Oda looked up and locked eyes onto the young man, who was standing toward the back end of the group, "Always."

With a click, the line dropped as the two adults moved their eyes between everyone present within the room before they settled onto one face. Staring right back at them without even a blink, the young man nodded and took a breath. Once he calmed his nerves and anxiety, he moved to the tatami mat opposite from Oda's side of the table. After falling to his knees and sitting on his feet, the young man asked, "Have you reached a decision on my offer?"

Letting a breath of air out his nose, Oda reached to a briefcase he had rested underneath the table, released both of its locks, and popped it open. Upon hearing the sound, some of the girls had to restrain their raging instincts to draw weapons and form a defensive formation. Yet, once Oda produced a piece of paper from his case and rested it on the table, they all took relieved breaths and relaxed their bodies. At the same time, the young man didn't break eye contact with the shinobi before him and willed himself to keep his eyes averted from the paper. After a few seconds of silence, Oda cleared his throat and asked, "This, if I understood you correctly yesterday, is what you are after? 'A signed document that I'd let you go,' is what you said?"

Once the words finished coming out of the shinobi's mouth, the young man's eyes darted to the document and skimmed it through. He came across words like "In accordance with the power vested" along with "for any crime committed from any prior date to 4/20" followed by "Exception, determined by one or a full board of senior officials, will be granted to certain activities which would normally be labeled as assault, criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass, and espionage" was capped off by "This document hereby pardons and prohibits prosecution to" and was marked with the young man's name with Oda's signature right beside it.

"The exception, in this case," the shinobi started in a quiet voice, "is in reference to your continued correction to all of the girls… I know you'll need to finish that before you can be free. While I made a mistake- no." Oda shook his head and took a heavy breath, "I made a choice in pursuing you for the wrong reasons. A bad choice since I never made myself aware of your circumstances and acted emotionally. But, after today, I hope you'll believe me when I say that I aspire to be a fair man."

Feeling his jaw slowly fall lower and lower in continued shock, the young man repeatedly read line after line in the letter, carefully observed the stamps of authority, and did his ultimate to decipher the legal language to see if there were any tricks. But, after taking nearly two minutes to rip the document's words apart, he determined that there were no hidden daggers that would come to stab him in the back. By all ways, means, and intentions, the document before him was an official government letter which pardoned all of his activities up to that point. Feeling as though he'd just scaled a mountain, the young man looked up and stammered, "I-, to speak frankly, I really don't-, I… This…?"

"Even if our deal today falls through, it's yours. I don't want to let circumstances beyond control weigh in on you legally," stated Oda before he quickly held up a hand, "Though, if you decline to share the information on Tsao, I won't be willing to make any exceptions for your future corrections." He turned his head away for a moment, "I'm sorry to hold your arm against your back," before he met the boy's eyes, "but Tsao is a demon that I must bring an end to."

Nodding his head, still not expecting such a gift, the young man slid the document back to the middle of the table before he looked down to his shaky hands. After a few seconds of focus, he calmed himself down and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone while murmuring under his breath, "There won't be any need to worry about that… What I have here should satisfy you." With his stoic persona quickly slipping away, Oda leaned his head forward in anticipation and had to restrain himself from clasping his hands together like an eager child about to receive a birthday present. After a few seconds, the young man began to explain, "I spent most of last night compiling all of the information I could remember about Tsao. It's all there. Every residence… every bar he's ever become a patron of… the fake names he's been using online… information on some of the people he frequently takes with him on missions…"

"And his family? His wife and daughter?" asked Oda, raising a brow while supposing the young man got cold feet.

"It's there," replied the young man in a low voice while Yozakura's gaze burned into the back of his head. After a moment, he raised a finger, "Ah… While I'm in no position to make further requests after I give you said information… I hope you can at least do me one favor?"

"Speak freely," answered Oda, "I'll tell you upfront if I can or can't do it."

Feeling his fingers get shaky again, the young man's jaw quivered while he asked as politely as he possibly could, "My sister-in-law, while aware of the fact that her husband's an infiltrator, is…" He tried to think up something quick, anything that would fend off Oda, "She's not one herself… And my niece is only an eight-year-old…" Keeping his eyes laser focused on Oda, the boy murmured, "I beg that you don't hurt them."

A few red flags went up in the girls' heads as they turned to one another, remembering when the young man specifically addressed his sister-in-law as an infiltrator. Pushing her mind past the lie he just told Oda, Murakumo couldn't help but notice that Yozakura was slowly turning her head to the side while her eyes fell to the ground. On the other hand, between the girls' startled reactions and a memory from the other day, the large shinobi could only take a breath and ask, "Did you happen to forget that you called your sister-in-law an infiltrator yesterday? Were you lying then or just now?"

Immediately, the young man made a frustrated sound while his lips were pulled down. Hating himself for the fact that he dared to say something without thinking it through, he began to murmur, "I… lied just now, I did… But-, hold on-, You don't need to hurt them." His eyes locked onto Oda, "Nian is only eight and her mother-, Don't-, she's never gone on a mission. Never. Please, believe me when I say that…"

"Don't lie to me ever again," threatened Oda in a low voice while pointing his finger at the young man. After a few seconds, he rubbed at his chin and took a long breath into his nostrils. Beside him, Rin watched anxiously to see what he would do or say before she turned back to the girls. Then Oda let out a grunt before tiredly saying, "If your sister-in-law offers no violent resistance… then she won't be hurt." Then he patted his large fingers against the table and retorted, "And, seeing as I'm a father, myself… That little girl… You called her Nian? She won't have a finger laid on her. You have my word on that."

Letting out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, the young man felt a small wave of relief run through him. Without further delay, he brought up his phone and sifted through a few icons before his eyes narrowed onto his target. Thinking he had composed himself, the young man tried to ask Oda something in a level voice. Yet, when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was a quiet, "…email…?"

Oda extended his unwavering hand, "I can type it out for you," before gesturing to the young man's.

Looking down to his fidgety fingers, the boy quickly realized that he wouldn't have been able to type anything onto his phone until he calmed down. Without any resistance, he gave his phone to Oda while pondering why he was so panicked. At first, the young man began to question if he was really so concerned for his sister-in-law and niece. For a moment, he believed that his bond with them was stronger than he initially thought. But, when he remembered the fact that he was willingly handing them over to Oda, the young man solidly denied such a feeling. He was thoroughly convinced that, because of what he was willing to do, there was no way he could have such affection for them. Once he scratched off that option, he struggled to think of whatever else could be causing his anxiety to spike.

Amidst his pondering, a gentle hand rested itself onto his shoulder and began to soothingly caress its thumb against him. Keeping himself from jumping in surprise, the young man looked up and found Miyabi staring right back at him without much visible emotion. While her lips were unreadable nor did many of her facial features leave much to be implied, her eyes were soft and sympathetic to his plight. At that moment, with his own face falling tiredly, the young man decided that he must have been so nervous because he was worried about what the girls were thinking. After all, if they didn't trust him, he wouldn't have been able to correct them and he wouldn't be able to earn his freedom. That made much more sense. By the time Asuka clasped onto his other shoulder and began to rub his head, the young man had already settled on the fact that he was still just a selfish piece of shit, like he'd always been saying. Once the back of his head was pulled into an embrace against the brunette's chest, the young man wasn't dwelling much on the subject anymore and his hand had quit its shaking.

Seeing that the boy had finally calmed down, Oda offered back his phone to him while asking, "Are you emailing me this information?"

"It's all typed out on a cloud document," replied the young man as he pulled away from the two girls behind him and took the device back, "one of those weird ones where a bunch of people can look at and edit it all at once." He tapped a few icons and showed Oda his phone, "As of now, you own all rights to it. I can edit it or try to delete everything but you'll receive of notification of whatever has been changed. Then, with the push of a button, you'd be able to read or undo it in seconds."

Oda tilted his head to the side and asked, "Why would you still want to be able to edit it?"

"In case I come upon more information about Tsao," answered the young man. "Once the hunt for him begins, he may catch wind of it and will begin to maneuver to evade your pursuit or, more likely, try to take you by surprise. If I catch word about anything he does, I can add it onto the document, you'll get the notification, and your plan can be changed according to the circumstances."

The only sound that came out of Oda's throat was a grunt of quiet shock. Without much more to say, he offered, "Thank you…"

"Promise me one thing though," ordered the young man, his voice turning very suddenly with an edge of complete command.

Oda leaned himself forward with evident curiosity, "If it's about before, your sister-in-law and niece won't be hurt-"

"This is about your own people," stated the young man, locking his serious eyes onto the shinobi before him. After a moment, he continued, "If you're really and truly going after Tsao, bring an army of your best. Do not underestimate him under any circumstance. Be paranoid, study the locations you anticipate meeting him at, assume he always knows what you're doing… Otherwise, you and everyone who comes along for the ride will be walking straight into a slaughterhouse." The young man took a breath and blinked before thumping his hand against the table, "Pardon me for speaking frankly… but if you and Tsao went up against each other, one on one with no surprises…" He clenched his eyes closed for a moment, "I've heard about your abilities and knack for fight… I've never seen it, myself, but I've got the gist…" before opening them again, "But I've also heard stories about Tsao… I've seen him in action and have even sparred with him a few times… Between the two of you, there'd be no contest. He would win, even if you did give it your all."

Nodding his head to everything that was said, Oda remained silent for a bit. For a moment, the everyone else in the room thought that he had taken offense to the young man's assertion. But, once he compiled his thoughts, the man's eyes turned soft as he replied, "I'll take your advice… Thank you. For the information and your warnings… Thank you."

Offering a nod right back at the him, both the shinobi and infiltrator extended their hands to one another before giving equally firm shakes. Even if Oda's hand was five times the size of the young man's, there was a solid respect formed between both individuals. Without any signs of dishonesty or any intentions to deceive, the two men parted their hands from one another and gave resolved smiles.

The moment would have gone on longer, but Homura approached from behind the young man and patted his shoulder with a murmur, "Sorry to interrupt," and waited until he faced her before she asked, "Should we head on home? We still need to talk about what happened yesterday."

The young man gave an affirmative nod and was about to say something before Oda jumped in, "If you don't mind me being a part of this, I'd also like to know… Just to make sure, you're referring to when he was attacked, yes?"

Homura reeled her head back nervously before she held a hand up, "Yes-, Yes, sir… Though, you'll be busy with hunting Tsao. The rest of us can handle it."

As if her suggestion was the most unbelievable thing he'd ever heard, Oda snorted sarcastically out of his nose before stating, "Don't be absurd. As a senior member of the government," and pulled out his badge, "a senior member of the government's law enforcement," before placing it back into his pocket, "the matter of someone almost being killed with me present is one that I'm obligated to attend." Just as a few more girls moved their mouths to protest, Oda turned to the young man and said in an authoritative voice, "Speak honestly. Do you know who attacked you and why?"

Reeling his head back in surprise while Katsuragi was still trying to stammer an argument behind him, the young man made a quiet sound of acknowledgement before folding his hands in thought. He'd been doing his ultimate to keep the attack towards the back of his mind while trying to focus on putting off Oda's pursuit. With that matter having finally been settled, he had to confront his near-death experience and the consequences of telling it. Questions began to swarm his mind, wondering what the girls or Oda would do if they knew that Sato was his attacker. He wondered if, after telling them and waiting a night, a report would come out that his classmate had been pulled into an alley and butchered beyond recognition? Maybe the shinobi would just knab and torture her for more information before finally offing her? In truth, the young man didn't care much for Sato, seeing as she tried to kill him… But he did care about how her allies would react to any harm against her. Were they aware of him? Would they go on the offensive against the shinobi?

Amidst all of his thinking, Yumi stepped in-between Asuka and Miyabi to slowly and gently rub one of her knuckles against the back of the young man's neck. Jumping from the sudden feeling of pleasure, he turned around again to face her as she said, "It'd be best if we're honest, yes?" while closing her eyes with a soft smile.

When a beauty made such a suggestion in that cute manner of hers and grazed a hand against him in such way while he was still debating with his own thoughts, the young man had no argument to offer. Instead, as the girl continued to rub his neck while Asuka and Miyabi stared daggers at her, the young man simply turned himself back to Oda and stated, "I was attacked by a dignitary. A girl by the name of Sato Hazuki."

Immediately, the gentle hand on his neck retreated as many of the girls' eyes proceeded to go red with recognition. Much to Oda and Rin's bewildered eyes, Ikaruga grabbed the tatami matt under the young man and spun it around for him to face everyone. At the same time, Miyabi and Homura had gotten into his face and began to yap, "That girl you mentioned a while back!? The one who noticed us!?" while Asuka and Yumi were spouting lines like, "You should have told us! We would have taken care of it!" In the background, Ikaruga was sternly crossing her arms as Imu began to rub her forehead. Not far behind her, Ryōna mumbled about potentially doing something equally as frustrating as the young man so that she could receive equally vicious attention, to which Ryōbi just shook her head and harshly gripped the blonde's hair.

After nearly thirty seconds of the theatrical display, Imu asked the crowning question in a low voice, "Why didn't you take the opportunity to tell us yesterday?"

Eager to hear the young man's answer, everyone but Homura had fallen silent. Not even hearing the question, the tanned girl was too focused on pulling at the boy's cheeks while muttering, "After all I spouted to you earlier, there was more? You were still hiding things from us?"

"I inten'ed 'o 'ell 'ou 'ce 'e 'ere 'one wit' O'a," replied the young man through his opened lips as Homura continued to pull.

"There was no reason why you couldn't tell us before, dickhead-"

"Yu', I'm a dick'ead."

"-especially since you were pulled from the gates of death after that attack!"

From his side of the table, Oda asked, "It sounds like you've already had an encounter with this girl? Hazuki's her name?"

With his cheeks still being pulled, the young man turned his eyes over to the shinobi and made an affirmative noise. Stepping up to explain, Hibari stood next to Ikaruga and began to explain as Yagyū followed behind her, "When we were initially… Ah…" but trailed off once she remembered their initial circumstances with the young man, "…Mmhmm…"

"Hun'ing 'e," inserted the boy, whose cheeks were released by a still irritated Homura afterward.

Hibari reluctantly nodded, "We were initially hunting him with the use of our shinobi barriers but, while at his school, Sato reacted to our presence."

"If she's a dignitary," mumbled Oda as he leaned his mouth into his hands, "then seeing through a barrier would be no issue for her. Why didn't you pursue her back then?"

The pink-haired girl paused for a moment before sighing, "We weren't aware of it taking place," and gestured to the young man, "and he wasn't certain she was a dignitary."

The boy glanced up at her, "Throwing me under the bus?"

While Hibari froze up and gave an awkward smile, Rin gave a click of her tongue as she mumbled under her breath, "Speak of the devils… To think we were just talking about dignitaries some odd minutes ago," to which, Oda gave a sardonic smirk. After a moment of thinking, the woman turned to Miyabi and her comrades, "When I explained to you what an infiltrator was, did I tell you about the dignitaries?"

"No," replied the yellow-eyed girl, "I don't recall if they've even been mentioned to us."

"Well, then we can fill you in today," stated the young man, who began to rub his head. After a few seconds of thought, he ruffled his hair and grumbled, "Where do we even begin…?"

Oda, on the other hand, seemed to know how he wanted to approach the matter, "You may want to open up your minds." Once all of the girls looked to him, he stated, "There's a bit of history with this, the kind with unfilled gaps in-between." With that one sentence, everyone's attention fell to him with looks of curiosity and, in Katsuragi and Imu's cases, a bit of eagerness. Oda folded and unfolded his hands over his mouth for a moment, watching as a few girls sat themselves on tatami mats in preparation of a long story. The only ones who seemed unreactive to the news were, of course, the young man and Rin. Having the undivided attention of the room, Oda raised up his head and stated, "There's only one decent way to shortly summarize a dignitary: they're the antithesis to infiltrators."

Seeing a few of the girls' quirked brows, Rin took the opportunity to offer a few words to the larger shinobi, "I don't believe they know much of the history behind either group… nor their general principles."

Making a noise of acknowledgement and taking in a few confused shrugs, Oda ran a hand across the top of his head before grumbling, "Well, to put it simply," and proceeded by speaking in a clear voice, "Infiltrators are more-, are supposed to be more about liberty, freethinking, and the rights of an individual…" As if to make sure he'd gotten it right, Oda turned to the young man, who gave an awkward shrug before nodding his head. Shortly after, the shinobi continued, "On the other hand, dignitaries have been more about establishing unity, strict adherence to law, and putting groups or states before common individuals."

After rubbing at her chin for a bit, Ikaruga noted, "It sounds a bit like the cold war, in regards to the principles of the United States and the Soviet Union."

"And you're right to make that observation," replied Rin, who took a breath while attempting to tackle the subject before explaining, "Infiltrators were almost exclusively based out of Japan, with some supposed sightings during World War One in the Pacific. The first legally accepted report of them was during World War Two in the Battle of Okinawa… early April, if I recall correctly. While the accounts vary from each shinobi who took part, there were confirmed reports of infiltrators assisting the invading forces, clearing the way for the Americans with lethal and nonlethal guerilla tactics, and attempting to coerce their targeted shinobi into defecting during corrections… Anything to silently bring a win to the Allies." Rin scratched her head a few times before raising a finger, "As for dignitaries… their first sighting as a group was confirmed way earlier in Russia. Specifically, they made their private debut as an extreme political party on Bloody Sunday, assisting Tsar Nicholas' Imperial Guard by shooting down protesters. Ultimately, they were hunted and smoked out of the country by the next regime and immigrated to Japan. From there…" After some recollective thoughts, Rin clicked her tongue before shaking her head in resignation, "They must have learned about the infiltrators and their methods at some point, started establishing themselves in private sectors… and, I suppose, started recruiting. Their next confirmed sighting, during the bombing of Tokyo, was when a correction took place on a few defending shinobi-"

With narrowed eyes, Ryōbi exclaimed, "Dignitaries can perform corrections too!?" while everyone else around her straightened their backs in alarm.

"In a way," murmured the young man before he sighed and interjected, "Their manner of correcting people is far different than any infiltrator though. Hell, I'd consider Tsao's methods to be more… humane… than what the dignitaries do."

Everyone was shocked when Oda nodded his head in sure agreement, even if he let out a groan while doing so. As the rest of the girls were still recovering from that stupefying sight, Yagyū turned to the young man and dared to ask, "Could you elaborate? What do they do?"

The young man dragged out a breath before turning himself to the four girls he'd corrected, "You guys remember how it was with your corrections right? We sat down, talked, and worked our way through it?" Once they nodded their heads, with Miyabi and Yumi's cheeks heating up ever so lightly, he continued, "Imagine the opposite with dignitaries. Where infiltrator's need time, maybe days, to prepare, a dignitary can be done in seconds. No need to even plan. It can be as spontaneous as they'd like it to be. The need for complete trust or distrust with infiltrators? Dignitaries don't require either. If someone is only concerned about quickly severing a shinobi from distortion, dignitaries would be there go-to."

"There's a catch," replied Imu in a voice etched with caution. "There must be a cost for their speediness."

"You're right to assume so," retorted the young man. Keeping his head turned to the four whom he corrected, the young man iterated in the clearest voice he could muster, "The reason an infiltrator takes days for a correction is to ensure that the shinobi's personality, the bit of it which was distorted to be specific, can be preserved." He took a breath before stating, "Dignitaries bypass all those barriers. They'll jump into someone's head, sever the distortion, and leave before anything else can be done. Never mind any damage to someone's mental state caused by being so blunt, the personality which was cut away with the distortion won't be accepted back into the shinobi's consciousness… and they'll be left as they are. Unless someone with the same training as an infiltrator or dignitary is nearby to undue the damage, that person will never be who they once were ever again." Tapping at his forehead, the young man said through a grimace, "In short, dignitaries deliberately inflict near-irreversible brain damage onto an individual to spare themselves the effort of repairing them."

There was an unbending silence throughout the room. Oda, Rin, and the young man remained silent so that the girls had time to process their newfound information. Then, speaking out from the back of the crowd, Hikage made her presence known by suddenly saying, "I'm going to head out."

Everyone turned around in confusion. After a few quiet and awkward seconds, Asuka tilted her head and asked, "Ah… do you have to use the bathroom?"

"No, I'm going to go kill Sato," came the simple reply.

"Don't!" called both Oda and the young man upon hearing her. The latter stood up and pushed through the crowd to rest his hand on her shoulder.

From behind him, he could hear Miyabi call to him, "Why stop her? It would save us a lot of trouble in the future. Plus, with her being a part of the dignitaries and the one who attacked you, I don't see why there should be any sympathy for her."

Hikage gave a shrug to the young man and stated through her blank stare, "I'll be quick."

"That's not my concern."

"I won't get spotted."

"That's also not my concern."

Hikage blinked, "Should I off her family too?"

Covering his face with his free hand, the young man exclaimed, "No!"

"It'd be best," yelled Oda as he shot up from his mat, "if you stood down!" and proceeded to point a finger to the girl before curling it back as a gesture to summon Hikage back.

Giving into the two men's objections, the girl shrugged, said, "Alright," and stepped back to the crowd of girls, who were all confused by the objections their friend had gotten.

Even Asuka, who was more than inclined to let go most of the people she came into conflict with, proclaimed, "I… I really don't want to say it but that girl is dangerous. While I don't think killing her is the… best option we have, should we really be letting her go?"

"We won't be letting her go," proclaimed Oda before sticking up two fingers into the air, "but you're neglecting a couple of things." Once the room was quieted again, with the confusion being replaced by a disconcerted interest, the large man continued, "One: we don't know how many dignitaries are in on that girl's plot. Perhaps she had a team providing overwatch during her attack or maybe she's just been keeping her parents in the know. Either way, it's thoroughly unlikely that she'll be alone at this point, presuming that Sato's aware of the fact she hasn't killed her target."

"She is," replied the young man. "As I said before, we're classmates. All today, she'd been keeping an eye on me, giving me looks like I was some two-headed bird." After a moment, he looked back up to Oda and asked, "If you don't mind me pressing, what's the second thing? My concern extends as far as the fact that other dignitaries may be involved."

"Due process," replied the large shinobi with unblinking eyes.

The young man blinked and gestured for Oda to continue, "No, seriously, what is it?"

"Due process."

"Oh."

Sighing as he read into the feelings that had to have been bouncing around in the young man's head, Oda quickly elaborated, "Look, I know that you've positively identified her and that I fully believe you on that matter. There is no doubt in my mind that Sato Hazuki is a dignitary. However, if I were to go after her with the full extent of the law, I'd need something to justify it to everyone who'd be involved: fellow shinobi's, clerks, other people who hold positions equal to mine, courts…" The man shook his head while clenching his eyes, as though he were in pain, "If I only use your words and my intuition, that won't be enough to solidly convince any judge."

Immediately, Katsuragi slammed her forehead down onto a table and mumbled a few curses while Imu whispered, "And~ this is why it's easier to be an evil shinobi. Straight past this kind of crap and into solving the issue while its young."

As the discontent was echoed throughout the room, save for Ikaruga and Yozakura as they reluctantly nodded their heads, Oda held up a defensive hand to the young man's dissatisfied looks, "This is how I do things. I'll keep an eye on the girl, gather concrete facts that point to her being a dignitary, and will move in if things turn violent."

"You're forgetting something," retorted the young man as his eyebrows hung angrily. "It only takes a few seconds for her to force a correction. If she weaponizes it against the girls-"

"I've already told you that I'll be watching!" growled Oda. He kept his eyes locked on the young man before forcing himself to relax. It took a few reminders that the young man had already faced off against the girl and nearly died from it but, despite how aggressive he was a moment before, Oda steadied his breathing and managed to say, "If nothing else, I'm giving her the same chance I gave you." He waved a hand into the air before thumping it down into the table, "I knew you weren't a civilian since that time we sat in this restaurant roughly a week ago." After a few seconds, Oda shook his head, "Yet, I took the time to gather concrete evidence of your status as an infiltrator. I recorded audio of you talking about it, videoed you repairing your… gadget-glasses thing through the window, and took the time to level my head after I realized you were Tsao's brother." Straightening his back away from the table, Oda quietly said, "I gave you those chances. I didn't attack or bring you harm until yesterday… Even then, letting you get harmed was a mistake." He shook his head and stood up from his mat, "I don't know about you, but everyone else deserves that same chance… Even if their name is Sato Hazuki."

At the end of it all, the young man's eyes fell. While a few of the girls were still grumbling about the matter in the background, he couldn't deny Oda's logic. Even if the circumstances that led to his confrontation the other day weren't the result of him violently attacking anyone, the same doubt that was offered to the young man had to be applied to Sato. That was the way it was for any average person, which was what he aspired to be. After all of his thoughts, the only thing the young man could say was, "Keep an eye on her then…"

"You'll be protected," stated Oda, who walked around the table and lightly patted the boy's shoulder, "and, if all goes according to plan, we'll have her by the time my team gathers to move on Tsao." After a moment, he turned around to look back to the boy

The shinobi's eyes weren't met. "We can only hope…"

Throughout their journey back home, the young man and the girls were mostly silent. On their way to the train station, Murakumo quietly expressed her desire to think up a contingency plan in case Sato decided to go on the offensive again. However, once a few others began to echo the sentiment, the young man frustratedly pushed off the idea and replied, "A different time."

Even when Hibari and Minori started chime, "Come on~," and other like words, the boy remained stalwart in his desire to do nothing else for the evening.

On the train ride, just when quiet and peace seemed to hang in the air, Yozakura suddenly appeared beside the young man and commented, "This isn't really something we can put off for long."

In response, the boy held up a finger to his mouth and grumbled, "I just want some time to think everything over, that's all. Once I'm calmed down, then we can talk about it later. Maybe tonight, more likely tomorrow. Just…" After a moment, his hand slipped back to his side as he leaned back into his seat, "I just need a bit of time to mull everything over."

"Aren't you free now?" Yozakura mumbled as she turned her head away, spitefully retorting, "Didn't Oda give you a pardon for everything? Shouldn't that be a huge weight off your back? All that's left is correcting us and getting Sato off your back."

The young man responded only by turning his head away from her, his grimace embedding itself further and further into his features. At that point, Yozakura felt as though she'd gone too far. Her eyes turned soft and she opened her mouth to apologize before the words got choked in her throat. Despite her wishes, nothing would come out of her mouth. Thus, feeling both ashamed and indignant, the girl just went back to her seat while everyone watched the scene from afar.

Fortunately, the walk back to the young man's apartment was much quieter than the rest of the journey. Perhaps it was uncomfortable, with stares turning back and forth between him and Yozakura, but the former was pleased to just have the time to think over everything that had happened. On the downside, his thinking was extremely looped. All he really did was replay everything that had happened up to that point. From his initial excursion into Hebijo Academy to the moment when Sato delivered what should have been her killing blow. There was so much stress and weight pressing on his shoulders, so many right and wrong decisions the young man made, and so much he wished had gone differently…

After thinking it over, he wanted nothing more than to be left alone so that he could do absolutely nothing and cease all thinking. Even if it wasn't sunset, the only thing he desired was to push away any disturbance for a while longer and sleep.

By the time everyone came back to the apartment's parking lot, which was laden with sleeping bags and makeshift tents made from sheets, the young man was about to make for his bed in the building. Yet, as fate would have it, Jasmine and Hanzō needed it to recover from the injuries they took on for him. So, instead, the young man settled for heading straight to his sleeping area away from the girls'. A few of the shinobi who stayed to care for the injured pair were awaiting at the lot's entrance, offering awkward waves as memory and anticipation ate away at them.

In particular, Shiki broke off her conversation with Yomi, approached the young man, and began to say, "So, the handoff-," only for the boy to continue past her and press on toward his sleeping bag. The blonde stuttered a few times before turning around after him, "Ah… Actually, I had a few questions-"

"Asuka- no, Yumi," called the young man in a tired voice as he came to a stop.

From where she was walking toward the head of the pack, the girl began to quicken her pace to approach the young man, "I'm coming."

Before she could make it, the young man requested, "Could you please fill everyone else in? On everything? I'd like to take some time yet," before continuing on his way.

Not willing to let his moodiness go, Miyabi let out a humph, nodded to Yumi, and gave chase. Within a few seconds, she was already right behind the young man and matching his quickening pace, "What's wrong?"

"A bit of time, Miyabi," he grumbled, "Just a bit of time."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," she said, gripping for his arm while the young man repeatedly swatted her away. After a few more failed attempts to gently stop him, Miyabi harshly grabbed ahold of his elbow and demanded, "After everything today, I began to think you'd be a bit more open with us."

"I just need time to sort myself out," stated the young man, frustratedly turning himself around to meet her with harsh eyes. "Just one night and I can talk to you guys in the morning… For now," he rose his hand up to his forehead and stammered, "even-, right now, even I don't know what's got me so heated and tired… No, I do. It's just…" He began to spin around the fingers of his free hand before stating, "It's like a messy mailroom in my head right now. There are so many thoughts and I know what they're all about… I just-," and waved his hand through the air, "I need time… to sort it all through… Give me time."

Seeing the exasperation in his eyes while taking his tired words in, Miyabi stood silently before giving the boy a resolute nod. After a moment more, she released him and asked, "Can I just… say one thing?"

Dragging a long breath into his nose, the young man moved his mouth to decline before catching the needy look in the woman's eye. Without blinking, she was looking down to him with her lip slowly curling downward. How such a mature woman could come off as so cute, he would never know. Dropping the rejective words that he was going to say, the young man instead replied, "Of course… Whenever you need to…"

Having passed her first obstacle, Miyabi was about to let out a sigh of relief until she realized that she came upon the greater challenge. She reminded herself that she'd been practicing for the moment she'd just walked into, working on controlling her emotions and reactions to sudden things. When everything had begun to unfold on the night before the last, she maintained her composure and braced for the worst from Oda. Yet, when facing down the boy before her, and trying to talk about her feelings, Miyabi was suddenly reduced to goop. All of the times she faced shinobi and Yōma no longer mattered to her, since it only took the narrowed eyes of a single person to crumble her entire persona of complete confidence and strength.

So, rather than say what she just wanted to say, Miyabi began to stammer, "W-, we-," then cleared her throat while closing her eyes, "You see… I know that you… already know…" before her eyes shot open and her body broke out into shivers.

The young man quirked a brow, "Are… are you good?" before he realized what she was trying to do, "Ah, you don't-"

Ignoring his question and what he was about to say, the girl sucked in her lips before stating, "I am not girly!" and pointed her finger at the young man, "B-, bu-, even so…! It should be noted that, as a person I find cute and attractive, you are…!" Trying to save herself, the girl through her fists into the air and began to wave them around, as though she were throwing a fit, and proceeded to exclaim in a cracked voice, "You are cute! I like that!" After a moment, she gripped her hair and pulled it over her eyes while spouting, "This isn't going the way I wanted it to but- I DON'T JUST LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE CUTE!" Still trembling, she pulled her bangs apart and said as her tomato-red face shyly peered through to quietly murmur, "I… also accept those things about-, those things we talked about earlier… I accept them… You may be selfish but-," before pulling her head back to shriek loudly into the air. After a few seconds, she turned to face the young man with a quivering lip before stating, "I-, I-. I like you… that's all…" She shamefully held up one hand to the young man while the other covered her face, "I know that you know… I just… wanted to tell you for myself…"

With her hand still outstretched to him, the young man just stared silently with wide eyes. After a few seconds, he made an affirmative sound with his throat but couldn't bring himself to say much else for the immediate moment. With her tail between her legs, Miyabi hung her head, let her arms fall to her sides, and turned around to walk away until a minute sound caught her ears. After a few seconds, she heard it come again more clearly, "I acknowledge your feelings…"

She turned around to the young man, who was already walking back to his sleeping area while spouting, "We can talk about it tomorrow with the others… after school…" When Miyabi looked closely, she could see the tomato-red shade of his ears. For some reason, the sight of it brought a soft smile to her face. Even if it took the complete destruction of her self-esteem and caused a scene in front of everyone, Miyabi considered it a victory when she saw the effect she had on the young man.

Catching sight of her smile as it slowly grew more confident, Yumi grumbled in a low voice from behind her, "Certainly, with how you speak, you were born to be a great leader…"

Upon hearing her rival's sharp words, Miyabi's face was sharply drained of emotion before she turned back around and proceeded to reach for her katana.

Just as a loud scuffle began to take place between the two, with many people trying to pull the them apart, the young man approached his sleeping bag and zipped it open. He slipped off his shoes, unbuttoned his school overshirt to toss it aside, and quickly buried himself into the bag. With a long and satisfying zip until it was completely closed, the young man had officially secluded himself and could take the time to not think about anything. He already knew what he was going to do the next day. Like always, he would fight and press on. But, in a rare moment when he had time to spare, the young man just wanted to unwind and do nothing at all. Aside from all the background noise, with the sound of Yumi and Miyabi's clash intensifying, there hadn't been a more relaxing moment for the young man since his time in the Hanzō Academy infirmary.

At one point, he began to nod off. The day and its predecessors had finally caught up to the young man and drained all of the energy he had to spare. His eyes got heavy, despite the fact that he could still see sunlight through his sleeping bag, and he was about to take a long-awaited nap. Then, just as his luck would have it, he heard a loud but exhausted call, "Oi! Aren't you going to come up and check on us!?" After blinking a few times and thinking, the young man recognized the voice as Jasmine's. His immediate instinct was to bury his face into a pillow in hopes that she thought he'd fallen asleep. There was no such luck. "I know you can hear me! There's good news!"

The young man had no more patience as he loudly yelled, "I can't hear you as I am too busy being dead! I died! I blew up! A plane crashed into me after I was run over by train! I've been killed until I was dead…! Try again tomorrow!"

There was a moment of silence before Jasmine called back down, "Get up here!"

"Tomorrow!" cried the young man before he rolled the entire sleeping bag over and smothered the pillow into his face.

After that, there was a bit of silence and the young man thought his ordeal was over. Then Jasmine's voice rang back down to him, "Would you quit being a stubborn ass and, please, just get up here!"

Unzipping his bag while he did his utmost to hold back the words he desperately wanted to say, the young man stuck his head out and bellowed out in an animalistically vicious voice, "TOMORROW!" before retreating back into his bag.

No one else bothered him for the rest of the night. Even the neighborhood, which definitely heard his scream, was quieter than it usually was. The only thing he heard was a few comments from the girls, referring to him as a very, "charming," individual to the four girls who'd confessed to him. Their gossiping made the young man wonder if he was too much of an asshole for wanting to be alone amidst all the turmoil that was his life. Then, after a few seconds of considering, he decided that he really didn't care. He was a selfish individual who was only out to save himself. Nothing more and nothing less… though, he did feel regretful at times.

But what could be done? He could only move forward and that was what he fully intended to do.

**April 22 – "Surprises are generated by two things: an action and the person performing it. For one to be perfect, both of those things cannot be expected."**

The young man woke up to someone poking at his cheek. He groaned and mumbled a few things incoherently before a gentle hand unintentionally grazed itself into his eye. After letting out a quiet yelp, the young man shuffled around his bag before he unzipped and opened it up with clear irritation. He quietly barked, "What!" to the unknown intruder. There was a quiet squeal of fear, with the figure positioned next to the young man falling backward in alarm. After a moment and adjusting his eyes to the lack of light, as it was still a bit before dawn, the boy quickly recognized the figure, "Murasaki?" Once her scared purple eyes came into view, the young man let out a yawn as he asked, "Sorry, about that. What is it? You're alright?"

Clutching Bebeby close to her chest, who quickly ordered, "Shut up. She has to do something first."

Looking to the stuffed animal tiredly, the young man retorted, "Shut your face, bear."

Amidst the two's banter, Murasaki closed her eyes and craned her head toward the boy. Confused and put off by the inexplicable behavior on her part, he just pulled his head backward while his face fell into nervousness. Then, without further warning, the girl sniffed a few times. While the young man tilted his head to the side with narrowed eyes, Murasaki simply smiled and commented, "It's the same smell as always."

"I'm not sure if I find that creepy or… relieving?" mumbled the young man before he blinked. Then, after taking a moment to consider the girl's words, he crunched his neck over to sniff at his armpits, "You're not saying I smell… Are you?" A bit embarrassed and flustered, the young man started to stand up, "The bathroom should be open. I'll go shower."

"No, you're fine, you're fine!" stammered Murasaki as she frantically raised her arms to block the boy's movement while her face shook with panic. Once he was seated back onto his sleeping bag, she shyly scratched at her cheek before a small smile replaced her jittery frown. Before the young man could do anything else, she quickly stammered, "You smell like Imu… a bit like Ikaruga… but mostly Imu."

Staring up at her and blinking again, the young man first pinched himself to see if he was in a weird dream that he had no business taking part in. Then, after confirming his presence in reality, he quickly iterated, "I haven't slept with your sister… nor Ikaruga."

Again, Murasaki began to shake her hands, "No, no, no, no, no! Not like that, not like that!" It took a few seconds for her to calm down, mostly consisting of the young man giving an unsure thumbs up while she shook her head and caught her breath. Then, once she was no longer shaking, Murasaki held Bebeby closer as she stated, "When I smell people, I can tell who or what they're like." She extended a finger toward him, "In your case, you're like Imu. Serious-,"

"Oh, I think I see what you mean."

"-a bit imposing-,"

"Sorry for that."

"-fairly selfish-,"

"I can confirm this."

"-filled with a fair amount of lust and perversion-,"

"That sounds neat-, What?"

"-kind of a poser-,"

"Hold on, go back to that last one."

"-lonely, though you switch between regarding it positively and negatively-,"

"Hush. Roll it back a bit."

"Let her finish, pervert."

"You aren't involved in this, bear!"

"-determined to see yourself through whatever situation you're in, but you really don't like to be troubled by unplanned circumstances."

"Cool. Can we go back to the part that I can't ignore? I feel an urgent need to protect my reputation… even if there's none left to protect."

As the young man's face turned more and more frustrated by the second, Murasaki's small smile steadily spread out across her cheeks. Then, after his last comment, the girl quickly shook her head and said, "Don't be too fretful about what everyone else thinks of you."

Letting his eyelids droop, the young man retorted, "I'm afraid it's currently my business to be concerned about everyone's feelings about me." He raised up a hand and stated humorously, "Corrections require trust. No trust, no freedom for me. Leaves me a bit fretful."

Bebeby snidely bounced, "You mean to say you want to have an orgy with your harem, pervert?"

The young man jabbed his finger down to the bear, "You're asking for it, you little shit."

Murasaki patted her stuffed animal's head, "Hush, Bebeby," before looking back to the boy in front of her. Her smile dipped a bit as she said, "I think you misunderstood. You shouldn't be fretful because everyone… already likes you in some way or another." Before the young man could say anything, Murasaki puffed her cheeks and murmured, "Aside from Miyabi and the other three who confessed to you… Ryōbi and Ryōna are fairly fond of you…" She began to grimace, "Hikage is attracted to you…" The arms she had wrapped around Bebeby's neck began to squeeze, producing an airless sound from the bear, "Minori thinks your cool, Yozakura wants to… 'help' you," before her pale cheeks began to redden in frustration, "Katsuragi has a desire to jump you, though her own confusion hinders her on this," and finally narrowed her eyes so that she could look straight into the young man's soul, "and Haruka's lust would know no bounds with you…"

Staring back at her with his lips tightly pressed together as his body quaked in terror, the young man could only stammer, "I see…"

Murasaki's grip around Bebeby's neck loosened, to which the bear let out a few desperate gasps for air, as she slowly turned her eyes away and stated, "Though, I've gotten way off subject from what I wanted to talk to you about."

Still unsure about what to say, the young man nodded his head while his voice cracked, "Go ahead…"

"I'd like to meet you after school tomorrow," stated Murasaki as she turned back to him. Before he could ask why, she iterated, "I know you'll be talking with Miyabi and the others about their feelings…" before her voice quickly died. After a moment, she set down Bebeby and pushed the tips of her fingers together, "I'd like to be a part of that discussion. If you'd like, I could tell you…" and seemed as though she were about to say something before she squeaked, "Later! I can tell you later."

Not at all thinking clearly, the young man slowly nodded his head with wide eyes, "Sure… tell them to bring you along…"

Immediately wrenching her body up before picking up Bebeby, Murasaki turned on her heel and sputtered, "To-, t-, tomorrow-, today… then! Later then!" and immediately made for her sleeping bag in the girls' camp area.

Narrowing his eyes after her, the young man reflected on everything that was just said before hanging his head in hopes that he was wrong about the potential implications. In resignation of the fact that he had another long day ahead of him, he stood up and murmured, "Taking a shower…" and set out for the start of his next trial.

At best, he misunderstood everything that had just transpired. At worst, it was just another problem that he'd already acquainted himself with.


	33. Chapter 33: Sucker Punch

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 33: Sucker Punch

Waking up just past noon, Murasaki drowsily lifted her head from her sleeping bag and mumbled in her half-asleep state, "I miss my bed…" Stretching herself out like a cat, she was about to lay back down before the memory of her conversation with the young man flared in her head. Then, after Murasaki recalled the fact that she was supposed to meet him after school with her four rivals, she stood up on quaky knees and scratched at her scalp as her eyes began to widen with anxiety. Just as the girl's lips were beginning to quiver, Imu called from the stairs leading up to the young man's apartment, "Murasaki! Come get lunch."

Just like that, she had an opening to put the issue off. Even if Murasaki only had a few hours before her meeting, she needed time to properly prepare herself… though, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she checked her phone and found that it was a little bit past two. Without any hesitation, she made straight for the stairs to eat a quick meal before her departure to go meet the young man. She panickily scampered up the steps and rushed to the door of his apartment, only to find Haruka sitting just beside the entrance with her head hanging in a depressed manner. Murasaki was about to question it until Imu grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her into the apartment.

"Yozakura and Yomi did what they could with the fridge's contents," stated Imu with her eyes emotionlessly looking toward a platter covered by paper towels as it rested on the counter, "It may not suit your tastes but just eat it… it's still warm."

Murasaki's face was immediately filled with suspicion. But, when her sister gave her the nod, she began to slowly trek forward. As though she were an urban explorer about to uncover a dusty chest full of treasures from the last age, Murasaki approached the counter and reached out an unsteady hand to remove the paper towels. She grasped the soft material and rubbed it between the ends of her two fingers before swiftly removing it. Awaiting her underneath was a stack of egg sandwiches smothered in chili sauce. Murasaki immediately covered them up again and made to retreat before Imu knabbed her arm again, "Where do you think you're going?"

Murasaki said in a low and level tone that conflicted with her usually soft and timid voice, "Out for pizza… I'll be fine without… those…"

"Don't be silly," threatened Imu in an equally low voice, "Sit down and eat."

"Sister… you are precious to me," groaned Murasaki before she turned her head around with a disgusted face, "but you're going to make me do something that we're both going to regret…"

Without blinking, Imu released her sister. Before any more words could possibly be exchanged, she proceeded to crack her knuckles. Imu took a single thundery stomp toward Murasaki before growling, "Then I'll make you sit down."

Outside by the tents, Hikage was taking a bit of time to relax and ponder how the day would go. She thought about whether things would be peaceful or explosive and, when she tried to dwell on the details, found herself getting exhausted by the whole process. With little consideration, the green-haired girl decided to take a nap to relax her head. At the same time, Mirai approached her lying form and gave a soft kick to her side, "How long are you going to be sleeping for?"

"Too much time thinking," murmured Hikage in her monotone voice.

"What about?" asked Mirai, who bent her knees and lowered herself down to listen. For her, it was a rare occasion to find Hikage dwelling on an 'exhausting' situation all by herself.

Yet, just as the answer was coming off the green-haired girl's tongue, the earth suddenly began to buckle and shake with the sounds of Murasaki and Imu's yells echoing from the apartment. Completely caught off guard by the abrupt explosion of violent energy, Mirai was thrown forward with her face landing straight into Hikage's gut. Then, just as quickly as they came, the sounds from the apartment deescalated into Murasaki crying for mercy. Utterly confused and baffled, Mirai picked herself up and began to murmur, "Wh-, What the hell was that…?" before she realized where she landed. She quickly turned to face Hikage, "Are you alright?"

On the other hand, after having the wind blown out of her, the woman's eyes were staring forward without a hint of focus. She breathlessly muttered, "…explosive…" and then closed her eyes before falling onto her side.

Mirai began to panic, "Eh!? Are you alright? Are you alright!?" before her face fell into irritation as Hikage began to gently snore. Having had her daily quota for excitement fulfilled, Mirai stood up, threw her hands into the air, and muttered, "I need to go finish my chapter…" before stomping off in search of a computer store nearby.

Back in the apartment, Murasaki was being sat against the counter while Imu was trying to force-feed her an egg sandwich. The spectacled girl said through grinding teeth, "There's no other food in the fridge! This is all we have for now! Eat!"

The younger sister began to whimper as she tried to push away Imu's arm. But, once her strength began to give out, she quickly shouted, "Chili sauce doesn't belong on there! I would sooner eat a raw egg or drink a bottle of the hottest sauce in the world! But they can't be mixed! No! No, no! Let me be!"

Before the fight could go on any longer, Asuka suddenly appeared beside the two with a bashfully forced smile. The two sisters stopped their quarreling in a mix of confusion before a thought occurred to them. They both looked down and found that a familiar frying pan was resting in the brunette's hand. Without need for further warning, Imu flinched and pulled away before resting the egg sandwich back onto its platter. A few seconds afterward, Murasaki reluctantly stood up, retrieved said sandwich, and moved over to the sink to scrape off some of the sauce with her finger. Asuka smiled innocently and asked, "You two are having a good afternoon?"

Simultaneously, both sisters said, "It's alright."

At that moment, Miyabi and Yumi sluggishly walked in while pressing ice packs onto their heads. The brunette cheerfully turned around to greet them, "Ah! You two are having a good afternoon as well?"

The pair of third-years were about to offer fatigued answers before their eyes landed on the frying pan in Asuka's hand. In seconds, Yumi quietly stammered with a grim look on her face, "It's fine…" while Miyabi remained completely silent and shuffled toward the refrigerator to switch out her ice pack.

"What the hell happened between the lot of you?" came Jasmine's voice from the bed on the far side of the room.

All of the girls present turned their heads to the woman, who was calmly relaxing with her hands behind her head. Beside her, Hanzō was stretching out lazily with his face down into the pillow with the occasional attempt to scratch at his back before he sighed with failure. Taking notice to her husband's plight, Jasmine reached over and began to scratch his shoulder blades as Miyabi grumbled, "Yumi and I had a duel yesterday… that's all…"

"An' 'ow'd 'at 'o?" came Hanzō's purring voice while he took in the pleasure running across his spine.

Miyabi and Yumi both glanced at the frying pan in Asuka's hand before glancing away to murmur at the same time, "It was a draw." After a few seconds of silence, the former turned her head back up to the freezer drawer and switched out her ice pack.

Jasmine snorted, smirked, and leaned her head onto her free hand. While the girls were thrown off by her haughty mannerisms, the woman closed her eyes and thought for a moment before asking, "I'm going to assume it had something to do with that confession?"

Miyabi blinked before her face began to burn up. Just as everyone turned to her, steam suddenly began to whistle out of her ears as the ice pack on her head began to sizzle. After a few seconds, the building pressure within the plastic material became too much and the pack loudly popped. With nothing cooling her down, Miyabi turned around to face Jasmine and stuttered, "You'll not-, you will not-, I'll not be judged! If I want to take someone as a lawyer-, a glover-, a shover-, a lover-, SHUT UP! If I want to take someone-, him-, as a lover, I am within my rights! AM I NOT!?"

Jasmine continued to smile conceitedly before clapping her hands together, "So, after all that tongue-tying, I think it's safe to assume you were the source of all that yelling?" While Hanzō groaned due to the fact that his back wasn't being scratched anymore, Miyabi puffed up her cheeks and turned away. Imu was about to comfort the woman, despite the jealousy silently welling up within her, before Jasmine commented to Yumi, "And I suppose you must have taken issue with that?"

The third-year also turned her head away before murmuring, "Why wouldn't I?"

Asuka found herself straightening up when her grandmother's eyes turned over to her, "And where do you and Homura fit into this? I saw her rush in and grab a pan as a scuffle started to sound up… Actually, by the look of it, I can put two and two together…"

Looking down to the frying pan that was still in her hands, Asuka recalled how it was Homura who equipped her with the makeshift weapon in the first place. After a bit of silence, the brunette awkwardly tossed the frying pan toward the sink, crashing straight into the sandwich that Murasaki was scrapping off, and quietly mumbled, "I-, I dunno what you're talking about…" and turned her eyes to the apartment's one window as the purple-haired girl let out an alarmed whimper.

Unable to restrain herself, Jasmine let out a loud, "HA!" and began to click her tongue with all of the sarcasm in the world. Though she moved to reach for the pipe she had stashed underneath the bed, the woman reconsidered since she was still in the young man's apartment. Taking a moment to think, Jasmine eventually spouted, "So~, you all think you're going to win his heart like that? Guns blazing, lots of flexing, and then carrying him off like he's some kind of princess? One warrior princess amongst some odd rival dragons? Is that how it's supposed to be?"

"I believe it makes sense," stated Homura as she confidently swaggered into the doorway with Haruka in tow. After gesturing the latter toward the sandwiches, the girl quickly added, "If warlords were going at each other because they're after the same land, they either fought over it or one paid the other off." She raised a hand toward Yumi and Miyabi, "Now, pardon me if I'm coming off a bit aggressively here," before dropping it and smirking, "but I don't see any of us backing down or paying one another off."

"Yeah, your logic makes some sense," said Jasmine with a shrug before she pointed a stern finger toward Homura, "but it's missing a key element."

Not waiting for anyone to question her, Jasmine rolled the blanket off of her and stood up from the bed. Immediately, Hanzō began to protest, "Hey, hey! Takemi told you to relax before you get up and about!"

"She, herself, said there wasn't any nerve damage, gramps," laughed Jasmine as she began to stretch. However, once her back cracked, she immediately flopped face first into the wooden floor. Immediately afterward, the room exploded into an uproar of people calling her name and rushing to pick her up.

After having her head bandaged and being laid back down onto the bed, the woman continued to explain in a frustrated murmur, "As I was saying…" and turned back to Homura, "You're missing a vital piece of information with that analogy of yours, that being the people on the land that the warlords are fighting over."

Th girl tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"Well," snickered Jasmine, "in case you haven't noticed, the target you're going for is a practiced pacifist who isn't much a fan for fighting."

From the back, Miyabi gave a bit of shrug, "Though he may not like fighting, I don't believe he'd condemn us for it."

Yumi, after taking a moment to think, crossed her arms and gave her central rival a slight nod of agreement, "To be fair, he and I did fight in the past. Plus, he punched Jirō yesterd-, Miyabi's father yesterday… Apologies."

"Jirō," affirmed the white-haired girl.

Remembering the bruise that the young man left on principal's face, Jasmine took a long breath and murmured, "Indeed, he did strike Jirō. Not only that, he did so with a practiced form and with serious intent to do harm… But why do you think he did so?" The girls remained silent as Jasmine waited a few seconds and barked, "Well? Does someone want to fit the pieces together for me? He wakes up from what seemed to be an intense dream, immediately starts getting up, starts to scream like an angry Scot, and, only after all that, his eyes lock onto Jirō."

After a bit more silence, Asuka willed herself to suggest, "He wasn't fully conscious of it then…? Or was it by instinct?" and moved her hand up to cup her cheeks, gently rubbing a thumb over the spot that the young man had mistakenly struck the other day.

Jasmine turned to Yumi, "When you fought with him, did he ever deliberately inflict any damage onto you? Punches, kicks, anything?" and then looked to Miyabi, "Or what about when he was provoking the lot of you at Hebijo Academy? Nothing on that end, right?"

Neither of the girls needed to give an answer to know what Jasmine was going for. While Miyabi gave a firm shake of her head, Yumi reached up to her forehead and mumbled, "We did scuffle a bit and I hit my head on the ground, though I don't think he meant to… He actually apologized for it during my correction."

"I think the lot of you understand my point," remarked Jasmine before she crossed her arms, "He doesn't like to inflict physical damage. Maybe he'll fall to the heat of the moment but I think we can all agree that he won't go into a conflict with the intent to hurt someone… minus whoever or whatever he was lashing out at in his dream." After a moment, she pointed to the four girls, "So, what will fighting-, physically fighting prove to him?"

Homura slowly raised her hand before awkwardly stating, "That we… are willing to… physically fight for him…?"

"Congratulations for suggesting the obvious," retorted Jasmine as she lowered her head into her hands. After taking a long breath, she quickly stated, "Look, you're doing this wrong." She pointed a finger at each of the girls, "If you're gonna fight for him, doing so physically will only smother your chances for a long-term relationship…" Her eyes looked up, "That's what you're after, right? Or, perhaps, you're all just after a quick fling? Trying out the goods?"

In response, the girls began to violently shake their heads back and forth. Even in the background, Murasaki gave a subtle shake of her head. Unfortunately for her, Imu caught wind of it and quietly asked, "What're you shaking for?"

The purple-haired girl straightened her back in alarm before pressing a finger to her lips and mouthing, "I'm listening…"

While Imu dwelled and reeled her head back in alarm from the implications her sister left while also remembering something she'd heard from the night before, Jasmine continued, "If you want his heart-," but quickly straightened herself, "For the long-term! I'm going to emphasize this!" before resting back down, "If you want his heart, there's only a few ways to properly claim it while simultaneously nuking your rivals!" She stuck up one finger into the air, "Mind, that being your mental connection with one another, how well you click, and get along in general," before extending another, "Stomach… I'm not sure how much detail you need, seeing as food is something that everyone loves in some way or another," followed by a third, "And, what worked for me, body."

"Tried that already…" grumbled Miyabi as she unknowingly began to cross her arms over her breasts, "It didn't work…"

Yumi and Homura eyed the girl suspiciously while Asuka, who heard the events from Yagyū, felt her face flush with heat and began to admire the small indentations on the wooden floor. Amidst all of that, Jasmine just shook her head, "Probably because you were doing it wrong."

Hanzō started to quip, "Now, I'm obviously one for this kind of subject… and I'm also, quite obviously, one who's all about looking…" before he raised a finger, "But… are you sure we should encourage this? Shouldn't we, at least, talk with the boy first? Make sure that he would respect this kind of thing? Maybe everyone still needs to get… THAT talk?"

Without hesitating, Jasmine gave a snarky pat to Hanzō's head, "In case you and your old bones haven't noticed, we're in the age of the internet. The only thing a kid needs is to accidentally mistype something in a search bar and then, BOOM, they're already looking at two people doing one another." She gestured to the girls, whose faces were reddening more and more as the situation carried on, "If they don't know how sex works, they're either more sheltered than either of us have realized or they've got something wrong in the heads. Either way, they shouldn't be afraid of it. As for the boy potentially not respecting sex…" Jasmine gave a sarcastic wave of her fingers before asking quietly, "Have you met the boy or have you been sleepwalking this whole time?"

"Okay, okay," stuttered Homura, whose face was slightly shaking as the awkward subject carried on, "Just get to the point! What were you saying before and what does it have to do with…?" She paused for a moment before throwing the word out, "Sex! What does any of this have to do with sex!?"

"Glad you asked," said Jasmine with a smirk before she declared, "As I was saying, the final way to take on your rivals is with your bodies." Before the protests could break out, she defensively held up her hands, "Now, I'm not saying strip yourselves, bend over, and ask him to ram you! Not only will that probably not work, especially with who we're talking about, it would mostly just imply that you're down for a swinger-kind of relationship."

"Swinger?" asked an innocent red-faced Asuka before anyone could stop her.

"Having sex for the sake of having sex," answered Jasmine.

Not even a second after the sentence was finished, a bulb in Murasaki's head popped and the girl collapsed to the floor. Upon hearing the resulting thump, everyone turned over to her and Imu, who was staring with an increasingly frustrated face. Miyabi quickly asked, "Is… Murasaki alright?"

"She looks a bit pale," noted Homura. Once a few pairs of sarcastic eyes fell on her, she added, "Well… paler than usual…"

Imu, without thinking, quickly grumbled, "Her fantasies with your boy-toy were a bit much," before she realized what she'd said and clenched her eyes closed.

While the four girls who'd confessed to the young man processed the new information, Jasmine tried to break up the forming crisis, "So, anyways, as I was saying, using your body comes after mind! All you need to do is look sexy, be confident, and… ah… crap…" But, despite her attempts, the girls were already hovering above Murasaki's unconscious form with narrowed eyes. Beside Jasmine, Hanzō dragged a long breath into his nostrils and watched with one eye partially closed.

"So~," Asuka started before scratching at her cheek, "Murasaki also has feelings for him then? Is that right?"

"I suppose…" mumbled Imu as the guilt of her running her mouth began to get the best of her.

"You sounded pretty sure a moment ago," replied Yumi, who was pressing her face uncomfortably close.

"Look," started Imu before she lowered her glasses and covered her eyes with one hand, "look, look… she didn't confess, I know that much." She began to nervously wave her hand around, "She… met him last night, said some things, left some implications, pretty much said that Haruka and some others wanted to bang him, and then went back to bed after saying she'd meet him after school today."

While Haruka, who'd been silently watching the show while eating a sandwich, perked her head up once she heard her name, Miyabi did a doubletake, "She was going to meet him after school? What about us!? We were supposed to meet him to talk about our-, what was that about Haruka and others?"

"I suppose she wanted to join you," retorted Imu, who deliberately ignored Miyabi's last question for the sake of peace and kept her eyes averted.

While argumentative words kept getting exchanged back and forth, Haruka finished her sandwich and pursed her lips in thought as she recalled her encounter with the young man from that morning. After a few seconds and a click of her fingers, she extended her palms to the aggressing girls just as Yumi began to yap about something, "It might be best if everyone calms down. If he finds us in such a hostile state, won't each of our prospects for a relationship be damaged?"

From where she stood, Miyabi snapped to Haruka, "Our!? So, you are in on this too!? The yard's full! Back off!" and received a mischievous smirk in response

Having pushed her face a bit too close to Imu's, Yumi pulled back and held her tongue as Homura began to rub her chin in thought. After a moment, the latter spoke to her friend with a hint of suspicion, "Well, your concern's certainly not wrong… but why do I get the feeling there's more to this than you're letting on."

"Simple: because there is," replied Haruka with a smile. Once Miyabi and Yumi both began to wave their hands for her to go on, she proceeded to explain, "I believe that our little cutie pie-"

Asuka lowered her head and mumbled, "Not the term I'd use," while shuffling her shoulders back and forth, thinking of the young man's more handsome features.

"I disagree," stated Miyabi without a hint of shame.

"-may be in a bit of a volatile state with everything going on."

Yumi slightly raised her hand to question, "You mean with Oda and Sato…? Or perhaps our corrections?"

Haruka waggled a finger back and forth as her smile continued to glint with mischief, "Those are, no doubt, factors in it… But I'd dare say that we've each been applying our own bit of pressure to him." Again, everyone looked at her with a confused expression before she decided to continue, "For example… he took a shower this morning, seemed to still be under a bit of stress, and I offered to help him… relax."

Yumi uttered to Imu in a dangerous tone, "I don't think Murasaki was lying about Haruka…" which prompted the spectacled girl to take a step toward Miyabi.

Asuka, frustrated by the prospect of someone attempting to seduce the young man in the bathroom, asked with lowered brows, "And how did he respond to your proposition?"

The despondent expression that Haruka had earlier returned as she hung her head and answered, "He called me a she-devil and left for school a couple hours early… I think I scared him…"

"You think?" retorted Jasmine from the bed while Hanzō, having been a witness to said incident, had to hold back his wheezing laughter.

Reaching into her pocket, Haruka produced a familiar device as she mumbled in a quiet voice, "He was in such a rush that he dropped his phone whilst scrambling for his backpack…"

"Well, I can see how that might apply some pressure… Still…" murmured Homura as her eyes fell to the floor in thought. After a few seconds she turned back to Haruka, "That's just you. And, minus the talk that you gave him in the cave, you haven't really offered any hints or buildup to your interest…" and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "If you're genuinely interested…?"

Haruka brought her head back up and offered a slight nod, "Interested? Certainly, since his cuteness is a different flavor than Hibari's. Serious…?" She scratched a finger at her lower lip before shrugging, "Probably not. He's more or less someone I find rather endearing, but there's many other flavors of cuteness out there."

After sniffing a few times, Murasaki's unconscious form curled up in fear.

"Well…" Homura mumbled before crossing her arms, "again, that's just you. Beyond our confessions," and then gestured to herself and the other girls, "I don't really see how we've really been applying much pressure… Well, aside from my confrontation with him yesterday…"

"It may or may not be relevant," started Yumi as she proceeded to cover her mouth in embarrassment, "but, when he was brought to Gessen Academy the other day, I did have everything arranged in a way that was meant to…" and clenched her eyes closed, "charm him… That probably applied a bit of pressure…"

While everyone else blinked a few times in wonder of what she meant, Miyabi cleared her throat and said with a heap of embarrassment, "If I'm being honest, Ryōna did expose my… chest to him…"

"What!?" Homura visibly flinched in response before she narrowed her eyes and asked, "Wait… do you mean he saw you in a bra or-"

"Fully exposed…" muttered Miyabi before she turned her eyes toward the far side of the room, "…not proud of it…" before letting a confident smirk curl up on her lips, "I did get his tank top out of it, though…" Her comment drew a tired stare from Imu.

Needing to take a moment to process just how far the others had taken their attempts to woo the young man, Homura took a step back and began to pinch the bridge of her nose. Yet, just as she was beginning to calm down, Asuka suddenly stammered in a loud and squeaky voice, "If we're all coming clean here, I need to admit that I kissed him!"

Suddenly, the room was overshadowed by multiple malevolent auras. Homura, who'd been hoping to trade her first kisses with both the young man and Asuka at the same time, stared off into space and felt her mind reduce itself into a bluescreen. At the same time, Yumi and Miyabi stared at the poor girl with glowing eyes brimming with evil intent. Even Murasaki, who'd been lying on the ground completely unconscious until that point in time, began rise up like an undead fiend crawling from its grave. In response to the feelings of certain death and fear that flooded through her in that moment, Asuka's jaw could only quiver as she tripped backward onto the floor.

Toward the back of the group, Imu was also a bit thrown off by the horrific scene before her. Then, a sudden wave of celebration flowed through her as she believed that Asuka had actually won the race for the young man's heart and Miyabi would remain available. Straightening her glasses back over her eyes, Imu couldn't help but ask in a flaunting manner, "The taste of his lips were fine?"

At that moment, Asuka realized that she needed to clarify, "It was the back of his head! I've only tasted his hair! The moment wasn't at all soft or sweet!"

Upon hearing those words, the room immediately calmed down and the malevolent aura was cleared away. Miyabi and Yumi blinked a few times before they began to visibly shake from how violent they turned in a mere split second while Murasaki went back to lying on the floor. After rebooting her head and realizing that she still had a chance to share a first kiss with the two people that she loved, Homura let out a sigh of relief. To the side of the room, Jasmine and Hanzō watched with wide and perplexed eyes that wondered how the mood had gone so haywire in the first place while Imu silently desired to smack herself in the face for uprooting her own victory.

Between the rapid mood shift and her last statement, Asuka had visibly relaxed herself and let out a breath of air. Then, once she fully recalled her embrace with the young man, she started to ponder aloud, "Actually, now that I think about it, I can't really say that it wasn't soft or sweet." As the memory replayed in her mind, she brought up both of her hands to cup her burning cheeks, "The way I held him and was playing with his hair, I'd believe it to be a sweet moment… Plus, his hair was actually rather soft to the touch… to both my fingers and lips…"

The moment of recovery that everyone was trying to bask themselves into was quickly lost. Seconds after her vocalized thoughts had finished, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi were chasing Asuka around the room while Homura shook her head at her friend's empty-headedness. Imu, seeking a moment of peace, took shelter by the bed Hanzō and Jasmine were lying on. As yells and pleads were exchanged before her, the spectacled girl quietly asked, "You wouldn't happen to have anything to break up this madness, would you?"

"We could hit them on the heads," Jasmine snidely remarked before taking an exhausted breath. She thumped a finger against the side of her cheek while she tried to ponder a serious idea to try and silence the commotion. Then, remembering the news she tried to share with the young man the night before, she loudly proclaimed, "Oi! I've got a request for when you're done killing one another."

The three girls who'd backed Asuka into a corner, like a pack of wolves to a deer on a cliff, turned their heads over in curiosity. Seeing an opening, the brunette quickly crawled toward Homura while whimpering for mercy. After passing one more deathly glare at the girl who'd enjoyed coping a feel of the young man, Yumi quickly asked, "What sort of request did you have in mind?"

Ignoring the glance that the girl took, Jasmine answered, "I've got some good news for you to pass onto our boy-o. While you guys were just finishing up your meetup yesterday, Kiriya was tailing some dignitary higherups in the factory district. He went, spied on them, got some redundant information about the bastards' next game of softball, and got out…" She held up a finger, "But he managed to fully identify one of them and discovered something… useful… Something alarming, to be sure, but also useful." After giving a devilish smirk, Jasmine further elaborated, "Now, said bigwig is pretty much a second-in-command for, we suppose, the local region… though, we don't really have much knowledge on how dignitaries draw their borders. Either way, we know who he is… and that he has a son who goes to Wakariyasui too."

Having forgotten their previous fracas with one another, all of the girls turned toward Jasmine with clenched jaws and wide eyes. After a bit of silence, Miyabi stammered in a low voice, "Th-, that's good news?" and growled out, "What's good about that!?" before sputtering the young man's name, "He's outnumbered two to one over there, provided there aren't anymore dignitaries in hiding."

Even Asuka, who was chattering her teeth on the floor next to Homura a couple seconds before, immediately stood up and shouted the young man's name before declaring, "We need to tell him now! Sato may get the other dignitary involved and may make a move soon- today, even!" She reached for her phone to text the boy before Haruka patted her shoulder. After a moment, the taller woman awkwardly unveiled the young man's phone again. In response, Asuka began to chitter and panic before proclaiming, "Time to move!"

"Would the lot of you zip it!" ordered Jasmine as she pointed a commanding finger to the two. Once the racket quieted, she spoke frankly, "Yes, Sato could be keeping this other dignitary in the know. But, with the information we have, getting the jump on them both will be easy." She thumped her hand against the bed, "Now, keeping in mind that neither know what we know, I'd bet that they'll cautious hold their next for a few more days. Hell, by the time they get active, we'll have enough time to make our move and come out flawlessly."

Though everyone was a bit shaky, panicked by the thought that another dignitary had been hiding under their noses, they quickly calmed down and steeled themselves for whatever Jasmine had planned. Pressing her lips together and looking on with a hardened stare, Homura looked to the woman on the bed and asked, "Who's the dignitary then? Starting tomorrow, we can keep an eye on him and look for a chance to apprehend him."

"From what Kiriya's overheard from the boy's father," started Jasmine with a seemingly knowing smirk, "we've gotten only a few details and his family name. We're looking for an awkward boy, not very sociable with others… Though, don't let that lower your guard. Based on test scores Kiriya pulled up on a background check, the kid's smarter than he comes off as. Top five of his class…"

After the final bell for the school day, Miki leaned off the side of his desk and murmured, "Thanks again for yesterday, Sugiyama."

The large boy barely turned to him and grunted with narrowed eyes, "It was just for the yen," before stuffing a graded test into his backpack and making straight for the classroom's exit. Miki was about to say something to stop him, hoping to treat his partner in crime to a meal since the young man had other errands to run for the day, but Takatsukasa had already left. In turn, the brunette faced forward to his friend and muttered, "Do you think he just doesn't like me or do you get the same treatment?"

"I just don't think him to be much of a talker," responded the young man with narrowed eyes before he turned to the door, "Still, he helped out yesterday… so I can't object if he wants to be left alone."

"I know…" grumbled a disappointed Miki before he turned back to the door, "Still…"

"C'mon," ordered the young man as he stood up from his desk, "the day's done and I need to go clean up an issue…"

The boy nodded his head and asked, "With those girls again?"

"With those girls again."

The two walked out of the classroom and left for their shoe lockers toward the school's entrance, doing their best to not make eye contact with the shattered trophy case. In particular, the young man and Miki had to push the issue out of their minds because they would have started to snicker at the thought that Sugiyama had done such damage for a mere thousand yen. Even the sight of the stoic vandal as he traded in his school loafers and pulled on his outdoor shoes made both boys want to grin. As for the bulky student in question, he was so focused on his phone that he didn't notice the puckered smiles on the boys' faces. He was busy texting something to someone while seeming to force a smile off his own face before sighing, putting his phone away, and making for the door.

"He's done that a few times, now that a think about it," mumbled Miki, who managed to wipe the giddy look off his face.

The young man, readopting his plain-faced expression, turned to his friend, "You're referring to those small smiles he gives his phone every now and then?"

"Yeah." Tapping a finger against his forehead to think, Miki swayed his body back and forth before spouting, "I know it's none of my business…" before growling, "but I want to know! Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe a pen or text pal- no, a number neighbor? Perhaps he donates blood, gets notifications whenever it gets used, and he's just so happy to be helping out the poor crippled children who probably need glasses?"

The young man blinked, "Are those serious suggestions?"

Miki pulled his head back and grumbled, "No~… but I don't have any other ideas and trying to think up more just hurts my brain."

"Well, think about what you want to do tomorrow then," replied the young man as he gave his friend a pat on the back.

The brunette turned to him, "Something about tomorrow? What?"

Beginning to make his way to the exit, the young man started, "Well, if all goes well tonight," before raising a finger into the air and turning to Miki with a serious expression, "which, I'll be honest, there's like a fifty-fifty chance that something's going to go wrong."

The boy tilted his head, "Really?"

"With my luck, probably," answered the young man before he turned back to the door, "But, if all goes well, let's head out and do something tomorrow. I don't think we've done anything by ourselves since before that karaoke night." He snapped his fingers, "So get plotting," and turned around with a small smile, "It'll be my treat too. Don't hold back."

"My, my," mumbled Miki with a smirk, "you speak as though you can afford me."

The young man smirked right back for a moment more before his eyes narrowed and his face fell. Just as his friend was about to ask what was wrong, the boy quickly stated, "Actually… if I'm being honest, I was just offering that in the heat of the moment… In reality, I need to get a job because I'm a poor peasant right now."

A loud snort blew out of Miki's nose before he gave a thumbs up, "Thanks for being honest. We'll call your offer an IOU for after you get whatever job.' He pumped his fist toward the young man, "In the meantime, you can just be a dirty mooch to me until I'm a poor peasant like you too."

"It's much appreciated," said the taller boy as he clashed his fist into Miki's.

The pair walked out of school and onto the sidewalk, chatting idly about the previous day's events. At one point, the young man asked, "So, do you know what Sugiyama did to keep everyone quiet about the trophy case?"

"No idea," replied Miki as his face slowly fell into bewilderment, "Speaking honestly, I didn't think he'd be so… straightforward about it. I was expecting, I dunno, something a bit more… stealthy, maybe? I mean, the rock was actually thin enough on one side that I thought it could be used like a screw driver and could separate the case from the wall… though, now that I think about that, I don't know what kind of screws the school uses."

"Well, never mind his use of the damn thing," spouted the young man, "how did he keep everyone quiet? There had to have been- no, we know there were witnesses."

"Indeed, there were," retorted Miki. "But," he lifted a finger, "this is big, scary, silent, spooky Sugiyama we're talking about. His fists are so big, he could rupture my skull by pressing them together."

"But would giant fists and an imposing demeanor really be enough to keep people quiet?" grumbled the young man, "Even people like Ebi?"

"Well, not many people really care about those old trophies to begin with," replied Miki, "They're all from before Shinohara took over as principal some years back and the students who earned them have been long gone. At this point, all that's left is a bunch of poor clubs without much funding… aside from sports, but those guys haven't been winning jack shit. Hell, if it's the same as last year, clubs will probably be scrambling to accumulate new members to avoid a shutdown." After thinking for a moment, the brunette smirked and said, "Actually, if you think about it, this might be good leverage for them. Either the school could pay thousands to restore the old trophies or they could store those away and invest in the clubs to earn some new ones while restoring some old pre-Shinohara popularity."

The young man blinked and muttered, "You presumed so many things in that last statement, I don't even know where to begin the breakdown…"

"Ah…" Miki's face fell, "Yeah, some of that was a bit farfetched…"

Smiling to his friend, the young man could only bring himself to reply, "Well, your imagination can't be denied." After taking a tired breath and thinking ahead to his meeting with the girls, he waved his hand into the air and quietly cheered, "Here's to the clubs then. May your vision for them be realized."

"I'm a dignitary."

The young man turned over to him with a smirk still on his face, "What? Where'd that so suddenly-" before his head caught up to his mouth, "Wha-, huh?" The comical expression slipped away from his face. Before he fully understood what his friend just said, the young man's eyes had narrowed and his teeth were clenched together while his tight lips were curling down. He stopped walking and Miki stepped toward the edge of the sidewalk to let some chattering students pass by. Both boys stood off from one another for a few quiet seconds, neither daring to utter a word, until the young man eventually questioned, "What…?" A bit of desperation blinked into his eyes before he stated, "You're referring to your financial status, right? Your father is probably some public official and, being his son, that makes you a dignitary… right?" He held up his hand, "Listen, regardless of how well-known you are by the upper-class, watch what words you use when you flaunt yourself… I could misunderstand something…"

"I'm not that kind of dignitary," replied Miki with sad grimace. His hands shook a bit as he explained, "I mean that I'm the kind of dignitary that goes after distortion. The kind who, ergo, goes after shinobi… I'm… supposed to be some kind of trainer to Sato-, that's why she was transferred here, you see… But… she seems to have a handle on that and I've been slacking… with you…" After a few nervous twitches from his head, he raised his hand into the air and caused the young man to flinch. However, once he began to uncontrollably scratch at the back of his neck, he continued, "And… I know you're an infiltrator… and that those girls are shinobi as well…"

Blinking for the first time since the conversation so suddenly turned, the young man tried to ask something but couldn't bring himself to say anything more than, "So…what…? Why're you…"

Scared and frustrated, Miki brought up his other hand to grasp at his own neck before stammering, "This isn't how I wanted to tell you! I was hoping-, Oh my-, no, no, no… I've gotta calm down…" and faced the young man again, "I was going to… I don't know… redirect the conversation towards the girls… but, when you mentioned them, we were in school, it was crowded, and the timing was just… ah… damn it, this sucks…" He clenched his eyes closed and said, "I don't know why I blurted it out like that but… what I have to say can't wait until tomorrow. Sato's going to make a move-, eh?"

The young man took a large step toward Miki and grabbed ahold of his shoulder before dragging him down the sidewalk. Under his breath, he growled, "C'mon… We need somewhere a bit more private for this…"

The brunette in his grip was sputtering with eyes akin to a deer facing down headlights, "What? Where're we going? Hey. Hey! What're you going to do!? Listen, I don't want-"

"Shut up for a moment," ordered the young man as he practically dragged Miki toward an alleyway, "We're just going somewhere a bit more quiet. That's all, nothing to be so jumpy about-"

"There's so much to be jumpy about!" cried Miki as he pulled a bit, "Please, I don't want to be your enemy!"

Once they were just past the alleyway's entrance, the young man threw Miki forward and stopped as the boy regained his balance. Then, once the dignitary turned back to face his friend, the taller boy grabbed Miki by both shoulders and pushed him back into one of the walls, "Start! Right now!"

"I-, I don't want to be your enemy!" sputtered Miki with watering eyes, "I swear to everything holy and beautiful in this world, I don't want to be your enemy! I'm not your enemy!"

"Pardon me when I'm a bit cold to that statement," growled the young man as he clenched his fingers deeper into Miki's shoulders and demanded, "C'mon! I want to hear it from you then! You're a dignitary, right!? Start talking!"

"What do you want to know!?" cried Miki as his voice broke, "Ask me and I'll talk! Just-, please! Calm down! I want to help!"

"When did you find out I was an infiltrator!?" thundered the young man before his train of thought shifted and beckoned him to raise one finger and point it at Miki, "But, for the record, you've got the wrong assumption about those girls! They're not shinobi!"

"I saw that girl… Asuka… and her pink-haired friend in class that day…" breathed Miki as the young man's grip continued to painfully dig into his shoulders, "I just… kept quiet and let Sato take the attent-, Ah! Please… it hurts…!"

Realizing just how far he'd dug his fingers into Miki's shoulders, the young man released his hold and backed off a bit. But, before the brunette could be sure his friend had calmed down, the boy raised up both his fists combatively and stated, "Don't move from that spot… I don't want to hurt you… Even now, I hate the thought of it…" The young man lowered his head darkly and stared into Miki's frightened eyes, "But I'll do it…"

"Then I'll just talk," whispered Miki, who weakly lifted up his hands to try and calm down the infiltrator before him, "I want to warn you of something that Sato has planned… that's all… I swear to Heaven above, that's all! After that, you can decide what you want to do…"

"Then let's hear it," grumbled the young man, "Talk and let me hear your warning…"

Flinching his head back in response to the threatening tone in the taller boy's words, Miki let out a shaky breath and struggled to recollect the words he'd practiced so many times, "Sato's told the hierarchy-, she told our leaders that she killed an infiltrator on Monday… I…" After clenching his eyes again and refocusing his mind, the dignitary stammered, "I already suspected you… I mean, you were hanging out with shinobi so casually… Just-, listen, I already suspected you were an infiltrator… but the looks she gave you yesterday and today pretty much confirmed it… never mind those girls when they were stalking you…"

"What has Sato told your hierarchy?" growled the young man as he took an aggressive step forward, "You said you wanted to warn me about something Sato has planned, right?" before shouting, "Let's hear it!"

Miki pressed his back into the wall, "She's planning to go after you again tomorrow!" His breaths were heavy and his eyes were still absolutely filled with fright, but he still held as strong as he could possibly muster, "She was going to be reprimanded for… letting you get away or something… Father… my father mentioned that she wanted another opportunity to kill you because you're just holding your ground… Not running, not fleeing, nothing…" After a few seconds, Miki's eyes lit up and he stammered, "But there's good news! There is! She hasn't given up your details! The way I see it, she's trying to take you on alone so that she can get a bounty all to herself-"

"There's a bounty on my head!?" shouted the young man who pressed his face closer towards Miki, "Are you kidding me!?"

The brunette put up his hands defensively, "In general! There's a bounty on infiltrators in general! Nobody knows your name, your details-, Sato hasn't even told them that you go to the same school as us!" While nodding his head, as if to assure the young man, "All they know is that Sato has a lead on an infiltrator… They've been prying for that lead, trying to interrogate her and such, but she hasn't told them anything…"

The young man was about to question Miki further, hoping to get additional details on what Sato had planned, before a blur of purple suddenly rushed past his eyes. Over the course of a second, the smudge in his vision dove straight into the dignitary and pulled him from the wall before slamming his head straight into the ground. Just as Miki was about to recover, the sharp edge of shuriken was pressed up against the back of his neck.

The young man was the first to shout, "Murasaki-!" just as the girl was turning her head over to him.

"Stand back!"

Before the young man could object, two pairs of strong hands grabbed him by the arms and ushered him to the alley's exit. A voice that he recognized as Asuka's began to sputter from one side, "Grandma just passed the news onto us! Oh," before he was wrapped into a quick hug and spun around to face the girl, "you aren't hurt, right!?"

"He's fine," stated Homura from the young man's other side as she gave him a quick pat down. After a moment, she started, "I don't know how you found out," before she gave a resolute nod, "but good job holding him off!" She turned her head back toward Miki, who had finally realized what was happening and was trying to yell out while Miyabi was trying to gag him with a cloth as Yumi held his body down with Murasaki, before facing the young man again, "Head home. Haruka's waiting for you at the train station-, just head home. I'm sorry about… all this… I know it must hurt but we'll handle it from here…"

Using his tongue and twisting his mouth around, Miki managed to keep away Miyabi's cloth long enough to shout the young man's name. While tears actively waterfalled from his eyes, he turned his head into Murasaki's shuriken, ignored the pain running against the back of his skull, and desperately shouted, "DON'T LET THEM KILL ME! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU! HELP ME! HELP ME…! PLEASE…!"

Knowing all that he did about the dignitaries along with their long history of terrorist acts, the young man was initially inclined to go with the flow and let himself be led away. Then he remembered two crucial things: he was an infiltrator and had no desire to be one… and Miki willingly exposed his identity to him. For those two reasons alone, he resisted against Asuka and Homura's grip and tried to push his way back into the alley. But, once their strength held him back and they began to move their mouths to question him, the young man commanded, "Let me over there!"

Surprised by the aggressive tone of his voice, Homura and Asuka released their grips and stepped back to watch as the young man powered forward. Taking heavy breaths in and out of his nose, he approached the three girls holding down Miki and was about to say something as Yumi turned her head up and asked, "What're you doing-," before pointing her finger to the alley's exit, "We'll join you later! For now, just go!"

As Miyabi finally forced the gag into his mouth, Miki turned to the young man and gave one look of complete terror. Tears that could only be born from the fear of death continued to rain down from his reddening eyes while he struggled to breath through his dribbling nose. Not needing anything else to prompt him, the young man clenched his eyes closed and spoke in a husky voice, "…off of him…"

Murasaki turned her head over as she angled her shuriken towards Miki's throat, "He's a dignitary! Please, just go!"

"I SAID OFF!" bellowed the young man as he gripped Yumi and Miyabi's shoulders to try and pull them away. Out of trust for his judgement alone, the two reluctantly gave way and stood away from Miki's body. Murasaki still seemed resistant for a moment, keeping herself firmly planted on Miki while preparing to offer some verbal protest. In response, the young man looked her in the eye and ordered in a low and dangerous voice, "Get off of him right now…!"

Letting out a quiet squeak, Murasaki stood up and tripped back a few steps. Not even waiting for a second to pass, Miki scrambled onto his feet and pulled the cloth out of his mouth. Every breath that came out of his breath was unsteady and topped off with a quiet sob. Then his still red eyes fell on the young man and he reached out to him, "Thank you-"

"Head home."

Miki faltered and retracted his extended arms, "What?"

"Head home!" boomed the young man, letting out the welling confusion and frustration within him, "Scram! Get! _Fuckin' swine_! _This atop all the other shite_!? _Really_!? _Fuckin' truly_!?"

Just as the young man was letting out a loud and pained groan, throwing his head into his hands while doing so, Miki began to stammer, "I don't know what you're saying there… but…" and began to eye the girls warily, "If I can… I'll leave…"

Yumi took a step forward and asked in a low voice, "You know he's a dignitary, right? The same sort you were just telling us about yesterday? The same ones who cause deliberate brain damage to shinobi?" before she grabbed and spun around the young man to ask with evident alarm, "Do you know what you're doing!?"

The boy only gave her a sure nod before he pulled from her grip and turned back to Miki, "Head home…" Yet, before the brunette could flee the scene, the young man took a few thundery steps forward and snatched the dignitary's arm. The two of them looked one another in the eye, one mixed with fury and conflicting emotions while the other was frightened and meek, before a string of silent messages were exchanged between the two. Miki's eyes only teared up further and the young man's eyes had softened before he uttered, "We'll talk tomorrow… Regardless of what happens…"

The shorter boy nodded, "Of course. That-, that's expected… Just-, be careful of Sato…"

"Go home…"

"Thank you."

Turning around, Miki offered the girls a few wide-eyed looks before bowing his head and silently scampering out of the alley. Despite the urgent desire to watch their perceived enemy and make sure that he didn't try anything, the girls couldn't break their shocked eyes away from the young man as the many unasked questions began to assault him. He dragged a long breath into his nose and mumbled, "…this shit…"

As the stress began to eat away at him, Homura quickly stated, "We trust you." Feeling himself jump from the proclamation, the young man looked over to her and stared with a perplexed look as she continued, "We just want to know why…"

Turning to face the other girls, the boy got a sense of the same sentiment from everyone else. Asuka and Yumi were staring at him with their concerned eyes while Miyabi held her chin up like a protective mother bird. To the side, Murasaki kept switching the focus of her gaze while only taking small and nervous glances at the young man. Feeling a conflicted wave of relief run through him, he could only bring himself to murmur, "He's like me… that's all…" before beginning to walk toward the alley's exit. Just as the shinobi were about to grip his arms and shoulders to ask more questions, he ordered, "C'mon… we need to find a place to sit down and talk… there's a lot to cover…"


	34. Chapter 34: Jumbled Turn

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 34: Jumbled Turn

"I'll be sure to spread the news about this… development once I get back to the apartment," came Haruka's voice over the phone, lacking any of its usual playfulness, "Let's just hope that Imu hasn't riled everyone up for a witch hunt."

Sitting on a bench at a bus stop, Homura continued to rest her head on a hand as she tiredly replied, "Thank you… I'm sorry that you were brought out for nothing."

"Homura~," replied Haruka in a tone that made it clear she was smiling, "I'm happy to provide support anytime, even if it just means I'm standing at a train station for half an hour."

Pulling up her eyes to look at her companions, who were looking between all the various restaurants in the general area, the tanned girl let out a quiet snort before saying, "It's the same with me to you."

A pleased sound rang out from the other end of the phone before Haruka chipped, "Now go sit yourselves down with our boy-toy and win him over… There'll be a bonus if you get Asuka too."

Homura straightened her back as her head flinched upward before she stared down to her phone to slowly question, "Our?"

"If you win, I'm expecting you to share~," cheered Haruka before the call was ended with a beep.

Feeling slighted that she didn't even have time to retort against her friend's jab, Homura stood silently and blinked a few times. Still, when she tried to bring herself to call Haruka back to try and offer some sort of improvised retaliation, Homura realized that she didn't even have anything to clever to say. But what she could do instead, if she won over the young man and Asuka, was make a show of her next greeting to flaunt the pair. Then, when Haruka eventually made her move to tease or seduce the two, Homura would step in and make it clear that she had no intention to share. Though there would be resistance, likely followed by Haruka getting her way, there would be some satisfaction with the show of defiance. Plus, if she really wanted to take it far…

Just as Homura's revenge fantasy was getting a bit too intense, assuming a dirty look onto her face, the young man walked up to her from behind and began to say, "We found a-," but had surprised the girl, who'd let out a yell and launched into the air in response. Amidst her flailing, she hit her head on the bus stop awning above her and fell back to the ground with a loud crash. Once Homura stood up, settled herself, and began to grumble incoherently, the young man continued, "We found a place to talk."

In response, Homura's arm launched up and grabbed him by his gray overshirt to pull him close to her and groaned, "Don't ever sneak up on me like that ever again…"

"Sneak?" uttered the young man. Not one to accept undeserved fault, his eyes narrowed as he grumbled right back, "You told me that, once we found a place, I had to come find you right away. Was there a secret clause in that statement that I didn't catch?"

With a shake of her head, Homura whispered to herself, "Such a dickhead…"

The young man mumbled in an equally quiet voice, "That isn't new. Yes, I'm a dickhead, but it's time for a new topic." He made a shocked face and clapped both of his cheeks as he continued in a monotone voice, "And, would you look at that?" before pointing to a restaurant on the far corner, "It's a New Topic."

Homura followed the young man's finger with her eyes before she found what he was pointing at and promptly felt her jaw drop to the concrete below. While she'd been talking on the phone with Haruka, the rest of her group had decided that they wanted to confer in a café called New Topic, adorned with a black and white neon sign with a large poster of posing butlers overhead. The tanned girl turned back to the young man and asked in a quiet voice, "You aren't being serious, are you?"

Offering a small shrug of sympathy, he stated, "It was the tamest option in the immediate area."

"Dare I ask what the other options were?"

Lifting a finger with each theme, the young man answered frankly, "Aside from the butler café, there was a cowboy-themed saloon, a samurai pizza place, a pirate playpark… a maid cafe, of course… what else-, ah, and then there was a post-nuclear apocalypse family restaurant…" After a moment of silence between the two, with Homura just staring at him with the most dumbfounded look on her face, the young man nonchalantly added, "It was a close vote… I wanted the pizza place since its prices were a bit cheaper but-"

"You're being serious," stated the girl.

"Very."

Homura crossed her arms, "Who voted for the butlers?"

"Asuka and Murasaki." After a moment of being stared at with the expectation that there was more to say, the young man concluded, "Just Asuka and Murasaki."

Homura felt her face fall before she growled through her teeth, "That's two votes."

"Yes."

"So, what about Yumi and Miyabi!?" screeched the girl.

"Yumi wanted the maid café, something about it being a more discreet-looking environment, and Miyabi wanted the pirate playpark…" The young man stood silently for a moment before adding, "She said the skull and crossbones' design was cool… and, to be fair, it was."

Homura's eyes narrowed as she asked in a low voice, "Why didn't you or anyone else change your votes then…? Or would you rather go to a butler café than a maid or pirate place?"

Matching the aggressing girl's body language and tone, the young man crossed his arms and stated plainly, "To change one's vote is to admit defeat. Neither Yumi, Miyabi, nor I would dare do such a thing."

"But you are defeated," Homura seethed with growing agitation, "Asuka and Murasaki won the vote."

"But we don't need to admit it."

The tanned girl held her head for a moment before she mumbled, "I hate you sometimes…" Once a few seconds passed by, she raised her head back up and tiredly said, "I love you, don't get me wrong… But I really hate you sometimes…"

Turning around to rejoin the group, the young man passed a smirk that was split between humor and shame back at her, "You'll hate me even more when I tell you that we're going to have to go Dutch on the bill."

Thus, after quietly joining back up with them, Homura followed the group into the butler café. There was a five-minute wait, which gave them plenty of time to enjoy the smooth black and white color scheme with small variations of hues popping out in a couple of corners. Even the staff had a bit of variation to their well-tailored butler uniforms, with little different colored roses, glasses, and other accessories popping out with bright colors. Overall, the place gave a sophisticated appearance while also giving some slight variation. Though, the elegant atmosphere was made mostly by the personalities who manned the restaurant.

"Hello, good ladies and kind sir," said one such individual who passed by the waiting area a few times, each time giving a curt bow.

When the group was finally being guided to their table, another offered, "Nevermore honored have we been than with beautiful flowers like all of you," before he quickly took notice of the young man, "Not-, not to demean your… evident masculinity, gracious sir…!"

The young man stared at the boy, who looked to be a year younger than him, before replying, "No, no. I want to be a beautiful flower too."

While his coworker awkwardly walked away, the host stopped by the designated table, gestured to it, "Please, all of you enjoy yourselves to the fullest extent," and stood by while everyone sat themselves into their chairs. Once everyone seemed comfortable, he pulled out a rose from within his suit, placed into a vase at the table's center, "Your server, Alfred, will be here for you shortly, kind ladies…" and was about to walk away before frantically adding, "And kind sir! Apologies, we don't get many men coming in and my greetings are typically practiced-"

The young man calmly raised a hand, "I don't mind being a lady today."

Offering only a nervous smile in return, the host quietly retreated and the group was left to wait for their server to come and greet them. After a moment, Asuka looked to the young man as he quietly sat across from her and asked, "So, are you just going to keep teasing the staff or…"

The young man quickly raised up a hand in his defense, "I'm trying to have a bit of fun," before shaking his head and craning it forward, "These last few days have been so… I don't even know the right words right now. I can't think." With a bit of sway, he straightened himself while prodding a finger to the side of his forehead, "I feel like I'm about to blow a gasket with all the crap that keeps coming up." After wiping a hand over his eyes, the young man concluded, "At this point, I'm just waiting for the next big twist to come and kill me."

"Well…" Yumi murmured from next to him as she turned to look into the boy's eyes, "if Miki and Sato are the only…" before quieting herself since they were out in public, "ones… then you should be just fine going forward."

"I'm doubtful but I'll still hope for it."

"I still can't believe Miki came out in such a way," commented Miyabi from the young man's other side before she arced her head around to the rest of the group, "To think… if he decided to save the issue for another day…" A thought occurred to her and she couldn't help but ask the boy, "If he didn't reveal himself to you… would you have urged us to let him go?"

"Definitely not," answered the young man in a low voice. Surprised by his immediate answer, Asuka let out a quiet and sad grunt of acknowledgement. Feeling the need to justify himself, the young man was about to add, "Him coming out to me proved that he was earnest, especially when he warned me about Sato-," but was cut off when the brunette raised a hand with a forced smile.

"But, if he didn't come out, you wouldn't be able to be sure if he was a threat or not." She paused to nod her head a few times, "I can understand that," before looking at him, "It's sad but I can understand that…" and then sighed, "Besides, we were already planning to… do whatever needed to be done…"

As the table fell to silence, Homura took a loud breath into her nose before commenting, "Let's just be glad that it didn't," she emphasized the last word, "come to that. We're lucky that Miki opened up and that's that," and reached over to one of the folded menus leaning up against the vase at the table's center, "For now, let's fill our stomachs and talk about more pleasant things."

The young man squinted his eyes at her, "Do you remember why we're still here?"

"I do."

His eyes squinted even more, "And you call this a more pleasant subject?"

Homura shrugged, "I'd say that talking and sorting out our situation, romance-wise, is much more pleasant than talking about the prospects of Miki being one of… them."

"Point taken," mumbled the young man before he turned his eyes down to the table's surface. The girls leaned their bodies forward in anticipation of what he was going to say next. Then, after letting a slight shiver run down his back, the boy mumbled, "Alright, pressure's on," and switched to a level volume, "I'll speak frankly with you guys," and then raised his head up to look them all in the eye.

Everyone continued to look at him, wondering what he was going to say next, before their server, an average-looking college student with long hair tied back into a formal ponytail, arrived and asked, "Kind greetings, ladies and sir! I am Alfred and I shall be waiting on your every demand today. Today's specials are-" before he was quickly interrupted by Murasaki.

"Don't lie. Your name isn't Alfred."

Thrown off by his script having been broken, the man stuttered a few times, "Aha-, Mm-, You-, certainly, miss," before clearing his throat and bowing his head, "You certainly aren't wrong. That, in all truth, is just the name given to me by this…" After a moment of nervous fidgeting, the server turned his head around with apparent fear. Then, before anyone could ask questions, his eyes bulged out after making eye contact with something through the window to the kitchen. Shaky and inelegant, the man started again, "FAMILY! That is my name with this family and I am so happy to have it!" and raised his notepad, "Drinks, anyone-, ladies and sir!?"

Miyabi let out a quiet groan, "Oh boy," before ordering, "We'll start with waters. Once you get back, we'll have decided." Without another peep, the man zipped from the table to the back of the dining room and stopped before the kitchen door. Though nervous and hesitant, he eventually disappeared into it with a bit of lag to his step. After a brief moment of silence, Miyabi turned to everyone else, "He seems new. Be quick and to the point."

Yumi peered from around the young man and asked the woman, "Shouldn't we be a bit more slow and understanding with him? To help get him a bit more… at ease?"

"At this point, I'm pretty sure he just wants us to eat and disappear so that he can forget about his fumble," retorted Miyabi.

Wanting to refocus the conversation and forget about the strange sense of familiarity that he felt with the server, the young man tapped his fingers on the table as he spoke with great emphasis, "An-y-ways~…" and pointed a finger at Murasaki, "Go ahead."

The girl, who had just picked up a menu, took a second to register the order before her head shot straight up. Feeling an onslaught of anxiety, she quickly stammered, "What? I'm doing what now?"

The young man sucked in his lips before he minded his patience and stated, "Last night… or this morning, I don't remember the time," before he began to periodically nod his head, "you came up to me, said some strange things that I'm pushing off until we're done here today, and then declared that you wanted to come along with everyone else. Was there something you wanted to say?"

Without a hint of hesitation, a bunch of glowing eyes from the rest of the girls narrowed on Murasaki, causing her internal anxiety meter to skyrocket. She lowered her head and stammered a few incoherent things before bumbling, "Y-, y-, I, yes, I do-, I want-, want to, yes, I do, really, I do want to-, yes-, I'm go-, going to tell you…" and dared to look up. Seeing the terrifying auras that simmered from her rivals, Murasaki nearly retreated from the restaurant then and there.

Seeing her growing weakness, Homura decided to seize the opportunity to try and scare off one of her rivals with a devilish grin, "Go ahead… say it. Tell us what we all know… enter yourself into this fray~."

Asuka, feeling competitive but not picking up on the terrifying bluff that everyone was catching up, started to speak in a low voice, "Yeah~, go ahead and tell him," before it cracked and she sputtered, "and… just tell him so that we can…" and then turned to Homura, "Wait, why are we encouraging her to confess?"

While the brunette got a noogie from her friend, Yumi salvaged the still frightening atmosphere with a groan, "Tell this man your feelings. Go ahead and enter into the court," before raising a finger, "But you'd best be careful. Not just of us…" and pointed it at the young man, "Him too."

The boy, slowly getting terrified by their antics, took a bit of offense to her last statement and mumbled, "Be careful of me? Look at whose talking right now," before a calculated glare from Yumi quickly silenced him.

"She's right, you know," growled Miyabi as she stood up, alarming all of the restaurant patrons and staff who were observing the scene from as far back as they could. The woman patted the young man's shoulder, stated, "He may seem forward and honest," before she hissed, "but he's actually ve-ry~ dangerous when it comes to women."

"I'm dangerous?"

Homura released Asuka and popped her head up close to Murasaki, who let out a surprised yelp, "Take a close look at him… you see that dickhead-"

"Back to the dickhead thing? Again?"

"-right there?" Once the target of her ire gave a panicked nod, Homura stepped from her spot and began to pace around the table, "He has done absolutely nothing since we've started to work together… nothing perverse and nothing that would insinuate his mad desire for our bodies-," before shouting, "KNOW WHY!?" causing the restaurant to jump.

Murasaki squeaked with a quiver, "W-, w-, why…?"

While Asuka was leaning onto the table and rubbing her sore head, the young man felt his eyelids droop, "I feel like I'm about to be insulted…"

Homura rounded her finger to him, "Because all of his perverted energy is welling up! Right now, as we speak, it's growing on an exponential scale!"

"I knew it," grumbled the young man as he gently lowered his forehead into the table.

Yumi also began to pat his shoulder, "It's only natural when one hangs out with so many members of the opposite sex. Tension builds, urges grow… soon enough, he won't be able to hold himself back anymore… And who knows who'll be his first target."

"Why am I being treated like a predator?" came his muffled voice.

Miyabi rounded the table and grasped onto Murasaki, "Think about it… If you confess now, you'll be entering into targeting range for those perversions… ALL of those perversions." She pointed a finger into her underclasswoman's face, "Can you handle that? Would you be able to handle him ravishing you day and night? Every morning an… assa-, assault…"

As she began to envision what she was proclaiming to the red-faced Murasaki, Miyabi's brain began to go haywire as it pictured her own potential encounters with the young man. She wondered about what would happen if they started dating and whether or not he would demand those kinds of depraved sexual acts from her. Just thinking about it put her brain on the fritz and left her a quietly bumbling mess.

While sparks and smokes were blowing from out of Miyabi's ears, Murasaki gulped down a breath of air, got a hold of herself, and boldly declared, "If-, if-, if it comes to that…!" before exhaling to growl in a low voice, "I will endure what I must…"

As Miyabi was continuing to dance on the verge of having a seizure from her previous train of thought, everyone else stared at Murasaki incredulously. Asuka's and Homura's jaws had dropped in amazement that the girl was not only holding her ground but also even daring to say such things out loud. On the other hand, the only thing reflecting the surprise in Yumi was her eyes as they narrowed on her new rival. Amidst all of that, the young man's brain was looping Murasaki's words and implications like feedback into a microphone.

Crumbling a bit under all of the disturbed stares, the purple-haired girl raised up her hands, "Why are you all giving me those looks! If anyone," and then proceeded to point both of her hands at Miyabi and Yumi while talking to everyone else, "you should be eyeballing- no! You'd be safer if you kept an eye on them!" She stammered a few more times before waving her hand to the young man, "E-, even when, even when compared to his level of lust and perversion-"

"I resent your accusation," grunted the young man.

"-those two," and then Murasaki gestured back to Miyabi and Yumi, "are the biggest deviants here! The only one who can top their lusty vibes is Haruka, though that's not much of a contest in the first place!"

Just then, like a bat out of hell summoned by the previous demonic energy, a tiny old woman scampered straight out of the kitchen, stomped up to the group with bouquet of flowers behind her back, and slammed her fist into the table, "What scandalous behavior are you brats going on about over here!?"

Jumping in surprise and repressing Murasaki's last statements, the young man tried to stammer an explanation, "Ah-, you see, sorry, we were talking about an issue-," before he was quickly swatted in the face by the bouquet. While it didn't hurt even slightly, since the assortment of flowers had no thorns, there was still an inexplicable feeling of confusion and shame that rang through him, "Oh."

"No excuses!" barked the tiny woman before she turned her wrath towards the girls, "And you little harlots!"

Asuka stood from her seat defensively with Homura moving to her side. Once the elder began her advance with the bouquet raised like a sword, the brunette began to stammer, "Please, ma'am! We're sorry, we're sorry! We didn't mean to disrupt-," but was quickly cut off by the flowers smacking into her face before they were rounded into Homura's. After a moment, the same feeling of shame that only a veteran grandmother could inflict flooded into the two of them, "Oh…"

Miyabi was swatted next, though there was no effect since she was still in the middle of a meltdown. Not one to back down despite the immense pressure, Yumi raised her arms up combatively and called to Murasaki, "Hold your ground! She can't possibly take us both out!"

However, after a brief silence, the girl turned her head to find that her purple-haired rival was missing. Yumi turned her head around and about before her eyes rested on Murasaki, who was sitting outside of the café with her back to the window. Then, just as she remembered the fact that she was in danger, the most powerful shinobi in Gessen Academy turned around only to find the flowers slapping straight into her face. Again, they didn't hurt at all. Yet, as the shame flowed through her, Yumi still found herself sitting back down into her chair with a look of defeat.

Blowing a tired breath of air onto the bouquet, the tiny old woman rested it behind her back, waved one of her arms, "I hope the lot of you have learned your lesson," and jabbed a finger towards the lot of them, "Keep that inappropriate language out of here."

Looking at her with a mix of confusion and lingering remorse, the young man questioned, "Was all of that really necessary?"

"Theatrics keep my business alive, boy," retorted the old woman before she stole a sly glance at his face. Though she was about to turn around to make her way back toward the kitchen doors, she suddenly paused, did a doubletake, and locked her eyes back onto the young man. Then, with all of the suspicion in the world, she squinted at him and grumbled under her breath, "I've seen you before."

In response, he tilted his head, "You've… seen me before?"

"You're the cretin…" growled the old woman, "The one who was running a foul mouth in front of the train station the other day, right? Last week, I'd say?" Before the young man even had a chance to try and recollect what she was going on about, the woman turned to the kitchen and screeched, "SUGI!"

Raising a hand to defuse her raised voice, the boy started to say, "Madam, I'm sorry to say that I really don't know what you're talking about…"

"Don't play coy, brat," barked the woman, "It was Wednesday! I remember it clearly! You said the S-word twice in front of the train station! And now," before she smirked towards the kitchen as a loud thumping could be heard, "it's coming back to bite you~."

Just as the young man was about to further question her, the kitchen door slammed open and, much to the boy's great surprise, Takatsukasa stomped on through before straightening the charming little red bowtie on his butler outfit and cracking his knuckles, "Lady Victoria?"

The old woman sucked in a frustrated breath, quickly turned around, and thundered, "LADY VICENTIA!" while stomping her foot, "IT'S VICENTIA!" Having blown up all of her energy, the old woman had to take a moment to catch her breath, to which Takatsukasa approached and gently patted her on the back. Once she could speak again, she grumbled "That's seventeen times… today alone." She began to count her fingers, "It's not Victoria, Toriana, Victor, Vicky, Tori-, NONE OF THAT!" and slammed her fist into the table again to growl, "Vi-cen-tia…! Go on, say it!"

Convinced that all of the drama that was happening was some bizarre comedy show that the restaurant was putting up, some of the other patrons began to laugh and snicker from the theatric comedy taking place before them. Amidst all of that, the young man's face twisted in further confusion as the baffling scene continued. At one point, Miyabi regained her senses, rounded the table to pat him on the shoulder, and quietly said, "I blanked out and now there's some sketch going on while I have this weird feeling of guilt inside me. What did I miss?"

The young man turned to her and raised a finger before stopping himself. After a moment, he just said, "I don't even know where the hell to begin…"

Once he uttered that last sentence, Vicentia whipped her head around and declared, "You dare swear again!? In my own restaurant!?"

Takatsukasa's eyes finally rested on the young man for the first time and they promptly bulged out in surprise while the boy in question squinted his eyes at the old woman, "Wait, I did what?"

"You swore again!" declared Vicentia.

Rewinding back a few steps, the young man grunted and countered with a stern, "Hell is a noun and a place. It's used in plenty of religions around the world. I wouldn't count it as much of a swear."

"But you used it like one," retorted Vicentia.

The young man shrugged, "Well…" before throwing up his arms, "you got me there."

The silently raging old woman before him stared silently for a moment before calling out, "ALFRED!"

The server from earlier quickly came back around in a panicked scurry and asked, "Yes, Lady Vicentia?"

"Did they order anything?"

He shook his head fervently, "No, ma'am. Just waters, that's all-"

"SUGI!" barked Vicentia before she pointed at the group, "Escort them out. If they resist or threaten to cause trouble, you know what to do."

Casting a conflicted glance at the young man while taking a heavy breath, Takatsukasa only took a second to shrug and step forward, "Will you make it easy?" while silently hoping that no questions would be thrown his way.

Knowing that there was no point to arguing, the boy nodded and stood from his seat. Just as he was walking to the door, Vicentia declared to the restaurant, "If I had my cane on me, I'd be throwing them out, myself! Yet, it is my grandson, that great oaf there, Sugi, who will be saving us from that disrespectful brat!"

Still very convinced that everything was just some strange entertainment, the patrons throughout the restaurant gave a lighthearted applause. Tempted to give a middle finger out of spite, the young man let out a sigh and continued towards the exit. Trailing behind was the girls and Takatsukasa, who suddenly spoke in a low and quiet voice, "Don't tell anyone at school."

Barely registering the words, the young man turned around and asked as everyone else passed by, "Repeat?"

Takatsukasa menacingly pressed his face closer with dark and narrowed eyes, "Do not, under any circumstance, mention this to anyone at school." Then, seeming to figure that threatening someone wasn't the appropriate way to ask for a favor, he straightened himself and requested in a quiet and awkward voice, "I don't think I could stand it if any of those pompous asses knew I worked here."

"Ah," grunted the young man before he turned around, "your secret's safe."

"Especially not to Miki."

The young man remained silent for a moment before he commented, "Again… your secret's safe."

"I'm begging you. Don't tell anyone."

Exhaling a breath of hot air, the young man fully turned around and hissed, "I'm not interested in your interests or kinks. You want to dress up as butler and do the roleplay, that's not my business… even if I'll be silently judging you behind your back from now on." He raised up a hand, "I won't be voicing my judgements but I'll still be judging you."

Seeming to be satisfied, if a bit insulted, Takatsukasa watched as the young man and his group finally exited the café before turning around and retreating back to the kitchen while his grandmother continued to theatrically thank all of the patrons for their patience. Greeting the ejected group at the exit, Murasaki left her place by the windows and quietly mumbled, "That old bat was scary…"

Shaking his head and gesturing for everyone to follow, the young man looked to see if there was some place else where he could settle his conflict with the girls. Then, just as he began to walk down the sidewalk in silence while glancing around for the next place to go, an epiphany struck him: he just had to tell them his response to their feelings. His original idea was to go into a restaurant, commune with them, and answer them all while coming off as earnest as possible. In a way, it made sense. One of the ultimate symbols of trust in fiction was to eat at the same table and the same food.

Though, in his circumstance, that was stupid. Never mind how uncomfortable the situation would be with random strangers all around, how would taking them out when the young man wasn't even paying for their meals going to prove his earnestness? If anything, it would just have the opposite effect. They could view it as him trying to keep them quiet by putting the pressure of an audience on them. As he lifted a closed fist and pressed it against his forehead, the young man began to beat himself up for taking such a route without planning it through… a terrible habit that he had been picking up lately. So, as the girls closely trailed behind him, he sucked in a breath, stopped in his tracks, and turned around to say, "I'm going to reject all of you."

As though a mirror had just been broken somewhere, all five of the shinobi froze midstep. None of them blinked, twitched, or even dared to breath as the word 'reject' was bouncing around in their heads. Then, being the first to snap out of it, Yumi shook her head and craned her head forward, "I'm sorry to say that I may need to hear that again… Could you-"

"I'm rejecting you," stated the young man in a voice that sounded like it wanted to be cold as steel, though it was more filled dejection and grief than anything else, "You and everyone else."

Being the next to snap out of it, Homura raised a shaky hand as she put on a forced smile and said with a twitch in the corner of her lips, "H-, hold on, hold on… don't you remember yesterday? When we talked about that whole… impressions of other people thing?" She gestured to herself and the other girls, "With whatever result that may come of this, we'll explain to everyone else that whatever happens… happened and that they'll just need to live with it," and then pointed to the young man, "Their trust in you won't be impacted…" before spreading up her arms and spreading them out, as though she were presenting a celebratory occasion, "so all you need to do is pick one of us and then… boom!"

"I remember that talk," stated the young man as he averted his eyes, "My answer remains no."

While Murasaki hung her head and let out a high-pitched groan, Asuka charged forward with teary eyes and gripped the young man's shoulders to shake him back and forth, "But why! Why, why, why, why, why!"

With his head swing back and forth from the girl's intense shaking, the boy could only dizzily reply, "I can't ta-a-a-a-alk-, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!"

Stealing a glance at Miyabi, who had once again frozen up and remained unresponsive, Yumi let out a gloomy sigh before she approached Asuka from behind and rested a hand on her shoulder. Though it took a few more seconds for her to stop, the brunette eventually did let her grip on the young man slink off. In a cool and understanding voice, Yumi turned to the young man to question, "If you don't mind my asking, could you tell us why you aim to reject all of us?"

Crossing her arms and pouting her lips, Homura grumbled, "If he says something about not wanting to make the situation awkward, I'll be more than a little irked…"

After regaining his sense of balance and keeping a wary eye on Asuka, fearing that she may pounce again if left unchecked, the young man raised two fingers and said, "Two reasons: one, I'm an indecisive piece of shit."

"There it is," hissed Homura as she clenched her teeth.

Narrowing his eyes on her, the young man replied, "I'm sorry for that but it's the truth." After a quick moment of thought, he gestured to everyone, "I mean… all of you are wonderful. I'm just going to be frank about it and say that all of you are wonderful in your own ways." He gestured to Asuka, "You're innocent and sweet with true selflessness, from all that I've seen," and then to Homura, "You're more open and honest than most people I know. Even if it's a sharp and frustrated comment, you never hold back." Straightening up as the young man's fingers rounded to her, Yumi didn't suppress the smile on her face as he said, "You're the definition of ladylike. You're soft and comforting while firm in your principles." After another second, he pointed to the still unmoving Miyabi, "You're the strangest yet most well-balanced example of extremely cool and cute at the same time. You being taller than me amplifies both of those things," before finally settling onto Murasaki, "and you're the prime example of cute and casual. If there was ever a day I'd want to laze around and do absolutely nothing productive for the sake of relaxation, you'd be the go-to."

Though she was still upset by the rejection, Murasaki shyly averted her eyes and said in a quiet breath, "I'm cute…?" and then whispered with a small smile, "I'm cute…"

Reeling in his pointer finger, the young man stuck up a second and stated, "But that's only the half of it. In fact, I'd say that, in terms of sway, that matter makes up about a quarter of why I'm not making a decision between the lot of you."

Yumi and Asuka tilted their heads in suspicion while Homura slowly murmured, "Alright… you've got our interest," and proceeded to wave her hand around, "C'mon, don't leave us in suspense. Just tell us the other reason or reasons…"

"Just one other reason," whispered the young man. He took another breath and scratched at the back of his neck as a strange bit of anxiety began to eat at him. After a moment, he stated, "I won't lie, it's a bit awkward to talk about…" and clapped his hands together a few times, "I-"

"You have an STD?" questioned Miyabi with wide eyes as she seemed to suddenly crash back into reality. While everyone twisted their heads around in surprise to eye her, she continued in a semi-delusional state, "It's okay. There must be vaccines for those. We can get you in and cure you."

"That's not how it works… at all," mumbled Asuka as she silently began to question whether or not Hebijo Academy had a proper sexual education system in place.

"Both not how it works," reiterated the young man, "and completely wrong, seeing as I haven't done the… happy blanket dance with anyone… ever." He threw up his arms and said, "Look, I'm-," and stammered, "I was raised polygamous. That's the thing I was going for."

Three dots of silence hung in the air as all of the girls blinked before tilting their heads with a simultaneous, "Eh?"

The young man further elaborated, "While my parents-," as he skittishly waved his hands around, "my parents were married only to each other and didn't have any other partners… While there was that, my grandfather had two wives and the whole family is raised on this principle of… ah, how to word it…" before throwing them down and tiredly stating, "Basically, it comes down to… If you love someone, go ahead and love them. Love someone else too? No reason to hold back, provided your already established partner is cool with that person too… It's… that kind of thing."

While Homura's eyes began to glow, feeling the seed of an opportunity sprouting within her head, Yumi gave a slow shrug of her shoulders and asked, "I-, pardon me, I'm not sure if there's something about being polygamous that I don't know about but…" Once her words died in her throat, she lowered her head in thought before raising it again, "If you don't mind my asking, what does that have to do with your reason to reject all of us?"

Giving a slight shrug, the young man gestured to all of them, "Well, by the look and sound of it, none of you really come off as the… sort who'd be okay with several partners. In fact…" Clenching his teeth together nervously while making an increasingly uncomfortable face, he raised up a palm defensively, "and I should say that I mean no offense when I say this, but" and pointed to both Yumi and Miyabi, "but that reasoning goes double for you two… Again, no offense… but you two come off as the… competitive and possessive sort… And, hey, if you keep it under control, no harm and no foul…" After another moment, the young man said, "But, still, those kinds of traits generally mean… not polygamous nor cool with that kind of relationship…"

Homura peeked her head past Yumi with a sly expression on her face, "So, what I'm getting out of this is that you're not selecting one of us because you want more than one of us, perhaps?"

Feeling as though he'd been grossly misinterpreted, the young man shook his head and stuttered, "No! No, no, no, it's not like that! It's just-," but was cut off once Homura crept forward and shoved a finger towards his lips.

She teasingly began to stammer with her cheeks heating up, "No need to be ashamed. If that's how you were raised, then that's how you were raised. In fact," before she rounded over to Asuka, "I imagine a compromise could be struck between myself and another person…"

Unaware of the fact that her best friend was exploding on the inside, Asuka just craned her head back and peeped, "Why're you looking at me like that…?"

Realizing that control of the situation was starting to get torn from him, the young man tried to butt in, "Hey, hold up, hold up, hold on, hold on! There's uncleared air! I need to clear it! Let me clear it!"

Ignoring him as her face glowed redder and redder, Homura began to say, "Asuka, you know what I'm getting at! Think about it: he's polygamous and wants two-"

"It's not about that!" cried the young man.

"-and you want him, right? Well, I want him too and I wouldn't mind sharing with you."

At first, Asuka jumped with tomato-red cheeks, "What!? No, no! Please, you shouldn't force yourself to compromise-, I mean, if that were his issue, I wouldn't say I had a problem-, you're-, you are my best friend, Homura, don't get me wrong…" Then, after a few seconds of actual consideration, she just wrapped her arms around herself and said, "But, I mean, this kind of situation needs more time to… develop, to be talked about and considered! I just-, I don't know-, are you-, not to call you a liar, but are you being serious?"

Homura nodded repeatedly with eager eyes, "Definitely! I'm definitely serious!"

Staring with wide-eyes and realizing that Asuka was actually considering Homura's proposition, Murasaki began to shake her head with absolute determination, "But then that's no fair to me! I don't have anyone to share him with so what am I supposed to do if he wants another partner!?"

Homura barely glanced at the purple-haired girl, "Feel free to get talking with Miyabi or Yumi or someone else."

After passing a glance at Miyabi, who had beads of sweat rolling down all across her face, Murasaki turned to Yumi. The older girl was thumping a hand against her forehead in wonderance of whether or not there was a way to salvage the situation at hand and didn't seem to even acknowledge any attempt to get her attention. So, after a few waves and mumbles, Murasaki realized that she was completely on her own.

While she had been doing that, the young man was eyeballing each of them in complete confusion, wondering why they were still so determined for his affection even after he announced how he was raised. In his mind, there was no way that even a single woman would get so determined for him… yet, there in undeniable plain sight, were two women who were striking a deal to start a polygamous relationship with him, for what they thought was his sake, though he knew Homura's ulterior motive, while three others were panicking about what to do next. Even without saying anything aloud, he felt extremely arrogant and ahead of himself for even thinking about it.

Then, breaking his train of thought, Murasaki suddenly spouted, "There's only one way to make this fair!"

Snorting haughtily out of her nose and casting a smirk towards Asuka, Homura shrugged her shoulders and asked, "And… why should we care about making this fair?"

Murasaki puffed her cheeks in frustration with her eyes turning watery, fearing the course of action that she was about to take. Yet, when she considered letting go of the one boy whom she had a genuine crush on, she suddenly straightened herself out and took a challenging step forward. She took in a large breath of air and loudly declared, "LICK AND KEEP RULES!"

Reacting before anyone else even had a chance to even understand what Murasaki just said, Miyabi threw her fist into the air, "AND I SHALL BE THE VICTOR!" before surging forward. Before he even had a chance to twitch a finger, the woman had tackled straight into the young man and brought them both down to the sidewalk.

Homura's face fell, letting out a, "Huh-, what!?" as a full second had finally passed since Murasaki's initial declaration. Then, just as she was beginning to catch on, Murasaki and Yumi had also dogpiled into the fray.

While the young man resisted and called out for help to passersby on the sidewalk, who all were deciding that whatever was happening was none of their business, Asuka called out, "HOMURA!" and turned the girl toward her, "We need to act right here, right now! The first one to kiss him gets to keep him!"

Homura, still not fully comprehending the situation breathed, "Right here, right now?"

"Right here, right now," repeated Asuka with eyes narrowed with urgency, "If either of us kisses him, I'll-, I will, we will agree to share!" before she began to advance, "WE'LL FINISH THIS!"

Matching her friend's expression as the young man continued to cry out for help in the background, Homura tightened her face and cracked her knuckles, "Yeah…" before she stomped towards the group, "We're finishing this here and now…"

As a pair, the two dived with their heads first into the scuffle, pushing and pulling at the other girls to make sure that no one else got to the young man's lips first. Amidst all of the lunacy, the boy could feel the weight of five grown women struggling around on top of him while he desperately covered his face with both hands. He knew that his resistance would be fruitless, considering that each of the girls were stronger than him on their own, yet the fear of losing his lip-chastity was too much for him to willingly surrender.

Then, at some point, someone had gotten ahold of the bow which held up Asuka's hair and it all came loose. Shortly after, the same thing happened with Yumi and Homura. Throw in Murasaki's long strands that were already covering a portion of the young man's body and he was soon buried, blinded, and disoriented by all of the loose hair. Unable to see anything and figuring that the girls were equally disarrayed too, the boy thought that he could try and use the opportunity to get away.

But, much to his surprise, dismay, and guilty pleasure, he felt a couple soft pairs of lips strike against his own at the very moment he moved both of his hands to pull himself out. Then more pairs came in, followed by another. Then, light flooded his vision as everyone stood up and threw their hands up victoriously with the impression that they'd each won.

Asuka was cheering to Homura, "We did it! We did it!"

Homura, who figured that the celebration was for her own kiss, said cheerfully, "Yup! Good thing I got in there quick!"

Yumi was holding her cheeks, smiling with her eyes closed while Miyabi was marching around in circles, completely ecstatic from the prospect of winning. Off to the side and sitting on her knees, Murasaki was covering her lips to treasure the feeling for as long as she could before commenting, "I won… I won…"

Of course, after listening to one another and taking notice of each other's behavior, everyone paused and passed confused looks. Then, with the message getting silently transmitted to one another, everyone began to either take heavy breaths or glare into the sky before they looked to the young man, who was curled up on the sidewalk with narrowed eyes.

While they were sitting around without any sound getting exchanged between them, an officer on the other side of the street called over, "You kids are taking up the sidewalk! Save the roughhousing for later!"

Yumi waved apologetically to the cop while Miyabi nervously edged her way to the young man and asked, "Ah… you wouldn't happen to know who… k-, kissed… you first, would you?"

Glancing back up at her with his lips sucked in, the boy could only shake his head and rest it back onto the cold sidewalk where he hoped death would take him at some point in extremely near future.

None of them had to say that the situation was significantly more complicated than how it started out, even if they'd gotten some pleasure out of it.


	35. Chapter 35: Foul Retaliation

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 35: Foul Retaliation

Sitting by the tent that had been pitched in the apartment's parking lot for the past couple of nights, Hibari, Yagyū and Mirai were playing a heated game of Unus. After being made to draw a few more cards, the latter of them all played a red and grumbled, "All this drama… stupid…"

"Bit of a random thing to say," commented Yagyū with a straight face as she also played a red, "but you also sound like you want to vent." After the other two took their respective turns in silence, the white-haired girl pushed, "Do you have something to say or not?"

Hibari switched the color to blue before raising a defensive palm against Yagyū, "Give her a bit… Maybe she needs to think-," but was cut off once Mirai jumped in.

"We've finally gotten Oda off our backs but now we need to deal with Sato." She aggressively slapped a card onto the pile, switching the color back to red, before continuing her rant, "But, just once we think she'll be keeping her hands off for a few days, then this guy, Miki, comes out as a dignitary and complicates the whole situation." As Mirai continued to speak, Yagyū and Hibari took their turns, "And there's probably more dignitaries in the picture… But it doesn't end there! We've got big brother Tsao working in the background, probably plotting to massacre the lot of us or whatever he's been doing this whole time, while his younger brother still needs to get to fixing our distortion, which he has not done in over a week, mind you!" The other two played their turns again, keeping the color red, as Mirai threw up her hands with a hint of finality, "Oh, but the best part! We've got five-, NO, SIX! We've got six teenagers in heat who're off playing around and doing a whole bunch of romcom bull!" before she finally settled herself down and grumbled, "And, of all those problems, they decided to work on the latter today… what a bunch of…" followed by a frustrated groan.

Yagyū calmly drew a few cards before playing a green, "Alright."

Hibari anxiously laid down her card as Mirai narrowed her eye on the white-haired girl, "You know that I was expecting more than… that as a reply."

Unmoved, Yagyū gave a slight shrug and asked, "Well, what do you want me to say? Should I pat your shoulder and assure you that your concerns are, indeed, valid or were you just venting? Either way, we're in the middle of a game."

Hibari played another blue while stuttering out, "Perhaps we could talk about this once they get back-," but was cut off again once Mirai threw down her entire hand of cards while breathing heavily.

Waiting for a few seconds to see if the smaller girl would do anything else, Yagyū asked plainly, "Want me to talk to you frankly then?"

After standing up and giving the cards she laid down a kick, Mirai flapped one of her arms, "Please do! Let me know if I'm just being-, No, I have to be crazy since nobody else seems to be as freaked out as I am right now. So, tell me how crazy I am or… I don't-, something! Just…" and sat back down onto the concrete to murmur, "Just tell me something…"

"You're scared," stated Yagyū as she began to clean up and organize all of the cards into the deck, "That's the impression I'm getting out of this."

Mirai gave a dismissive sneer, "O, omniscient one…" before spitting out, "how'd you come to that conclusion?"

"My younger sister behaved the same way when I tried to stay up later than she did once." Giving a lighthearted snort while giving off no hint of emotion, Yagyū continued, "I watched a movie, came back to our bedroom, and there she was crossing her arms with puffed cheeks. She got snappy, talked about a few circumstances that'd been bothering her at school, and then she made a small remark about how I was watching movies without a care in the world while she was sitting in our dark room all by herself."

Knowing all that she did about her best friend, Hibari gave Yagyū a sad smile while Mirai quietly asked, "And… you think that's what this is about?" and lowered her eye in a troubled manner, "Little Mirai wanted to stay up late too or, no, she was scared of the dark? Is that what this is about?"

"Just as Nozomi was afraid to be alone," said Yagyū in a softer and much more empathetic voice, "you're afraid of distortion, aren't you?"

At first, Mirai blew a hot breath of air out of her nose and crossed her arms in defiance. Yet, just as a remark was about to come out of her mouth, she lowered her hands and hugged her elbows as she commented, "I am…" before she balled up a fist and raised it, "If you tease me about it, I will punch you! I swear to everything holy on this Earth, I will deck you so hard in the mouth that you won't even be able to gush about Hibari again."

While the aforementioned girl jumped in surprise from the lash, Yagyū simply answered, "I won't tease you about it."

Clenching her eye closed to process the assurance, Mirai soon took another breath and mumbled, "But… even if you probably do want to tease me about it-"

"I don't."

"-you can't deny-, nobody can deny that distortion is scary." Bringing up her knees to hug them, the smaller girl murmured, "I'm so used to being able to fight something head on… or fixing a device or pursuing some goal… regardless, I'm used to being hands-on with a clear goal for me to meet." After a few seconds she lowered her eye, "But distortion is something I can't do anything about… As far as I know, there's literally nothing that I can do… and, if it gets the chance, it'll get me after some time… and I won't even know it."

"That's why we're looking out for one another," replied Yagyū in her still gentle voice, "We'll watch out for any changes in behavior and make sure that it doesn't catch us by surprise. Then, once we suspect it, everyone's going to act."

"Why not now?" asked Mirai, her voice barely remaining steady as her hands trembled a bit, "Why do we need to… wait out distortion-, I know that jerk is waiting for us to trust him and all but… for crying out loud, we know that he's capable of it." After a brief moment of silence, she spouted, "We've even came in his defense when Oda came… What more trust is he waiting for?"

"Ask him when he gets home," said Yagyū in a voice that reflected no fear, "I'm no expert on distortion nor what it takes to fix it, so I can't answer your concerns on that," before she looked Mirai dead in the eye and asked, "But, to try and offer some kind of… answer… from what he told us, it will take all of our trust in him. Unless you're Asuka, quite apparently, that kind of trust doesn't just grow overnight."

"But I do trust him!" spouted Mirai as she frustratedly raised her voice, "Why else would I come to his defense!?"

"You trust him enough as an ally to defend him, yes… but can you really say that you trust him with no doubt in you mind?" asked Yagyū. The smaller girl had to take a moment to read into the question before she bared her teeth to growl something. Not at all willing to let her point be missed, the white-haired girl quickly pressed on, "Remember that trust is a conscious and subconscious thing. Even if we choose to come help out of our own accord, there's still the matter of whether or not we do so instinctually… Like a complicated trust fall, we'd need to believe that he's both capable and willing to save us once we go down." Tightening her lips in a stern manner, Yagyū shook her head, "And, even now, I know that I have my own conscious doubts about him… and that I'm not alone when I say that," before she looked at Mirai again to ask, "Now, on a subconscious level, how many people can you say trust him without hesitation? Without any possible doubt?"

A deeper voice chimed in, "I see where you're coming from but I think you're taking it a bit too far."

The three girls turned their heads up toward Murakumo, who was approaching from the apartment after a day of drawing. Mirai, caught off guard and not wanting her flustered state to be made known, sharply demanded, "Butt out! We're talking about something important over here!"

"And I want to throw in my piece," stated Murakumo.

"Go ahead," replied Yagyū, who earned a look of ire from Mirai in return.

Offering a curt nod, the masked girl spoke in a cool tone, "Now, I'm no psychologist but I'm pretty sure that doubt is in just about any course of action a sane person takes." She gestured to the cards on the ground, "If you're ever balancing yourself between two moves in a game, you're expressing doubt between two different choices and are trying to decide on the best one," before crossing her arms, "Certainly, when she was in the infirmary with the guy, Asuka must have had some kind of doubt. Doubly so, since we treated him like an enemy at the time."

"I'd refute that," said Yagyū in a monotone voice, "by saying that Asuka is Asuka. Wonderful in all her ways but way too naïve and trusting for her own good… Just look at how quickly she became close to Homura. Whatever he said to her back then, she probably took it at face value and believed him straight away with any lingering doubts slipping away."

Murakumo grunted from under her mask and said with a slight shake of her head, "I'm not sure I'd completely believe that," before giving a shrug, "but we can just ask her about that now."

Mirai tilted her head, "What?"

"She's coming up the sidewalk," replied Murakumo as she pointed, "She and the rest of the love… hexagon."

Hibari was the first to spring to her feet to peek down the way and, true to the masked girl's words, the six teens were drearily making their way down the sidewalk with a whole mix of expressions. Leading the pack, the young man's face was blank as it usually was with a hint of irritation, if his lowered eyebrows gave any hints. Following close behind, Homura and Asuka were following along like puppies that'd just been shamed for chewing up the house. Miyabi held a bit more pride to her step, though the smile that she kept trying to put on her face kept falling off due to a bit of shakiness in her jaw. Yumi's expression remained solid with a forced smile and narrowed eyes, as though some horror movie villain had just jumped out, scared the life from her, and she had no idea how to react. Finally, Murasaki was trudging along at the rear while wrapping and unwrapping her lengthy hair around her face, though the expression hidden beneath was evidently as uneasy as the rest of the group.

Trying to muster up as much cheer for the oncoming group as possible, Hibari closed her eyes, clapped her hands together, and asked as they arrived onto the lot, "And how did your guys' talk go today?"

"Failed," replied the young man in a straight voice, stopping himself just in front of her.

"Ah…" Hibari froze for a moment before asking cheerfully, "But at least you managed to make some solid progress, right?"

"Nope."

The pink-haired girl stood silently with a smile on her face for a few solid seconds before asking, "We're all still good friends?"

"Actually," the young man turned around to the group, "they've been placed on the 'do not speak to me until I've calmed down' list."

"What went wrong?" asked Yagyū, who peeked her head out from beside Hibari.

The girls behind the young man averted their gazes, fearing the incoming judgement, as he explained quickly, "Apparently, rejecting a group of people while offering an honest explanation as to why you're rejecting them is code for," and turned his head around to yell at the assailants, "TACKLE, CRUSH, AND ASSAULT HIM!"

Homura shifted her shoulders back and forth, "We got a little ahead of ourselves…"

"Just a little then?" spat the young man before he wiped his lips and shook his head, "All that aside, there goes whatever romantic first kiss I had in my future."

From under her mask, Murakumo made a sound that could have either have been a laugh or a muffled sigh. Either way, she walked around the group to Yumi and asked, "So you guys stole his first kiss? Can't say I expected that of you."

Feeling like she got punched in the stomach by the overall neutral remark, Yumi's forced smile fell away as she murmured, "I… didn't want to lose."

While the young man made a remark under his breath in return, Murakumo asked, "Did you at least get there first?"

Yumi looked away in shame, "No idea."

"Make sure you tell me about that and the drama later."

Letting out a heated sneer, the young man grumbled, "Interested to hear the tale of my violation?"

"A bit dramatic, putting it that way," Murakumo turned to him, "I thought boys were eager to get kisses from attractive women."

"And I thought all women played with dolls, did each other's hair, and fretted over the makeup that they put on their face," snarked the young man before his irritated expression fell flat, "but then I turned five."

She gave a nod and raised her hands, "I've got you, I've got you… I didn't mean to strike a chord," before she turned to Yumi, "though, I still want to hear the story."

Drooping his eyes with a bit of resignation, the young man murmured, "I'm sitting this retelling out… I'm eating, doing my homework, putting a bit more work into my glasses, and going to bed." From behind, it looked as though Asuka and Murasaki were about to call out to him, perhaps to apologize for the umpteenth time, but were thwarted when Mirai quickly pounced toward him and aggressively clutched his sleeve without a word. Stopped and turning an eye down to her, the young man adopted a perplexed look before frustration slipped back onto his face, "What?" When she said nothing, curling her lips down in a manner that said she was angry, he narrowed his eyes and repeated, "What? Are we talking, glaring-, what do you want?"

"Am I good to have my distortion cleared yet?" Mirai asked abrasively.

The young man blinked before saying in a low voice, "It's been about a little over a week or so since we conferred on this matter? A week and a half? Trust doesn't build that fast."

The shorter girl pointed to Asuka, "It did for her! And she had spoken to you for less than five minutes by that point!"

"If at all," mumbled the young man before he pinched the bridge of his nose and said in a clear voice, "Look, Asuka is Asuka," Yagyū smirked toward Murakumo, who gave a shrug, while the aforementioned brunette felt as though she were being attacked on multiple angles, "and the average person doesn't build trust that fast."

"You're saying that we're average?" challenged Mirai, hoping to fluster the boy by reinterpreting his statement into an indirect insult.

"Yes," said the young man before he turned around to walk toward the apartment.

Frustrated with the fact that her tactic didn't work, Mirai tightened her grip on his sleeve and demanded, "Just check! Check and see if I'm ready, nearly ready, or whatever! Do it!"

Cursing under his breath, the young man turned around and threw up his free arm, "Alright, alright, just calm down and-, would you let go!" and waited for Mirai to release him. But, when she just stepped a foot onto one of his shoes and gestured to her forehead, he narrowed his eyes on her and ordered, "That's my dominant arm and I do corrections better with it. Let go!" Mirai still didn't release him and the veins of frustration began to intensify on his forehead. Balling up his other fist and raising it toward her, he threatened, "You have until the count of fucking three to release my arm before I lose my DAMNED MIND!"

"Do your worst," growled Mirai with a sadistic smirk, revealing her intention to deliberately infuriate him.

As he let out a hot breath of air that steamed from his nose, everyone else took a step back from the young man in fear that he may strangle Mirai. But, instead, he just lowered his fist and plainly asked, "Would you please let go of my good arm so that I can check your distortion, you ever so wonderful person…"

Releasing the young man with a feeling of triumph, Mirai smirked and craned her head forward while internally celebrating the success of her plot. As he rested a hand against her head, doing whatever he was doing, she reveled in the genius of her self-trickery. By pushing the boy to the brink of his tolerance, where most people would either walk away or would get physical, he still remained as she anticipated and forced himself to calm down. In doing so, Mirai's subconscious would have to receive a little boost in confidence for him, making a successful correction all the more likely. After all, if someone refrained from getting physical in a severely frustrating moment and even managed to cool themselves down once everything was said and done, some kind of trust had to be brewed from that.

"You don't trust me enough," stated the young man without a hint of surprise before he lowered his hand from the girl's head.

Thrown off by the surprising declaration, Mirai latched onto the young man's sleeve again while angrily yelling, "Why!? After all that!? AFTER ALL THAT!? You still can't do it!? Even after all of-, C'MON!" and was heaving her body back and forth. After a moment, she released one hand to point a finger in the young man's face, "It's because you swore at me, I bet! Why are you getting angry me-, at all of us!? Shouldn't you be gaining our trust, idiot!?" While the boy's eyes stared at her like she was some pathetic pup in a cardboard box, she continued to rant and rave, "Get on your knees and prostrate yourself to all of us! Apologize! Suck up to us! Tell us how great we are! SOMETHING! Just make up for that failure!"

After her last sentence, Mirai was completely out of breath and collapsed to the concrete below while taking heavy breaths. The young man kneeled down to her and asked, "Is it all out of your system?"

"Not even remotely…" wheezed the girl before she gave a thumbs up, "But that's as close as it'll get… for today…"

"Alright," said the young man as he stood up and turned to move toward the apartment, only stopping to retort back to her, "Oh, and if people giving you compliments and gifts earns your trust, you may want to stay away from the white van that creeps around corners… Just saying," before continuing on his merry way.

Mirai wanted to move her hands to make a rude gesture but, under the weight of her exhaustion, settled for laying down against the cold concrete. Then, disturbing her peaceful rest, Homura suddenly added, "If you're out of breath just because you were shouting then we need to get back to training. You might be getting flabby."

"Oh~," the smaller girl raised her head, "bite me, you lusty lewd girl… Go force yourself onto your boytoy… or, to give him a break, you can try Asuka next…"

While the brunette let out a surprised noise, casting a wary gaze at Homura, the renegade raised a finger to offer rebuttal before she realized that she had no ammo nor armor. Instead, she let out a sigh of surrender and mumbled, "Carry on," before walking away in a slump. Asuka followed after her, hoping to discuss the day's happenings with her best friend and how they were going to move forward… especially after their agreed arrangement in regards to the young man.

Miyabi, on the other hand, groaned and whispered to herself quietly, "…live to fight another day… I'll live to fight another day…" and sauntered off while Murasaki, who was completely tangled in the hair that she was wrapping around herself, stumbled along toward her own tent so that she could convey her rejection to Bebeby, who'd stayed behind to give her master space.

Left to her own devices, Yumi sighed and was about to walk off before Murakumo took hold of her shoulder and said, "C'mon. Let's see hear the story and see if there's no room for recovery."

With everyone having finally settled down, with only the sound of the young man and Jasmine briefly getting into it about Miki filling the air, the area around the apartment found a peace that inspired a slight jealousy within Sato, who watched through a pair of binoculars from afar. She laid prone on the roof of a building with a great view of the area, covered only by a cheap gravel blanket to camouflage herself. But, realizing that there was no way for her to kill the young man and get away with it without the shinobi on her tail, she decided that she would have to rely on her plan for the following day.

While climbing down and making her way home, Sato's thought process dwelled on one infuriating thing: Miki stabbing her right in the back with his traitorous words. She'd watched from afar as he walked with the young man, trailed ways behind the pair as the short brunette was pulled into an alley after he admitted to be a dignitary, and listened to him sell out her plan as she walked on by. While it was fortunate that she kept walking, seeing as the shinobi quickly rushed past without any signs of recognizing her, there was still one big problem…

The dignitary hierarchy demanded that Sato either produced an infiltrator's body by the end of Thursday or she'd be forcefully interrogated until she revealed the young man's details. While it would certainly be safer for her to just give the boy up and await the next infiltrator for her to take on, she just couldn't look away from the bounty that lingered over his head: a ten year allowance that, if used smartly, could be saved until she could move away from her parents' home and into her own apartment. From there, Sato could comfortably live her life as a shut-in until the money dried up and she had to go hunting for infiltrators again, though that would be years off. It was either that or, by willful surrender of the boy's information, she could get a lump sum that would allow her to buy a few meals at an expensive restaurant while a different leach took on the task of assassinating him… the choice between the two was more than easy enough.

But Sato was way too arrogant about the whole matter and screwed everything up. She had the knowledge of the young man's residence, she had the weapons to kill him, and she had the element of surprise… Then, due to her stupid desire to do things quickly and quietly without attracting public attention, she dragged him into an alley and beat him with an improvised pipe until she was sure that he would slip into the crevice of death on his own. After that, the playing field was leveled. The young man was still alive with the busted in portion of his head magically healed somehow and his residence had been under constant watch from the shinobi ever since. Without the element of surprise, all Sato had was her weapons… but how good of a fight could she put up against the bunch of girls protecting the boy?

Life sucked for Sato Hazuki before… but, at that moment, she was being boated around in a tsunami of sewage without a paddle. If she didn't have the young man by the end of the next day, her life would be done…

Stepping through the front door to her simple house, Sato said nothing as she passed through the hallway and made straight for the stairs. She took a brief glance into the living room, spotting her mother and father watching television without any care or regard for the world outside of their home. Even when they were informed that Sato had defied the hierarchy and that she could potentially be brutally interrogated for information, they offered her a simple, "Tell them if you'd like to," and went back to watching their television. There were no expressions of concern nor was there any pleading to just reveal the infiltrator's information. Rather than trouble themselves with any of that, what was the first thing that the two did when they got back from their sit down with dignitary higherups…? They binged through a Russian game show that involved questions, water guns, and partial nudity. Even while Sato was apologetically bowing her head to them, mostly out of habit, they blew off the entire matter regarding her and lost themselves in a world far different than their own.

Realizing that she was still completely alone in her endeavor, Sato just rushed upstairs to her room so that she could solidify her plan for the next day. Along the way, she could hear her younger brother, Hibeki, shouting at a video game in his room. Slightly irrational as it was, Sato was a bit hurt that he wasn't there to greet her. The eleven-year-old jumped into arms with tears in his eyes the other day and the day before, asking after her to see if she would be okay with the ongoing crisis at hand… Yet, just like their parents, it seemed as though he had succumbed to his desire to also escape the world.

Sato truly couldn't blame him too much since she'd probably do the same thing. Perhaps, running through all of their blood, was a complete hatred for the world outside of their personal lives. All of them were simple people who desired nothing more than a nine-to-five dedication that they hated for the purpose of coming home to relax the night away. Where some people dreamed of big vacations overseas or weeklong stays at extravagant water parks, the Hazuki family was one that thanked the Heavens in great earnest for three-day weekends to spend at home. It was a lonely life for all of them, though it was also the safest and most comfortable.

But, as she sat down at her desk and held her head as the tears began to well up, Sato couldn't help but believe that their lifestyle was inept when it came to times of crisis. Without any of the bonds that usually chained other families together, Sato had become far too fixated on cashing in the bounty for the infiltrator so that she could move out and live her own life. Without experiencing any other major hardships in their lives, her parents could only continue to ignore their daughter's plight after her failure just like they did with everything else that was happening around the world. Without any real way to help or convey one another's feelings, how could Sato expect Hibeki to set aside his fantastical escape from cruel reality after all of his previous efforts for interaction in the past had failed? If memory served, Sato had even pushed away the boy, who was certainly the closest to their grandmother, when the old woman passed away. If nothing else, the girl's fate was practically deserved… She offered no help to anyone but herself before and, in turn, she would receive none when she needed it either.

Letting out a wavering breath, Sato took off her round spectacles and looked into the mirror hanging above her desk. After a moment of observing her long and flowing brown hair, she waved a hand through it as she remembered simpler times. Though she was happy to let her mother give a "small makeover" and change her appearance sometime before the beginning of the school year, Sato missed the pigtails she once had. Admittedly, they weren't much when they came to the average person's standards for beauty, but they were easy to maintain and extremely comfortable… Plus, they went best with the frames of Sato's glasses, the same that her grandmother passed onto her.

Unable to look at the reflection that had changed so little but also so much in a few short weeks, Sato let out a single sob and covered her mouth as the tears began to come down. The minutes ticked by and her fear for whatever would come the next day grew exponentially. Would she be taken down by the young man, who was expecting her coming attack by that point? Or, after killing the boy, would those shinobi beat and slaughter her until she was barely recognizable? Perhaps she'd fail altogether or cower away at the last moment, resigning herself to whatever unspeakable actions the hierarchy deemed necessary. Maybe she could try to play on their empathy and offer up the young man then, but it wouldn't change the result: they'd send a message to any other dignitary who'd hold back essential information by punishing her in a horribly gruesome way.

Sato coughed once and cleared her throat, "Get a grip…" and looked up into the mirror to see her puffy red eyes staring back at her, "It's not done… it's not done…" However defeated she may have felt, that girl on the border of Hell knew that she couldn't give up fighting. Even if it was for a cause that she had no faith or belief in, Sato didn't want to suffer nor did she want to die. As selfish as it was for her to go after the young man in the way that she did the first time, her circumstances had turned extremely critical. At first, it was for some kind of escape to her own life… But then it became a matter of survival.

Sato paced around the room for a while, taking the time to ponder whatever strategies came to mind. She recalled every story that her grandfather recalled from the dignitaries' initial battles against both the shinobi and infiltrators, hoping to get some sort of inspiration or idea from the past. Remembering that old man who was always so proud of what he and his friends had done, sounding just as a wizened veteran recalling war stories would, Sato couldn't help but shake her head with a grim look on her face. Every story where he spoke of eluding the law in spectacular fashion, obliterating the mind of a shinobi, or cornering an infiltrator to slay him, he'd always get the same deluded look of grandeur on his face. While Sato wasn't a fool like he was, knowing fully well that the dignitaries that she was born into were nothing more than a bunch of overambitious terrorists in hiding, those stories were both interesting and horrifying… especially with how doubtless and radical the man sounded.

Most relevant for her, however, was her grandfather's tales of guerilla warfare, where the 'dirtiest' of tactics came out from one small force against an armada of foes. Sato remembered what the old man said word-for-word, "I'd only need to slam the bastards in the gut…! Then I need only a split second to determine if they'll be able to counter me immediately or if I have an opening. If they can still aim their guns, I got the hell out of there! Live to fight another day, I say… But if they're doubled over, trying to catch their breaths…" He always cackled after that line, either from genuine sadistic amusement from his past actions or from some maddened guilt that may have nested far within. Regardless, those words resonated with Sato in that moment.

Dragging a long breath and putting her glasses back on, Sato ducked underneath her desk and felt around. Once she found the small pencil tip thin switch behind her desk's back leg, a small click could be heard. Without any patience, Sato pushed in a small hidden compartment door and reached for a metal strongbox that was hidden inside. She ticked a few numbers to open the combination lock before popping it open. Then, as though she were holding a relic capable of saving her life, she carefully reached in and pulled out her great grandfather's pistol: the infamous Type 14 Nambu. With that particular one having been said to have taken the lives of some odd American Marines during the Battle of Peleliu, Sato was more fixated on the modifications her grandfather added onto it.

The grappling gun that had been melted and fixed into the open underside of the barrel was extremely thin, especially when compared to more modernized designs. Yet, despite however much noise the grinding metal wire made as it shot out from the reel at the side of the weapon's ejection port, the design was much more suitable for active combat. Regardless of whatever mud or debris tried to jam the mechanism, its aggressive design was able to chip and clean away anything that got into the barrel.

Then there was the muzzle brake, which was also melted and embedded into the pistol's modified design. Whoever Sato's grandfather consulted for that particular design had to have been an unparalleled artist of weaponry due to how much that add-on put other recoil control methods to shame. Even if she were flying through the air at highspeed and under great stress, all the girl had to do was aim and pull the trigger as many times as she wanted to. By the fantastic mix of science and micromanaged design, the kick from that pistol was equivalent to a slight poke, provided that the handler was familiar with how to properly hold a weapon in a single hand.

Between those two modifications alone and the large caliber rounds that the barrel was designed to use, Sato was holding a weapon of the greatest magnitude. While she was more sure that her grandfather had made up most of the heroic tales of his father, Sato promised herself that she would use the masterwork tool to achieve her goal and escape from danger…

Then she could live her life and be free from the cage that she had surrendered herself to for so long. No longer would she have to live under the roof of people who made her feel lonelier than nobody at all… No longer would she need to head out to the factory district each month to get a rant from the hierarchy about how she was doing absolutely nothing for dignitaries… They wouldn't need to talk about their grand scheme to her ever again. After all, she would be contributing to their cause and, if her parents' history remained tried and true, that would be enough to make them back off.

**April 23 – "Some families are structured to be closely united while others focus on giving everyone space. In regards to either case, someone would have to be a complete idiot to lay an offensive hand on anyone from within a proper family because, if done, the members of that family, blood or no, will do everything in their power to see their attacker's fall… By any means necessary."**

Sato wasn't at school and that fact by itself would have put the young man on edge. But, just as his luck would demand, there was also other matters to eat away at him. Most notably, he was in a loop of constantly trading awkward looks with Miki while dwelling on the incident from the other day and the personal anger that he felt for the girls who assaulted him.

Pushing off the fact that Miki had freshly come out about his status as a dignitary at the time, the young man hated it when unplanned events, especially serious ones like his first kiss, popped up with no room for argument to be put off. Doubly so if the disruptors were well aware of the circumstances going on. If he weren't used to the girls' springy antics, from the surprise jog to a random abduction, he would have lashed out against the lot of them again that same morning before he left for school… Yet, their antics seemed to just be the way they did things. Sometimes, a random thing would just pop into their heads and they couldn't get it out until they did it. The young man respected the initiative that came with the matter. He hated the unexpected surprises but, still, there was that initiative… and he'd be a liar if he said he wasn't especially flattered.

Perhaps the young man wouldn't have been so angry if he wasn't so confused. While he did save them from distortion, that by itself along with the few other things about him that they'd mentioned couldn't warrant such determined and borderline obsessive behavior. He wondered, once again, if he screwed up their corrections. Unfortunately for his desire to find an answer, that thought was proven wrong by the lack of other cases throughout history and the fact that Murasaki was also joining in. Thus, the young man, who considered himself to be nothing more than a forward and otherwise average individual, was left to wonder… Why him and with such ferocity?

But, after a day full of lamenting thoughts was ended by the final bell, the young man pushed aside his pondering and pulled Miki aside by the arm to whispered, "I need to follow up with you about that thing from yesterday."

With wide and nervous eyes, Miki forced a tense grin onto his face and murmured, "Yeah… I planned for something like that too…"

Ignoring the fact that Takatsukasa was watching their quiet exchange, perhaps wondering if the young man was spilling the beans about what he did for a profession, the pair quickly left the classroom. They ignored everything else from that point onward. Whether a teacher called for them to slow down or when Ebi tried to say something, the two just pushed past everything and scurried through the halls until they were out of the school. The young man, in particular, was in so much of a rush that he almost forgot the result of his… discussion with Jasmine the other day, when the matter of Miki and Sato had come up.

Stopping for a moment at the stairs that led down to the sidewalk, the young man glanced up to the buildings above and spotted Ikaruga. From the edge of the fire escape that she stood upon, she gave him a wave and gestured for him to continue on while she continued to direct everyone by phone. If they were organized correctly, Ikaruga's presence also meant that Shiki, Katsuragi, Ryōbi, and Hikage were in hiding on the buildings nearby. Everyone else was either stationed in some innocuous locations around the next few blocks to keep an eye out for trouble or were taking a break at a place nearby after a day of supervising the school. To top it all off, if trouble did arise, there were a few small dumpsters that had been arranged for the young man to hide in while everyone went after Sato. It was all a bunch of paranoid measures for security but, if it meant thwarting whatever plan Sato had in mind, it was well required.

The young man and Miki began to make their way down the sidewalk in silence, with only the crowds and city noises filling the air. Though, as if some kind of switch was flicked, a paranoid feeling simultaneously overcame the two. Even if neither one had said a thing, the alarmed looks on one another's faces said well enough: there was a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Miki's breaths grew heavy and occasionally clenched his eyes closed, either in prayer for safety or because beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead and into his vision. On the other hand, the young man kept his mind cool and collected. His eyes jotted from one pedestrian to the next, wondering if Sato was going to use her short stature to creep up on the two. Then he looked up to the windows of the surrounding buildings, wondering if she maybe had a rifle to snipe him. If there was a figurative crevice for Sato to leap out from, he looked at it and watched out for it like a hawk. After all, the young man only knew one thing for such a situation: whether it was dignitaries, infiltrators, or shinobi, keeping their presence as unknown as possible was the ultimate priority. A knife in a crowd of people couldn't be easily traced back to its wielder after it met its target, making it a likely tactic for Sato to use. A rifle from a building on a loud street full of shouting people would take time for its location to be narrowed down. With the technology that the three secret groups had, each of them would be capable of escape before the search parties and police even arrived… and that meant Sato was too.

Which was why the young man was so surprised when he heard the first pop of a high caliber pistol from behind him. He and Miki's heads whipped around to see Sato with her face covered by a ski mask in the air, wearing a bandolier and swinging with a grappling gun in one hand while pointing a pistol into the air with the other. Amidst all of that, the surrounding crowds' shouts and chatter immediately broke down into cries and screams in response to the sound of the firearm. Some people dived to the ground and covered their heads while others scrambled for alleyways or doors into buildings. Then, there were some who pointed their fingers up to Sato, whose face was completely covered and unrecognizable. The young man almost called himself crazy when the thought occurred to him that Sato was going loud in the middle of a city street where hundreds of witnesses could see her. But, when she took aim, he dropped all lines of thought and dove for the ground, pulling Miki down with him. Her first shot was a warning to the civilian crowd and her second would be the killer.

If Murakumo, who was stationed and already transformed nearby, hadn't been on the scene, the young man certainly would have been killed. When Sato fired her next round, the masked girl had already anticipated the path of trajectory and angled her wide cleaver forward and covered the boy. The bullet collided into the metal and ricocheted into one of the horns on Murakumo's mask, which she fixed back into place afterward. Sato fired another couple of rounds but, quickly analyzing the situation, backed off for a moment. She fired the hook of her gun and let herself get flung higher up into the air before arcing her other grappling device downward.

Murakumo raised her spear over her shoulder, heaved it backwards, and launched it like a javelin. Reacting quickly, Sato fired her grappling gun while disconnecting the other's anchor. Her body swung around just enough to skirt off to the side of the spear, which she slammed the shaft of with the butt of her weapon. Standing over the young man and Miki, Murakumo called, "You know where to go!" and readied her cleaver to anticipate the next few bullets. During all of that, the girls stationed above were already moving after Sato while the others on the surrounding blocks began to converge toward the street.

Remembering the dumpster that had been assigned to him for hiding, since he wasn't carrying any weapons or tools to fight back, the young man kicked himself up and grabbed Miki, "On your feet! On your feet!" and the two began to run off. There were a few bullets fired that caused them both to flinch, though the sound of ringing metal from Murakumo's blade let them know that they were being protecting.

Sato swore under her breath, realizing that she was losing her window of attack thanks to the plan the shinobi and the young man had set in place. Watching the masked shinobi backing herself up with the two fleeing boys behind her, the spectacled girl realized quickly that she had to act according… However, she also knew that there had to have been other shinobi nearby. Though she was reluctant to do so, Sato had to resort to despicable measures in order to keep them off during her retreat.

Using the grappling gun to arc her descent away from Murakumo, the dignitary emptied the rest of her bullets before ejecting the clip and swiping the gun into the bandolier on her chest in order to reload. Then she fired another anchor and swung herself back toward Murakumo. A few shinobi jumped out from nowhere, though Sato was fortunate to be just high enough and out of their reach. The only real opposition she faced was Murakumo, though that would soon be changed.

Sato raised her pistol and fired a few rounds at the masked girl, who'd raised her cleaver again and used it like a shield. By the time the dignitary was meters away, Murakumo was already prepared to twist it around and slice it into the girl. After another bullet collided into the blade, the masked girl began to perfectly maneuver it around into the path that she believed Sato would be flying for.

Then, surprisingly, Sato holstered one of her grappling guns. Once the anchor of the other was disengaged, the dignitary was nothing more than an oncoming missile that was straight on target. Though the masked shinobi adjusted the angle of her cleaver in the best way she could, Sato swung her grappling gun to the side once she was a meter away. As a result, both weapons collided and grinded together for the briefest of moments, with the broad side Murakumo's blade getting pushed away by the gun.

The girl realized what was happening when Sato extended her other arm forward. Remembering the frightening description of the dignitaries' abilities when it came to corrections, Murakumo knew what Sato was trying to do and was immediately terrified of what was about to happen.

Their bodies slammed together, with Sato getting a firm grasp onto one of the horns of the shinobi's mask. Hearing the commotion, the young man turned around just in time to see the two girls rolling across the concrete together before Sato successfully yanked off the mask. Despite not having seen Murakumo's face even once, the young man recognized the knowing look of fright in her wide eyes and tightened lips. On their final roll together, Sato merely grazed her fingers against the girl's forehead before she was shoved off… though it was already too late.

Though the young man wanted to move straight for Murakumo to check her condition, Sato landed on the street and immediately moved to shoot at him despite having been dazed by the collision and rolling. She fired a few shots at him while he dove to the ground behind a light pole. But, knowing for fact that the other shinobi would be on her head, Sato fired her grappling gun into the air while firing the last few rounds in her magazine towards the young man. But, upon hearing the click of her pistol, she recognized her failure when the boy looked back up at her while very heavily breathing.

Hoping to simply lose the shinobi in an effort to prolong her life for a while more, Sato swung away with the sounds of her grappling hooks echoing through the street while a few shinobi gave chase after her. Then, just as suddenly as the attack had begun, it seemed to be over. By the time Murakumo's spear had crashed into the ground with a loud ring, the civilians all around began to pick themselves up while wondering what had just happened.

Seeing that a few of her friends were still pursuing Sato, Yumi left behind the area where she was stationed on the far end of the block and dashed straight for Murakumo's lying form. However, the young man beat her there first and moved both of his hands to Murakumo's forehead, muttering incoherently under his breath. Remembering just how he described the horror that was a dignitary's correction, Yumi felt her eyes narrow in alarm as she quickened her pace and watched as Yozakura, Shiki, and Minori made it to their sister's side.

The young man's words echoed in all of their heads: "…A dignitary can be done in seconds… as spontaneous as they'd like it to be… damage to someone's mental state… they'll be left as they are… near-irreversible brain damage…"

Murakumo opened a blank eye and seemed to stare back up to her sisters, though that was only because she was looking to where her head was facing. Her mouth hung slightly open, allowing for some drool to dribble out. Her entire body remained completely motionless, even as her shinobi transformation came undone due to the lack of focused energy to fuel it. What stole everyone's breath most, including the young man's, was when Murakumo's eyes began to water up and tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

In the split-second that Sato had made contact with her forehead, a dignitary correction had taken place… The distortion was gone along with the rest of Murakumo's mind.


	36. Chapter 36: Coward's Treatment

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 36: Coward's Treatment

Even while pedestrians were pointing and vocalizing their concern, the girls of Gessen Academy continued to scurry away with Murakumo in their arms with Miki trailing behind. Being led by the young man into an alleyway with plenty of debris and trash to hide behind, their only concern in that moment was doing what they could for their dear sister. Not daring to hide any of the alarm in his voice, the boy ordered, "Behind the wood slab!" as he reached down and pulled up and leaned wide plank against a dumpster to provide cover.

While setting Murakumo down, tears were waterfalling down Minori's cheek as she begged under her breath with increasing urgency, "…be okay, be okay, be okay…" before she began to sob. Shiki was right next to her, clutching a hand onto the shoulder of her unconscious sister while tightly clinging the oni mask to her chest. Ever so quietly amidst the frantic situation, she would let out a moan riffled with worry.

Yozakura remained composed for about thirty seconds after the incident took place, doing her best to try and calm everyone down with tiny assurances. Though, once the weight of Sato's action hit her, the blue-haired girl's eyes began to glisten with worry while she repeatedly cried to the young man, "Do something… Please, there must be-, just-, I need you to do something…!"

Not even processing the girl's requests in his ears, the young man was already laying his hands against a blank-faced Murakumo's forehead. Even while her unreactive eyes continued to trickle tears as they seemed to stare right back at him, the young man was using his every ability as an infiltrator to see if he could repair any of the damage. After all, it should have been something simple to deal with. Sato severed the distortion along with the affected personality. Ergo, that had to have meant that the young man could just reattach it, provided the procedure didn't provide too much trauma to Murakumo's mental state… Yet, as he felt around her forehead from different angles, as though it could make some kind of difference, the boy could only mumble under his breath, "She doesn't trust me…"

"What's that have to do with it!?" bellowed Yozakura through her tears, "Any of that!? What does that…?" but she already knew the answer.

Without Murakumo's cognition either being absolutely open or completely closed off, trying to repair her mind would be like trying to gather the pieces of a shattered window from a pile of glass with a different pane mixed in. The mind, with all of its great complexities, was not something that could simply be gathered and put back together so simply.

"Is there anything that can be done?" came Yumi's frighteningly chilly voice. Though he was a bit scared to turn around, the young man forced himself to face her and took in her dangerously narrow eyes. Even while a few of the other shinobi rallied at the alley's entrance, all of them calling out in confusion for Murakumo, the only thing that the young man could do was look straight at Yumi and feel the wintry aura of death that was being expelled from her silently growing rage. In response to his continued silence, the girl asked in her monotone voice, "Is there something that can be done? Even as a temporary measure?"

Clenching his eyes closed as Miyabi and Yomi came rushing down the alleyway, the young man did his ultimate to think of any other possible solution. Everything practical was off the table, seeing as the only infiltrator, himself, was completely cut off from being able to do something about it. Then he questioned to himself under his breath, "How to fix that…? How to fix that…?" before ending that train of thought. The only way the young man could do something was if he either gained Murakumo's complete trust or distrust, though she didn't even seem to be aware of herself at that moment. He doubted that she would be aware of any words of assurance or appeasement to build such a bond in a short time.

Then, as Yomi passed by and knelt down next to Murakumo, crying her friend's name, the young man began to formulate a different plan. He didn't have the level of trust that the girl needed… but what about Miki? The young man was about to turn his eyes to the boy, who resigned himself to the other side of the wooden plank, sitting against the dumpster while casting empathetic glances to the group, until he realized that he also didn't fit the bill. While Murakumo was more likely to have a cognition that distrusted the boy, there would likely still be a semblance of trust since he outright admitted to being a dignitary the other day. Throw in the fact he likely didn't know the procedure to repair a mind, due to his own personal training, the young man would also have to consider a tether strategy in such a case. Though, with Miki, considering that plan would have been fruitless…

Then, as a bit of desperation settled into the young man, his thoughts turned to Sato. Certainly, in those last few moments before Murakumo had her distortion corrected, she had no trust at all for the little witch. Plus, if that was the case, the likelihood of permanent damage being afflicted was diminished since both her conscious and unconscious mental state should have distrusted the girl. Unfortunately, going with that plan left all sorts of different questions, mostly being on how to get the girl to cooperate and tethering their minds together. Unless the individuals, not including the shinobi, were of a like mind, the entire process would be incredibly exhausting and straining to both parties. Not even considering the prospect of offering empathy to Sato, the young could only wonder what damage would be done to himself in such a process. Though, if it were for Murakumo…

Brushing past Yumi after offering a supportive squeeze to the shoulder, Miyabi approached the crouched young man and asked plainly, "What can we do? There must be-," but was promptly cut off.

"Everyone who can fight…" groaned the young man in a low voice before he clenched his eyes closed and took a breath. After a moment, he spoke a bit more clearly, "For those of you who can fight, I need you to bring back Sato… alive and not at all critically injured."

He would have been a lot more aggressive with his order, demanding that they all immediately moved out to apprehend the dignitary. Yet, when he looked at Minori and Shiki, who were on the verge of falling apart in their sorrow, he couldn't bring out any aggression. Even Yozakura in her increasingly panicked state was pulling at his heartstrings and keeping back his desire to unleash his simmering anger. Thus, he left an opening for them to opt out and be with their sister in case the worst was to come.

Yet, surprising nearly everyone, Minori was the first to spout through her tears, "I'll go after-," before she coughed to clear her throat. After another few seconds, she said, "I'm going."

The young man, wondering if they'd rather be with Murakumo, was about to ask something before a sniffly Shiki set down her sister's oni mask, stood up as well, and stated, "I'll-, I'm going to figure out where everyone's got Sato…" as she quirked her head to the side, "We do have people going after her, right?"

Approaching from the alley's entrance, Asuka called, "Homura, Ikaruga, and Hikage are already giving chase…" She paused for a moment of thought before stating, "I'm also pretty sure that Ryōbi, Ryōna, and Murasaki left once we got set down… Murakumo…" before giving an anxious shrug, "though, I only say that because they're not here now."

"I'll start a group call," moaned Shiki before she cleared her throat and coughed, "I'll see if they're still on Sato's tail." Stepping towards the alley's exit, the blonde pulled out her phone and began to text in a mix of great franticness and precision.

The young man looked to Yozakura, who looked like she was about beg the others to let her stay with Murakumo. Yet, throwing off that overpowering desire within her, the blue-haired girl sucked a long breath into her nose, whipped her head around, and growled under her breath, "Once we're pointed in the right direction, we'll bring that wretched creature back."

Letting out a quiet and affirmative grunt, the young man nodded to them all as he sat himself beside Murakumo, "I'll keep her comfortable and safe until the lot of you get back then."

"Sato needs to be alive?"

Turning his head up to Yumi, the young man tilted his head in confusion before nodding, "Yeah." While her eyes burned a hole into the top of his head, he continued by saying, "It's not out of kindness. If we want a chance at helping Murakumo, she'll be critical-," but was cut off.

"We'll bring her back then," stated Yumi as she rounded her body toward Shiki, who was still waiting for an update.

Avoiding the girl's accusatory eyes, Miki hung his head as she passed by before he craned his head around the wooden plank to peer at the young man while stammering, "There must be something I can do… Remember, I'm-," but immediately quieted himself once the young man's eyes met his.

"Have you ever repaired a mind before?" asked the infiltrator in a cold voice.

Feeling the slight pang of aggression against him, Miki was about to say something else before remembering the circumstances and biting his tongue. Instead, he replied, "No… though, I was always under the impression that infiltrator and dignitary techniques were always meant for offensive attacks."

"Whoever told you that is a liar," stated the young man in a harsh voice before averting his gaze, "so just sit back then." While Miyabi turned her head, wondering how the boy was doing through the situation, he quietly continued, "We'll need Sato to do this."

"They're chasing her into the commercial district!" cried Shiki who nearly dropped her phone from how eager she was to give chase.

A simultaneous, "SHINOBI TRANSFORMATION!" echoed from nearly everyone else in the alley. With her combat clothes donned in a literal flash of light, Yumi was already running up the alley's wall, occasionally bouncing herself to the other side or leaping onto a fire escape to sacrifice no momentum from her speed. Trailing behind her as blurs, Yozakura and Minori also began to zero in on their hated target. After receiving an affirmative nod from both Miyabi and Asuka, the young man watched everyone else within and without the alley transform to follow their comrades up to the roof before giving chase without another word. At that point, everything was all up to them and he could only wait until Sato was brought back.

The young man sat himself back down and sighed into the air, hoping to keep his stress levels in check until they got back. As anxious as he was to wait, the boy knew that everything was out of his hands at that moment since he had no way to fight. Thus, he put all of his trust into the girls and closed his eyes, not dropping the hand that he had placed onto Murakumo's shoulder. While he wasn't sure if she could feel his quiet assurance, he desperately hoped that some kind of comfort was getting through to her. After all, who knew what frantic hell she was enduring within her own mind at that moment?

**Having disturbed the shadowy hive,**

**The hawk has sealed her end…**

Sato had plenty of wishes and desires through all of her life. Nearly all of her birthdays passed by with her blowing out the candles and wanting everyone around her to just disappear. She forgot how many times she plucked her own eyelashes and hoped to just become invisible. Once, she even spotted a shooting star and hoped that it would carry her along to a lonely place with an internet connection.

Yet, at that moment, Sato wanted nothing more than to just go home in hopes that her current crisis wasn't actualreality. She wanted to go home, look in the mirror, and not see the ski mask covering her face. She just wanted to live.

**Flying!**

Rappelling over the bustling streets of people who were gawking up at her as she swung by, Sato knew that the shinobi were in quick pursuit. In fact, unless it was just paranoia, she was sure that the police sirens that were zooming in from the distance were meant for her as well. Regardless, she knew that she had to either fight or run for her life and she wasn't at all confident with her odds for the former.

As if on cue, the sound of rifle shot echoed from atop a building and a bullet whistled just to the side of Sato's head. Using the time between her grappling hooks' shots to arc her body around, she spotted Ryōbi aiming a rifle straight at her from a rooftop while yelling something along the lines of, "LIE DOWN AND DIE, YOU WORTHLESS WHORE!" before firing the weapon again.

**Fleeing!**

Swinging around a building corner, the bullet blew apart the concrete and produced an audible cry of fright from Sato. Yet, before she could start to feel bad for herself again, a pair of silhouettes appeared from one of the roofs above and began to descend toward her. Reeling back their blades with no intention of holding back, Homura and Hikage were flying straight down the side of the building with venomous eyes, prepared to attack or halt their descent at any given moment.

Reacting as quickly as she could, Sato whirled her arms back and fired both of her grappling wires to an area that was barely above the streets and swung herself backward. Realizing that their target wouldn't be in their path, the two shinobi stabbed their blades into the side of the building to slow their descent, though they continued to get dragged down for some time before coming to a full stop. Noting each of Sato's movements and the anticipated path of her retreat, Homura yelled down to the phone clipped to the side of her skirt, which was on speaker, "She's going west! Ryōbi, you'll have another shot!"

**Frightened!**

Just as Sato came around the corner, the sound of another sniper shot filled the air. But, needing to adjust her flight path to avoid splattering into the ground, the only thing Sato could do was hope for some good luck. Fortunately, as Sato kicked up her legs and was flung back into the air by the pull of her wires, the bullet blew into the concrete just beneath her, where she would have been if she had tripped up her technique even slightly. Though it produced a slight breath of relief from Sato, she knew that she wasn't out of the woods yet.

Then a painfully sharp object grazed into the side of her cheek and left a long cut. Reacting without thinking, Sato detached the anchors of her wires and let herself crash onto the awning of a business building. Behind her, the sound of metal getting crushed and obliterated filled the air with a few shrieks of alarm. Following the sound of blaring car horns to where the destruction took place, she peeked out and found that there was a massive circular hole in the hood of a parked sedan, as though a meteorite had just slammed straight through it.

Just as Sato reached up to her cheek, feeling the strange cut that ripped through her mask, she heard a quiet whistling sound in the air that beckoned her to drop onto her stomach. Just as she obeyed the strange instinct, a thumb-sized bit of debris painfully struck her in the back of the head and a large bit of concrete exploded straight into the side of the building she was next to. Letting out a noiseless cry, Sato rolled her body around to get a look at her unseen attacker. On the far side of the block, a gorilla-ish figure was standing atop of a smaller building. He reached down, gripped the corner of its ledge, and ripped out a piece of concrete with a loud snarl.

**Careless death!**

Enraged, frustrated, and completely ashamed of himself, Oda reeled his body back like a baseball pitcher and launched the bit of rubble in his hands at the offending dignitary. He wasn't sure if he had lackluster aim that day or not but, like before, Sato had dodged his next attack and fired her grappling hook to escape. Not at all willing to let her go, Oda growled like a wildcat, "Shinobi transformation…" and his outfit changed in a flash of light. His once curt and matter-of-fact suit of the day was traded in for only a single article of clothing: a wonderfully short and sturdily armored yoroi hakama. Wiggling his toes and giving his massive arms a bit of a flex, the man leaped off with an animalistic grunt under the cover of his shinobi barrier.

In the back of his mind, he was kicking himself a new one because of his reckless decisions in the previous twenty-four hours. With his resources having informed him of another dignitary at the young man's school, he spent a bit of time trailing Miki after the boy revealed himself and was let go. Of course, he knew to check on Sato, whom he found on her way home after, presumably, spying for an opening at the apartment. But, as if letting the treacherous girl get away with that wasn't bad enough, he let paranoia get the best of him once again. Rather than watch Sato, whom he knew that Jasmine and Hanzō were already planning to anticipate via a plan with the girls, he opted to instead keep an eye on Miki while watching the shadows to check for any potential sneak attacks from the other dignitary.

"That little bitch…" Oda groaned under his breath as he leapt from one building to another, using his bulky arms to occasionally launch himself into the air like a gorilla, "I don't know what's gotten into her… but coming out into the open like that…!? Before everyone in the whole damn city!?"

**Though she soared,**

**Prowling wolves sniffed the air,**

While Sato was swinging by a single wire and hovering over a shorter building, she heard a call, "SECRET NINJA ART: SKATER'S WALTZ!" before Ryōna leapt up the side from seemingly nowhere and began to unleash a flurry of kicks and pistol shots in her direction. While the bullets certainly had a great kick to them, either burning Sato with extreme heat or frost, the dignitary wasn't at all crippled or thrown off by any of the ranged impacts. However, once Ryōna was close enough for one of her kicks to land a hit, the overwhelming strength that blew straight into Sato's shoulder was enough to send her rolling while disconnecting the wire she was swinging on.

Landing on the roof and tripping over herself, the spectacled girl forced herself to move once Ryōna launched herself into the air again. Her instincts tried and true, Sato dodged off the roof just as numerous spears of ice shot out from the area where she was just lying. It was then that it fully dawned on Sato that the shinobi were actively trying to kill her. She knew that it would happen and thought herself to be prepared… yet, seeing and feeling it firsthand, she just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. But Sato knew that she had to keep moving. She fully believed that there was still a chance out of that terrifying situation.

**Snarling as they whiffed,**

**She who struck down their warrior's head!**

"Shiki, are you absolutely sure?" groaned Ikaruga as she hid behind a large chimney, looking down to the phone that was clipped to the top of her white jacket, "She won't be holding back, even if we just try to capture her."

On another end of the group call which everyone else had joined into by that point, Murasaki could be faintly heard murmuring, "I just want to kill her and get this over with… Ryōna came pretty close…"

"We need her to save Murakumo!" cried Shiki on another end at the same time, "That's what we were told! Please, do not kill her under any circumstance!"

Peeking her head to look for Sato, Ikaruga instead found the shadowy figure of Oda launching himself overhead into the dignitary's anticipated path of retreat. Clutching her phone in alarm for a moment, she murmured, "We'll need to get the message to Oda right away then."

**Free to cry,**

**There's no quarter for her,**

Cursing herself for stupidly thinking that she had gained some ground for even a moment, Sato continued to swing away by her grappling gun while Ryōna kept heckling from behind, "Come back! Come back, come back and play a game I like to play!" Getting steadily more terrified as time passed, Sato fired another wire up to a higher roof, one which the blonde would not have easy access to. But just as she flew up and past the edge, she was surprised by the sight of the massive man from earlier.

"DIRTY ANIMAL!" bellowed Oda as he grabbed a tantō from a sheath on his waist and whirled the one-sided blade for the girl's chest. With her hand already being slightly in position, Sato only had to adjust the pistol in her hand a little bit to try and block the blade. Yet, rather than bouncing away like Murakumo's spear did earlier, the blade ripped straight into the barrel and rendered the pistol completely ineffective. Were it not for the hardened metal wire that was grinding inward as it retracted from where it was once anchored, the blade wouldn't have been twisted around with its handle bouncing straight into Sato's nose. The blade fell to the ledge of the roof while the girl landed just past Oda, thus the man leapt for his knife as it was about to fall and turned his head to her as he lied in a prone position, "Come then, you wretched little imp…"

**Thus they, seeking vengeance,**

**Threaten to sever her mind from flesh!**

Keeping an extremely wary eye on Oda's tantō, Sato began to back herself up to the opposite side of the roof, raising up a hand defensively as she pleaded, "No… hold-, hold on, hold on… It-, what I did-," but was quickly cut off.

"Was a barbaric act," finished the massive shinobi as he sheathed his knife, kneeling himself up while grabbing the corner of the roof. Through his teeth, he continued to growl, "Because of your stunt, I'm nothing more than a deceitful ass who failed to stop you in time…" Oda's grip on the concrete tightened until it began to crack, "Though, kudos to you for surprising me in such a way… I've never seen an infiltrator or dignitary put on such a clownish act before the public like that. They're usually… we're all usually much quieter, considering our circumstances…"

"I'm sorry!" cried Sato as she continued to back herself up, "Please, I just want to go home now! I promise, you'll never see me again-," but was interrupted by Oda's commandeering voice.

"I hate worthless cowards like you…" growled the man as his fingers danced along the cracks within the concrete. Then, as his eyes narrowed sharply and dangerously, he shouted, "You do something horrible and then try to excuse yourself from the consequences!" and proceeded to rip the concrete out.

**Back to wall,**

**Where to run!?**

Yet, just as Oda was about to chuck the debris straight for Sato's head, Murasaki suddenly creeped in from the corner of his vision, flinging herself up the side of the building by riding a purple ball of pure shinobi energy. Just as the debris left the tip of Oda's fingers, she screamed with a crack in her voice, "ULTIMATE SECRET NINJA ART: SOMEONE, SAVE ME!" and drove the ball forward from underneath her. As Murasaki landed, she began to mindlessly flail her arms around, which bade the dark energy to swing around and claw away at the concrete midair. As a result, the only thing that collided into Sato was a bunch of pebbles, each one ripping into her skin.

While the dignitary bit down to suppress the resulting pains across her arms and legs, Murasaki collapsed from the exertion of her ninja art while Oda looked on with evident confusion. But just as he was about to question the actions of the purple-haired girl, Shiki flew up to the roof with her scythe and cried out, "We need Sato alive!" The blonde landed and tripped over herself a bit before running up to Oda with wide eyes, "We might be able to help Murakumo!" before pointing to the offending dignitary, "We just need her alive…"

Remembering his frustrating view from the far end of the street as the masked shinobi went down, Oda looked to Shiki with a skeptical expression and asked, "You're sure…? Who told you-," before he almost had to smack himself in the face. Keeping the young man in mind, he asked with narrowed eyes, "Did he appear… confident in this plan? I've never… witnessed a reversal of this sort after a dignitary attack."

While the two continued their exchange, Sato rubbed at a few of her wounds before considering the prospect of offering herself up to help. Though, it only took a few seconds of consideration for her to dismiss the idea outright. Once they used her for whatever she was needed for, Sato would either be arrested or killed for her actions as a dignitary. As someone who desperate to get away with her life, there was no way she could just go with either of those options. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, she began run towards the far side of the roof with the intent to leap, though she was quickly cut off by the arrival of Yozakura launching herself up into the air in front of her.

**Too dimmed sight,**

**To spot a shadow's reach,**

Having power-climbed the whole way up the side of the building with a mixture of her gauntlets and predacious focus, the blue-haired girl targeted Sato before viciously growling under her breath, "I've got you…" and reeled back her fist as she began to descend. Sato, desperate and without time to formulate a proper course of action, darted for the edge beneath Yozakura with high hopes for an escape.

But just as the dignitary made the jump and began to descend, another body surprised her from underneath. After delivering a merciless punch straight into Sato's stomach, Miyabi followed with a threatening, "There's more for you!" Having the air taken out of her as the two bodies twisted around one another through the air, with the white-haired girl having grabbed onto her combatant's wrist, the dignitary could only take the next few punches to the face that followed. Eventually, once Sato was effectively dazed and the two were falling faster and faster for the ground, Haruka flew off atop her puppet from a guarded position on the ground to intercept the pair.

**Which a pinch of foresight,**

**Could have kept away their hateful blades…!**

Seeing the oncoming renegade and mustering a lackluster second wind, Sato aimed her grappling gun for the hand that maintained a tight grip on her wrist. Before Miyabi could deliver her next punch, the sharp anchor pierced into her forearm and produced an audible groan. However, still holding onto Sato like her life depended on it, the Hebijo leader would not let go easily. But once Haruka's puppet finally caught Miyabi, the momentum of her and Sato's fall was heavy enough to let the girl slip free once the pain in the former's arm was too much. Stuck in another freefall, Sato pulled the anchor in the white-haired girl's arm free and took aim with her other grappling gun to swing away for safety.

But, cutting her off as she swung around another street corner, Asuka, Hibari, and Yagyū dived in from three separate angles of differing elevation. Feeling the pang of panic, Sato forced herself to analyze the situation: while the brunette was going straight for the grappling wire to cut it at its base, Yagyū had expanded her umbrella and was charging at the dignitary head-on while Hibari was flanking from the rear. Still, even with the situation having been analyzed in less than second, Sato could only react instinctively.

Quickly detaching and reeling her wire back in to protect it from Asuka, the dignitary kicked up her legs and did her utmost to twist herself around to aim her body for the top of Yagyū's umbrella. Completely unabated as she blinked her one eye, the girl slightly pulled her umbrella back and thrusted it for Sato's position. Upon collision, the dignitary's arm was nearly pushed out of its socket by the resulting force as she rolled over the umbrella. At the same time, Hibari managed to get her arms around the spectacled foe's stomach and clung for dear life as they fell downward and painfully crashed onto a balcony.

With the pink-haired girl having hit the back of her head against the ground, she was a bit disoriented while trying to maintain her grip on Sato. Fortunately, Asuka landed onto the balcony after a bit of climbing and began to get a firm hold on their opponent's legs. But just when one ankle was firmly secured, Sato bent her other leg up before delivering it straight into the brunette's forehead. While Asuka was forced back, the girl also managed to raise one elbow high enough to whirl it back into Hibari's stomach. Just as Sato was about to get away, Yagyū and Imu crashed the entire weight of their combined bodies into her from behind while the pink-haired girl backed off to catch her breath.

**Hawks will fall,**

**Before the first-time crowd,**

Grabbing the girl by the back of her head, Yagyū said in a low and dangerous voice, "If you think I can forgive you after hurting Hibari like that… you'll be sorely mistaken once we're done with you…" before yanking the broken pistol out of Sato's grip, "And that's not including what you've done to Murakumo…" She gave a nod to Imu before moving to tend to her injured friend while the Hebijo second-in-command had an equally furious face that lacked any forgiveness.

Then there was a glint in Imu's eye that reflected a mix of malicious deviance. She grabbed the back of Sato's ski mask, "C'mon," and led her from behind to the edge of the balcony, where a crowd of people were pointing up after having seen the grappling hooks. Confused and wondering what her captor was up to, the dignitary turned her head to the shinobi with wide and scared eyes. In a quiet and mocking voice, Imu goaded, "Our shinobi barriers prevent them from seeing us… though they can see you just fine…"

**Without room to escape,**

**That moment marked the end of her days!**

Fearing what was about to come to pass, Sato began to fervently shake her head back and forth, "No! No, no, no-!" but was immediately cut off

"With how theatrical you were earlier, I thought you'd like a little bit of spotlight!" cried Imu as she gripped the cheek where the mask was cut and ripped it off to display Sato for the whole world to see. Between eye witnesses, cellphones, and digital cameras, there was no way for the girl to ever deny that she was there that day. Realizing that her identity was completely and defenselessly exposed, Sato began to jerk herself around with increasingly desperate strength. While, to the world, she was just some mad and flailing girl who was using devices that had never been seen before, Imu was beginning to have trouble maintaining a grip on her.

Before the spectacled elite could turn to Asuka, who was painfully rubbing her head, Sato threw all of her weight backwards. Caught a bit by surprise while she was trying to ask for help, Imu wasn't able to keep herself from getting slammed back into the building. While she maintained her grip through that painful blow while everyone else began to scramble their way, Sato proceeded by diving forward toward the balcony's railing. Despite pulling back with all of her strength, Imu wasn't able to do anything as the dignitary flung them over the metal barrier.

Though Asuka and Yagyū were quick enough to grab the spectacled shinobi by her legs, since she had no way stop herself if she fell, they were unable to stop Sato's descent. The dignitary, desperate beyond measures, pulled out and fired her only remaining grappling gun and swung just over the crowds that were letting out all sorts of noises of excitement.

**Don't relent!**

Swinging up while the shinobi continued to give chase, Sato was loudly screaming, "I WANT TO GO HOME! NO MORE!" Just as she fired another wire, a bullet zipped past the side of her leg while a large bit of concrete flew just past her free arm, both colliding into a building that she was passing by. Frightened beyond all belief and desperate for any form of salvation, Sato could only cry again, "NO MORE!"

**Circle 'round the caged bird!**

Yomi and Mirai had positioned themselves up on a shorter roof ahead in an attempt to cut the dignitary off, which produced another frustrated cry from the girl. Though the latter of the two shinobi did refrain from using the gunbrella, since she couldn't kill Sato, she did utilize a new technique. Mimicking Murakumo's spear-throw from earlier, Mirai amateurishly angled her body, pulled back the umbrella, and took aim while Yomi bent herself down. Then, simultaneously, the smaller girl threw the umbrella into the air for Sato as the blonde launched into the air. While the umbrella certainly didn't fly with the same accuracy or strength of Murakumo's throws, it proved to be enough once it struck into the side of Sato's hand.

**Let her sink and drown within the light,**

As the thin tip of the umbrella shallowly stabbed itself into one of her knuckles, the dignitary was completely unable to focus on her grappling hook's next shot. Letting out an anguished cry of pain as both she began to fall from the air, Sato crashed straight into the stalwart clutches of Yomi. But, with her desperation at its absolute peak, she continued to struggle after the blonde landed onto the building. After a few second of Yomi arcing her body around with Sato's, Mirai began to approach so that she could offer some kind of help before a wayward foot kicked her in the side of the head.

**Where there's no way to hide!**

As furious as she was about the correction forced onto her childhood friend, Yomi still couldn't help but feel herself soften once Mirai was propelled onto her back. For a moment, she was pulled between maternal instincts and the need to restrain Sato, but then something else caught her eye. Once she was sure of herself, giving a slightly malicious grin to the dignitary, Yomi released the girl and moved to tend to Mirai. But, just as Sato thought she was being freed, Katsuragi tackled into her from behind, grabbing and painfully twisting the girl's breasts around while victoriously crying, "THIS IS FOR WHEN WE FIRST MET! REMEMBER!? DO YOU REMEMBER ME!?" Though Sato, pulled and kicked herself around to try and get free, it was pointless by then.

**She's a grave…!**

"I don't want to be your enemy," murmured Miki as he continued to sat dejectedly by the dumpster, his view of the pair he was with still being cut off by the wooden plank.

The young man, who was cradling Murakumo's head in his lap while patting her shoulder, turned to where the reluctant dignitary's voice came from and stared silently for a moment. After a bit, he replied, "I got that impression yesterday."

"But you must still be wary of me," said Miki, lifting his head from his knees.

"I am."

"Oh… yeah."

Even though he already knew that the young man distrusted him, Miki was still hurt by the frank answer he was given. He completely understood why and, seeing what had happened to Murakumo and knowing of Sato's previous attack, believed there was no one to blame for that matter. Still, it hurt to be categorized as a potential threat despite having never done any real service for the dignitaries. After a bit of self-loathing for the position he was born into, Miki mumbled, "What will you do to Sato…? Once you're done with her, that is."

Taking only a few second to think, the young man clicked his tongue and replied, "I suppose whatever the others decide. If they want to kill Sato, then I have no sympathy for her." Once Miki peered around the plank to give him a slightly disturbed look, he raised one of his hands defensively, "Never minding the fact of what she did to Murakumo, she also tried to kill me."

Making a sound of acknowledgement, Miki backed himself up, lowered his head, and mumbled, "Right…"

Turning his eyes away, the young man asked, "Can I presume you're sympathetic, based on your reactions?"

"I can't help it," said Miki with a small shake of his head. Before any accusation could come his way, which the young man wasn't going to make, he turned his eyes further away and said, "She's… a bit like me…"

"Talkative you and silent Sato? Alike? I'm doubtful."

Miki faced the young man with lightly frustrated eyes, "Not like that!" before taking a breath to calm down, reminding himself of the situation at hand again, "Not… we're not personally like each other, sure… But I was born a dignitary. Sure, my circumstances are better since I'm the son of a… more important individual to the hierarchy… but I didn't choose to be a dignitary at all… and neither did Sato."

Raising a stern finger, the young man quietly argued, "But she did have a choice when she attacked me. From the moment she raised a pipe to beat my skull in to when she went on the offensive today, she's had choices. A whole lot of them." Sneering after he let out a frustrated sound, the young man said, "Don't think that I'll be willing to forgive those choices just because she has some tragic backstory. She's accountable for her decisions."

"Indeed, she is," murmured Miki with a nod, before he raised a hand, "but can you, at the very least, bring yourself to understand why she made that decision?"

"I'd be happy to understand.," stated the young man before he threw his arm up, "Not forgive, mind you, but I'd like to understand," and proceeded to shake his head, "But I'm no mind reader. If she's being forced at gunpoint to attack me-, to attack my friends, then I could be… slightly more sympathetic. But I don't know if that's the case. All I know is this: she attacked me and she attacked Murakumo… Neither of those things can I forgive." Turning his gaze down to the unaware girl, he finished his declaration, "Unless you know something I don't, I wouldn't recommend trying to defend her actions once everyone else gets back."

Unaware that someone was peering down the alley, Miki peeked around the plank while considering the young man's points for a bit before deciding to ask, "Is she important to you?"

The young man turned to him, "Sato? Not at all," before he realized that the brunette was changing the subject. After a moment of silence, he patted Murakumo's head, "Not in particular… but I certainly owe her a couple favors."

"Oh?" Miki put on a cheeky smirk, "Do I sense the start of a love story? Love on the battlefield?"

"Don't even get me started on romance, dude," ordered the young man in a threatening tone, "I've been going through so much unnecessary bullshit recently because of it." After giving his own head a squeeze, the young man mumbled with a frustrated laugh, "I even got tackled, crushed… and a bit violated under the weight of five women last night because of it… And mind you, it was very… uncomfortable."

Completely opposite of the young man's horrified expression, Miki was smirking and snorting on the verge of laughter as he asked, "You expect me to believe that five of those girls were going after you all at once?"

"Test me, prick. I've got the bruises to prove it."

Realizing that the young man was being completely serious, Miki just put an awkward look onto his face, "Ah-, oh…? Oh…" before shrugging, "I imagine that's what you were… arranging back-, wow…" After a few more uneasy expressions, he slowly asked while pointing down to Murakumo, "Was she… in on the… catfighting, harem, I-don't-know-what-to-call-it antics?"

"No," replied the young man, "she's just been a bystander who's taken to sitting back and eating popcorn while the rest of us mess around."

"Seriously?"

The young man stared for a moment, "Figuratively…"

"Oh… whoops."

Taking a moment to exhale and consider all that had happened over the previous couple of weeks, he muttered, "But… she's… Murakumo's done me a few solids since we met. Though she may distrust me at the moment in whatever way she does, she's still saved my life on two occasions." The young man held up a finger, "One time when a big old bastard of shinobi came to kill me…" Upon seeing Miki's surprised look, he quickly added, "We're good now. He's… he was supposed to be watching Sato, though I don't know what happened there… I'll give him a mouthful for it later."

"You live a very charming life."

"Care to trade?" asked the young man before shaking his head and turning towards something behind Miki, "The second time was just now… when… oh… crap…"

The brunette tilted his head to the side as his friend just stared with a tired gaze, seemingly, right at him. Then, following the line of his eyes, he turned his head around too and found Takatsukasa awkwardly hovering over the two boys. While they stared up, the only thing that the larger teenager could bring himself to say was, "I'm… I was… still… concerned and confused…"

**She wants to be released,**

**In a way, like the swan…**

While Katsuragi continued to try and wrap her legs around Sato, who continued to struggle, most of the girls and Oda arrived on the scene and began to quickly approach. Feeling herself collapse into a wild panic more and more, the dignitary could only keep crying out, "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Shut up already!" groaned Katsuragi as she kept trying to get the girl's limbs under control. After a bit more scuffling, she turned over to the rest of the newly arrived group and demanded, "I need some help here! This is a live one!"

**But he's no enemy,**

**Unlike the one who ran…**

"Be careful," called Oda as Ikaruga and Hikage moved to help, "she's still got that grappling gun."

While Hikage quickly wrangled Sato's legs and held them firm, Ikaruga gripped the girl's wrist and tried to yank away the tool. But, after a few hard pulls, the dignitary's fingers remained completely unmoved despite the still bleeding spot in-between the knuckles. Thus, unwilling to tolerate any further trouble, Ikaruga took the butt of her katana's handle and slammed into Sato's fingers. Though her pathetic stammering had ceased and was replaced by a cry of pain, her fingers did not move at all.

**Call out for evil deemed,**

**She'll die by her own hand…**

Without any real thought, Sato fired the grappling gun and just barely missed Ikaruga's head. While all of the weight and pull of the girls pinning her down kept the dignitary from flying off, the four of them began to get steadily dragged across the roof while the grappling gun continued to loudly reel itself in. Seeing the dilemma before there was any time to call for help, Oda kicked himself forward and boomed, "Not like that, you little degenerate!"

Nearing the edge of the roof, Sato began kick her legs back and forth into Hikage, who bit down the pain as Ikaruga continued to smash her fingers and Katsuragi excruciatingly twisted her breasts around again. Then one of her hands were left unpinned for a split-second while the blonde readjusted her grip. Throwing a few punches to Ikaruga and continuing her kicks against Hikage, Sato continued to struggle as though she had a chance.

**No escape…**

Then, with an equal glint of knowing through all of their eyes, the three of them released the girl at once and let her fly away. Wondering what had happened, Sato turned her eyes forward to find Yumi at the top of the next building over, standing above where the wire's anchor was nested.

**Not after the first shot…**

Before Sato could dare to try and detach the grappling hook, Yumi bent herself down and kicked herself down to the wire. As tempted as she was to give a theatric finish with a shinobi art, all of her focus rested entirely on cutting off her sister's attacker. Thus, she drew her fans and proceeded to twirl her body around like an ungodly vortex, ripping the base of the metal wire and its anchor into pieces as it began to retract.

**The hawk will land in the hole it's dug,**

Watching with cold and unfeeling eyes as Sato plunged down from the side of the building, crashing onto a cold and rusty fire escape in the process, Yumi proceeded to dive down after her. Before the dignitary could react, the ice queen of Gessen Academy tackled into her and threw them both over the edge. While Yumi dug one of her fans into the side of the building to slow their descent, she thrusted Sato's body to grind against the structure on the way down. As the back of her head skidded against the rough concrete, the only thing the younger girl could do was scream in pain.

**So shadows can lay dirt!**

Just before landing, Yumi released Sato and let the girl crash hard into the ground. While their fall was slowed just enough so that nothing would be broken, there was still an ungodly amount of pain running through the girl's ankles, back, and her head. Landing just beside her, Yumi looked down to the offender of her family and was about to say something before Sato cried, "I don't want to die! I don't! I don't!" and stood herself up again to limp down to the opposite side of the dead-end alleyway. But, just before she could gain whatever amount of distance she was hoping for, Minori landed in front of the dignitary with a look of unreserved hatred. The spectacled girl shook for a moment, listening as Yumi began to calmly walk toward her from behind. Then Sato clasped her hands together and kneeled before the sweetly-dressed Minori, "I-, I-, just want-, I just want to go home… Please… I'm begging-," but was promptly cut off once the pigtailed girl slammed her candy bucket into the side of her enemy's face.

**Bury her…!**

Breathing heavily from her nose and mouth, Minori had to hold herself back from attacking the defeated dignitary anymore. Her shoulders bounced up and down as the remaining sisters landed into the alleyway, appropriately left to support each other while the rest of the shinobi carefully watched from the rooftop.

Yozakura approached Minori, quietly murmuring, "It'll be okay now… Understand? It'll be okay…" before gesturing to the sidewall, "Let's sit down for a moment," as she gave a nod to Yumi.

Lying on the ground as all of the pain accrued throughout the day bit at her, Sato just wanted to curl up and cry her heart out. She failed to kill the young man on that first day, an action which was enacted because of her own selfishness, and the resulting domino effect was going to result in her death. All of the life that she could have lived was going to be cut short because she made one-, no, a series of stupid decisions.

Yumi grabbed Sato and yanked her up by one ear, producing a small pained cry, before raising her other hand to pull back the girl's hair to command her absolute attention. Though the dignitary let out a quiet moan and sob, she eventually fell silent when the shinobi's icy orbs began to pierce into her. Then, just when Sato moved her lips to plead for her life again, Yumi whispered something to her. In response to hearing the dangerous tone in their sister's voice, Minori cringed her eyes away as Yozakura held her head and Shiki clenched her eyes shut for a brief moment. Though the voice took them all back to the time when Yumi was under the distortions control, they knew that she was talking in earnest and from the center of her heart.

When they carried Sato onto the roof and began to quickly make their way back to Murakumo, one of their most beloved sisters, Yumi's whisper to Sato would continually echo into their ears… For how absolutely frightening it was and for how it really and truly reflected their own feelings on the matter at hand.

"**If you try to run away again,**

**I will surely kill you…**

**Don't test me…"**

So many different emotions were swimming through Murakumo. If she were to describe it, she would compare it to the story of what Yumi told after her distortion had been corrected. Every single life memory, every prideful moment, and every regret flashed through Murakumo's senses in tiny fragments of a split-second. Sometimes, she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Other times, she wanted to sit down with her sisters to enjoy a peaceful night while also secluding herself to continue drawing her comics.

As draining as that those feelings were, Murakumo could still feel a continuously calming sensation rubbing at the back of her head. As though a caring hand akin to Yumi or Yozakura's was trying to assure her that everything would be alright. Even as the memories and emotions flooded into her, Murakumo was grateful to that one constant sensation…


	37. Chapter 37: Craving Acceptance(Murakumo)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 37: Craving Acceptance (Murakumo)

While Oda was letting out a long groan mixed with confusion and exasperation, Katsuragi huffed a breath of hot air out of her nose before loudly asking, "Would one of you two mind telling the rest of us what happened here?"

"Something spectacular…" mumbled the young man with narrowed eyes and a dull look on his face. While still rubbing the side of Murakumo's head, which was comfortably laid atop his lap, he continued in a low voice, "Even by your guys' standards, something spectacular…"

With Sato securely being held onto Oda's shoulder, all of the still transformed shinobi who gave pursuit returned into the alley to find Miki pinning down Takatsukasa. Keeping an armed wrapped around the significantly bigger student's neck and twisting an arm behind his back, the brunette looked up and stammered, "I didn't start it! I swear on my life!"

Trying to take in a breath to push himself back up, Takatsukasa grumbled, "What're you… two going on about now…?" before collapsing back to the ground as Miki's grip tightened.

Letting her jaw drop as her eyes took on a dazed look, as though she'd been struck on the back of the head, Homura slowly pointed a finger down to the interlocked boys and asked, "Would either of you… please… care to explain what happened there?"

"It wasn't my mouth!" cried Miki before he nodded his head over to the young man, "He's the one who was heard!"

"Some friend you are," grumbled the young man, "throwing me under the bus…"

"Who's here…?" called Takatsukasa as he tried to lift himself again, causing the arm around his throat to tighten, "I need help… I'm being attacked…!"

Homura flattened her hand before clapping it against her thigh while giving her other foot a small stomp, "What happened!?"

The young man sighed before stating, "We were talking, the situation with Murakumo came up, I mentioned shinobi and my nearly dying," and then proceeded to wave his hand to Takatsukasa, "then this guy decided to take a stroll down the wrong alleyway… or something. I don't know what brought him here." Giving his shoulders a bit of a shrug, the young man finished, "Either way, he overheard us, started asking questions, and then said he'd call one-one-nine for Murakumo with no intention to listen to us. Miki did something spectacular and… here we are."

"Who's here!?" yelled Takatsukasa as he struggled to move with the smaller boy resting on his back.

Oda recalled the fact that it was the young man's chattering, with the girls' mixed in, that gave him away as an infiltrator in the past. But, pushing off the thought of educating everyone on how to check their environments before speaking, he was about to set down Sato to deal with the restrained civilian. Yet, just as Oda recalled something, Hibari strutted forward and innocently kneeled beside Takatsukasa to murmur, "Sorry… I really don't want to do this at all…" before she promptly walloped him in the side of the head with the intention to render him unconscious.

Much to her surprise, he was still very awake and let out a yell before twisting his head up, "MIKI, YOU DICK!"

The brunette flinched, "Wha-," before crying out, "What'd I do!?"

Angrily rocking his body back and forth, Takatsukasa growled, "You know what you did…!" before resigning himself back to the ground, "dickhead…"

"That's what everyone calls me," remarked the young man under his breath, feeling a strange connection of camaraderie with Miki over the word.

"Hibari," called Oda, which prompted the girl to turn around, "you're still transformed."

"Ah, right," came her remark before she was about to transform down.

"NO!" called nearly every other shinobi before the girl could go through with it, fearing it'd complicate the situation with Takatsukasa.

Hibari jumped from the sudden explosion of noise and looked a bit teary-eyed in response to the rebuke. While Yagyū came over and guided her off to the side, Oda looked to everyone else and mumbled, "Look, you guys handle the situation with Sato and Murakumo. Taking care of witnesses is part of the reason I get paid."

"You're not going to hurt him, are you?" asked Asuka, looking over to Takatsukasa with a mix of alarm and concern.

Oda smirked as he set down the dignitary on his shoulder against the wall, "If I did that for every case of a civilian finding a shinobi, Japan would be missing about a… tenth of its population-, no, that's way too generous…" He eventually resolved his train of thought by stating, "I can get you an accurate number later. Either way, this guy's safe-," but was cut off.

"GOD ALIVE!" cried Takatsukasa as he glanced over to where Sato was set down, "WHERE'D YOU COME FROM!?"

In response, the girl rubbed at some of the blood trickling down the back of her head and pulled up her legs in silence, avoiding the young man's scrutinizing eye. Oda looked down to the boy while Takatsukasa continued to yell obscenities in the background. Once the infiltrator looked up to him, his eyes narrowed and full of judgment, the large shinobi could only say, "I'm sorry for allowing this to happen after what I promised."

"I'd hope so, jackass," whispered the young man in a low voice before he sucked in a breath to cool himself. Once he was calmed down enough to not swear, he continued, "Would you mind telling me where you were when everything went down?"

"Down the street," replied Oda, not at all surprised that the young man was angry, "keeping an eye on Miki."

Clenching his eyes closed for a moment, the young man raised a finger into the air and asked, "I thought you said you'd be watching Sato… or did I, by chance, give you the wrong name?"

"Sayuri told-, sorry. Jasmine told me about how Miki revealed himself. I was…" Oda averted his gaze, "over-paranoid…" before fixing himself back onto the young man, willing to face one of the people he'd wronged, "I thought I could watch for Sato at the same time but I didn't expect her to be so loud about her arrival."

Looking to the spectacled girl, who continued to look away from him, the young man sucked in a breath of air before gesturing to the shinobi lying against his lap, "Then you'd better be ready to apologize to her once she's up." After turning his harsh eyes up to Oda, he stated with no uncertainty, "She's the ultimate victim in this."

"I'll do so."

The young man let out a satisfied grunt, "Good."

Moving over to Takatsukasa, Oda was about to push aside Miki before a different thought occurred to him. He turned back to the young man and asked, "You're sure you can help Murakumo? I've never heard of a case about reversing a dignitary correction."

"Well, I suppose that means you should meet my grandfather sometime," replied the young man as he turned his eyes back down to Murakumo, "because he's always been full of these sorts of tales."

Of course, the young man didn't mention the fact that his grandfather had strongly warned against the particular process of tethering minds together. But, not willing to give details that weren't critical to the immediate crisis, he just rubbed Murakumo's head and resolved himself to silence. During that, Oda let a small huff of defiant air out of his nose, as though he was going to press the matter. But, knowing that there was no alternative, he gave Miki a small push, "Move," and proceeded to transform back into his suit.

Once Miki was off to the side, Takatsukasa proceeded to try and push his large body up before he was caught by the even more massive Oda. Initially, the student's reaction was one of relief as he began to say, "Thank God you came-," before the shinobi's hands covered his mouth and face, bringing out a load of muffled protests.

"I'll figure out how much he knows and will proceed accordingly," stated Oda before he reached his other hand to grab both of the student's legs, in a similar way to grabbing a fish by its tail, and leaped up the walls and fire escapes to the roof to go about his interrogation.

Pushing her mind away from the issue with Takatsukasa, Yumi strutted over to the young man and kneeled in front of him with a face that reflected little emotion. The only things that told the boy just how distraught she was were her two icy blue orbs staring at him without any sign of blinking. After casting one long glance down to Murakumo, Yumi asked him, "You'll be able to do this?" In response, the young man let out an affirmative grunt and nodded. During their brief exchange, Sato began to glance over to the two but shied her eyes away when Yumi whipped her head toward her.

Turning to face the dignitary, the young man spoke in a level but unfriendly voice, "Sato," and waited for some kind of acknowledgement. After a few seconds of silence, he continued, "Have you ever tethered minds together before?" Again, Sato continued to remain silent.

Yumi wouldn't have it at all. She reached her arms over, grabbed the girl by the back of her hair and shoulder, and forcefully twisted her body around. While Sato let out a whimper and tried to bite down the resulting pain, Yumi growled, "Listen and respond…"

"I don't want to be here…" whispered Sato with a crack in her voice.

Giving a harsh and condescending snort, the young man barked, "Neither did any of us but, because of you, we can't leave until she," and gave a gentle pat to Murakumo's head, "is fully corrected."

"I don't… want to be here," groaned Sato again, raising her voice with a bit of defiance.

After checking himself and making sure that his next movement wouldn't adjust Murakumo's relaxed posture, the young man leaned his head to the dignitary and growled in a low voice, "Well, let me lay it out for you then…" before raising up a single finger, "You help me now and then Murakumo gets to judge your fate," and raised a second finger, "or your life is left in the hands of everyone else here, which would probably mean that you're not leaving this fucking alley alive!" Practically yelling by the end of his ultimatum, the young man bellowed, "So make your choice! There's no avoiding it!"

Sato was going to say something, "Please, I didn't-," but was promptly cut off.

"You have until I count to zero to make a choice," stated the young man, "Otherwise, we'll use a different means to help Murakumo and we'll cut you open here and now! No room for negotiation." Sato barely had time to process what he said before the quick countdown began, "Ten, nine, eight…"

"Wait, wait!" cried Sato as she tried to pull away to no avail, earning a look of ire from Yumi and other girls throughout the alley.

"…seven, five, three, one…"

Sputtering over herself as the pressure started to hammer down, Sato started to rapidly shake her head back and forth, "No, no, no-," before declaring, "I'll do it! I'll do my best! Please, just-, I don't want to die! Please!"

"It's greatly appreciated," stated the young man in a cold voice as he turned his head over to Yumi, appreciative of her strong-arming through the encounter. However, while looking at her, the young man also caught the expressions of some of the other girls in the back. While there were those nodding in approval, between the girls of Gessen, Hebijo, and a few renegades, there were also a few who were looking a fair bit more uncomfortable with the way he handled things. Most notably, Asuka, Hibari, and even Yomi were all turning their gazes away. They fully understood the need to be so severe but were still a bit uncomfortable since Sato was so defenseless. Regardless, the young man regretted nothing and refocused his mind onto the matter at hand.

"What do I need to do…?" moaned Sato as she practically hung her body in Yumi's grip.

The young man lifted Murakumo from his lap and leaned her back against the wall. After a moment of going over the process in his head, he stated, "If your… take on a correction is similar to mine… you'll only need to extend your consciousness into her. Leave your mind open for me to latch onto and ride into Murakumo's head." Doing his best to ignore every point where something could go wrong, the young man blinked and growled frustratedly, "From there, fuck off into some depth of her subconscious while I fix what you did."

Sato shuddered a bit but slowly bobbed her head. Once Yumi received a nod from the young man, the dignitary was released and immediately began to crawl toward Murakumo. She paused to turn her head around to silently plead for some kind of advocate from the girls on the other end of the alley. But when she only received harsh looks and averted gazes in return, Sato took a breath and pressed her hands onto Murakumo's forehead. Her eyes closed and all of the dignitary's consciousness began to slip into the girl.

"It's a different way to do it," remarked the young man under his breath before he gestured to Sato, "She doesn't need to connect her forehead to Murakumo's at all…" and sighed under his breath, "Here's hoping that doesn't bite any of us later."

"Are there any risks?" asked Yumi who turned her head toward the young man, her eyes still the only thing reflecting all of the concern that was bouncing around within her. Before the young man could answer, she turned her gaze away and murmured, "I know what you said to Oda but… that wasn't much of a direct answer."

A grunt came from the boy's throat, "Indeed, it wasn't."

"So, what can go wrong?" interjected Asuka, who came down the alley and kneeled beside Yumi. Completely contrasting the ice queen, the brunette's face completely reflected all of her emotions. While her jaw was tense and moved only when she spoke, Asuka's lips were tightened and her nostrils were flared in alarm. Her breath was sporadic with long sighs and short chokes and, most visibly, her eyes were completely wide whenever she looked to Murakumo or the young man. In the face of the boy's silence as he observed her, Asuka asked, "Please, tell us if this is going to hurt either you or Murakumo."

Sucking in a slow breath and going over all of his grandfather's warnings, the young man was tempted to open up then and there. But, as he moved to speak, a small bit of fear and uncertainty came over him. While there wasn't anything life-threatening involved, he and Sato could potentially come out with their heads a bit more cracked due to the force of the process. Even keeping in mind his lack of concern for the dignitary, he didn't want to lose any part of himself because of a botched situation that was beyond his control.

Passing a glance down to Murakumo, whose eyes continue to dribble down tears while her face remained completely blank, he considered the prospect of kowtowing and begging to be released from everything. But then he remembered how she'd saved him twice. If he wanted to be funny, he could also include the time that she had unintentionally allowed him to escape off a train when the shinobi were still after him. Could he dare be so ungrateful for the opportune times she'd stepped in to risk her own neck for him?

"No," replied the young man, swallowing back his fear rather than giving it any acknowledgement. Thinking that voicing his concerns would inflate his silent terror to an unbearable degree, he just shook his head, "Murakumo will be fine. If nothing else, she's as broken now as she'll ever get…" He slowly blinked, "As for myself and Sato," and tried to think of a few words that made the potential consequences sound as light as possible, "well… a little headache never killed anyone."

"What's going to happen?" growled Yumi as she wrenched her hand forward and clutched the young man's forearm, "Be honest and do not try to deceive any of us."

The boy could only just stare at her for a moment, hoping to somehow convey the fact that he couldn't talk about the issue without being overcome by his inner cowardice. Then, unwilling to outright lie, the young man tightened his lips into a long frown before muttering, "I'm going to save your sister… who's saved me twice and a half…"

"What's going to happen!?" came several loud cries. Between Yumi, Asuka, and several girls in the back, their overwhelming concern almost threw the young man onto his back.

Yet, being the stubborn boy that he was, he bared his teeth and barked back, "A headache!" before craning his head away, "If you're so concerned about such a mere thing, get some painkillers while I correct Murakumo!" Huffing for a moment as his eyes turned more intense, the young man finished by crying, "Otherwise, unless someone else here has a professional solution to the matter…" and took a few more breaths in order to bellow, "shut it!"

There were a few pangs of hurt, between some like Ikaruga clenching their eyes closed while others like Minori lowered their heads with a mix of shame. Recoiling a bit from his own blowup, the young man was going to take a moment to observe himself. He would've taken more time to consider whether or not the fear eating away at him inside was keeping him out of the right mind to help. But, after taking another glance to Murakumo, he decided that too much time had passed already. Thus, after taking in a few quiet nods of understanding, the young man craned his head into Sato's and felt his consciousness get twisted from out of his body.

Strangely enough, the process to get into Murakumo's mind was quicker than he would have thought. It helped that Sato had kept her outstretched hand onto the girl's head without the need for assistance. Wondering whether or not any of the girls would remember to keep his head connected to the dignitary, the young man took to feeling around Murakumo's mental state and determined that the girl, indeed, had no trust for Sato and allowed for easy passage through an aligned consciousness and subconsciousness.

After finding a place of comfort within Murakumo's memories, a burning city began to morph all around the young man. At first, he was a bit dazed and wondered if he'd made some kind of mistake. Yet, while sifting through Murakumo's memories, he could only find excited emotions for the place around him. Double-checking and triple-checking as his sanity began to question itself, the young man's newly materialized body just shrugged. In the end, he decided to just roll with it and see what happened since he was running out of time to spare.

He then began the process of trying to repair Murakumo's mind, which was left in a disheartening state. While it was convenient that her memories were still together, the rest of her mind was like a hundred-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle from Hell. But, having known what he was getting into, the young man immediately set out to work by sewing up the fragments. Fortunately, unlike said puzzles, the mind was essentially the result of blending together personality, memories, teachings, impulses, and several other major and miniscule things. All he really had to do was bring the aspects together and they'd just mix into the largening mass.

It was going smoothly until the young man found the portion of Murakumo's mind that needed correction in the first place. As it turned out, Sato's correction did nothing for the problem at all. Rather than starve the distortion by severing it from the mind entirely, the personality was separated but still maintained a link to the Murakumo's mind so that the corruption could still feed off of it. The reason for Sato's extreme swiftness was, in fact, more because of an amateur mistake than expertise. After closer observation, the young man grimly realized that the element of the affected personality was damaged beyond repair. While it wasn't the worst-case scenario, since a bit of mental growth over time could offer some patchwork, it definitely meant that there could be a change in Murakumo's behavior for the time being.

While offering a prayer of thanks since the distortion was still so underdeveloped, the young man cut away the affected personality and allowed it to be released for a brief moment. Thus, after it was separated, the corruption died away and all that had to be done was have Murakumo accept it back. As the destroyed city around him continued to burn, the young man began to materialize her consciousness.

"…and thus, standing over the remnants of the great foes' army, the lone surviving heroine made a vow to herself…"

The young man could feel all of the gears in his mind come to a stop as he processed what he'd just heard from the deep voice that undeniably belonged to Murakumo. He peered his head around and immediately felt himself go blank in confusion.

Standing atop a pedestal made of rubble with the Japanese flag waving behind her, Murakumo was slowly taking off her mask to gaze upon the burning city while she quietly monologued to herself, "But the job was far from over. Rather, even with the destruction of the Organization's armada, she knew it was all just getting started. Even setting aside her natural enemy found within man, there were beasts of all different sorts that would give anything to take her head…"

"Murakumo," called the young man, who was still unsure on how to react.

"With the failed activation of the great weapon that they regarded to be as an angel's halo, the Organization would continue to pursue its one enemy across the galaxy! For she, who was worth ten thousand elite warriors, would never bend down to them! Never would she offer her blood, which they wanted for reasons unknown… No… Her fight had only just begun…"

"Murakumo!" cried the young man, forgetting about all of his anxieties and fears in favor of the bemusing scene before him.

Finally craning her head back and turning to look down at the young man, coming off like an unbelievably awesome superhero of a different sort, Murakumo reequipped her mask and pointed her blade down to him, "Don't interrupt!" while raising up her spear to enthusiastically clench her fist, "This is the scene where it gets awesome…"

"I shouldn't indulge this…" muttered the young man before he leaned his chin onto a hand, "Yet, I'm so tempted-," only to smack himself in the face to stammer, "No. Different time, different place." After quietly shaming himself a bit more, the young man called up, "Do you realize we're… in your head right now?"

Murakumo tilted her head and lowered her spear for a moment. Then, just as the young man thought shock was coursing through her, she only shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, "That makes sense. This felt a bit more real than usual," and proceeded to wave her fingers for the boy to come closer, "Well, come on. You can take part as the fanservice."

The young man blinked and quietly echoed, "Fanservice? I'm can't-, I'm not-, follow…" before proceeding to lay his face into his hands in confused frustration.

"Get up here already," called Murakumo, "I really want to get to the next part of the chapter where we end on a big cliffhanger before the next volume."

Raising his head and narrowing his eyes on her, the young man let his hands slump down, "Okay, I'm lost. Where are we and what's this talk of chapters, volumes, and cliffhangers?"

"Look around you!" cried Murakumo as she threw her arms into the air, "We're on the planet Eramia, home of the mystically unnamed Organization in the system Kalzicor!" She enthusiastically gestured to herself and danced her body around as she explained, "Just now, I've destroyed their super-secret weapon along with their armada of spaceships! Now, as the Last Eclipse event hangs over the planet's nearing destruction, it is up to me… and you, if you're interested-"

"I'm getting there."

"-to save the planets' alien inhabitants from slavery before the surface begins to crumble, bringing forth demons of a different dimension!" Having finished her synopsis of the surrounding scene, Murakumo just stared at the young man before awkwardly taking off her mask to give him a straightforward expression, "It's my comic. Quit ruining the mood."

"That~," called the young man, "explains a fair bit," before he clapped his hands together, "Well, I'll probably sit this one out but don't let me hold you back-"

"Believe me, I wouldn't let you in the first place."

"-but, before I leave you to your devices, could I just complete the correction?"

Pursing her lips and resting the mask down to her side, Murakumo thought to herself for a moment before giving a shrug, "How to fit this in… how to fit this in…" and then clicked her fingers, "Right!" Donning the mask again and extending a hand to the young man, she boomed, "Come forth and restore me to my truest self!"

"That's a way to put it."

"Though I've taken on our foe thus far and have bested them today, there is no telling what is to come tomorrow! In truth, I do not like the odds of me fighting the coming reinforcements from the neighboring systems. But, if I am restored to maximum power, then we-, no… all of the people on this planet may stand a chance! Come then."

While Murakumo extended a hand forward to pull the young man onto the rubble, the boy mumbled to himself, "I am burning this into memory… Never will I tell this tale but I will remember it…" and reached forward to grasp onto her. Much to his surprise, the shinobi took hold of his forearm and yanked him toward her. With an extremely theatric spin and a yelp, "WAIT…!" the young man landed into her other arm and nervously curled his hands up to stammer, "What're you doing?"

Taking off her mask, Murakumo replied with a cool and showy expression on her face, "Revive my inner spirit again."

"Why're we doing it this way?"

After asking that question, Murakumo's face was immediately filled with irritation, "Shut it," and poked a finger into the young man's nose, "This is a non-satirical action novel for girls and you're the fanservice. No objections to showy behavior allowed."

Unwilling to put up with the antics that he was getting pulled into, the boy immediately just extended his hand into the shinobi's forehead and stated, "Oh, mighty-warrior… protagonist-person lady… whatever your character's name is supposed to be."

"Call me… Murakumo," said the girl with sparkle in her teeth. Before the young man could even make a quiet remark, she interjected by throwing her finger up, "The character's name isn't actually Murakumo, for the record. She's just a self-insert for me so I'll be using her name once it comes to drawing all this."

The young man, not really sure what to say other than, "Right…" continued, "Oh, mighty Murakumo… won't you please accept this part of your inner-self so that you might be whole again…? Why did that actually feel cool to say?"

"You could have been a bit more theatric and emotional," grumbled Murakumo before she shrugged, "but you've got good word choice. I'll happily accept this part of me! For the sake of the planet, I'll gain the power-," and was promptly cut off by the young man thrusting his hand forward to take hers. After a moment of the two sitting there like that, Murakumo eventually made the comment, "I don't know which part of me you're trying to get me to accept, but it's making me uncomfortable. Can I have a different one?"

Pulling his hand back, the young man stated, "Mighty Murakumo, what I wish to-, damn this kind of speech. I'm trying to give you back your impulse to conform."

Murakumo tilted her head, "My what?"

Waving one of his hands around in an attempt to find the right words, the young man eventually explained, "Your… urge to uphold the surrounding social standards?"

Without any hesitation, Murakumo proceeded to spike the young man down the rubble hill. The boy bounced headfirst into the ground and, if he weren't in the girl's cognition, he would have most certainly had most of the bones throughout his body broken. Once he painlessly stood up and gazed at Murakumo in confusion, she threw a flattened hand off into the air and declared, "I'll not accept any weaknesses back into myself…!" before lowering her head and raising a concerned finger, "But, before that, are you okay? I threw you pretty hard just now."

"Nope. I'm quadriplegic," stated the young man matter-of-factly while shifting around on his legs. After a moment, he raised up his hands and began to rapidly fiddle fingers back and forth.

Not taking the sarcasm lightly, Murakumo muttered, "A shame it didn't kill you…" before shaking her head, "Regardless, at least your fine," and then grasped her hand into a fist, "AN-Y-WAYS-!" but was cut off.

"This is the part where I actually correct you, right?" asked the young man.

"No."

The boy blinked, "This is… the part where I try to convince you to let me correct you?"

Thumping a fist against her chest, Murakumo declared, "While I am steadfast in my current desire to remain without weakness," before pointing to the young man, "I am a believer in hearing the words of peaceful negotiation-, Would you quit laughing!?"

Throwing his hands up in protest without any evident humor on his face, the infiltrator protested, "I'm not laughing at all," before crossing his arms, "Though, if I were to laugh at something, it would certainly be your behavior. Could you take this seriously and speak normally?"

With a confused gaze, Murakumo stared blankly for a moment and scratched the side of her head, "Weird… I thought I heard laughing…"

Snorting a lighthearted bit of breath, the young man turned his head away, "I'd say that's crazy but… well, looking at the act that you're putting on…"

Hearing his snide words, Murakumo growled down to him, "Are you picking a fight?" and then gestured to the world around her, "This is my imagination and I will not be mocked for living it-, QUIT LAUGHING!"

Without even a bouncing shoulder, the young man whipped his head back to her, "I'm not laughing!"

"Well," Murakumo spun around a bit in place to check her surrounding, "someone is! And I know you, mister magic-mind-man. You're probably messing with me right now by manipulating my brain to make me think I'm hearing laughter!"

"Hey, as interesting and tempting an idea that is," cried the young man, "I haven't done anything beyond appearing to you here-," before a new thought clicked into him and he whipped his head around, "SATO! SHUP UP! I'M TRYING TO WORK HERE!"

Straightening up in alarm as her ears twitched, Murakumo paused for a moment and asked, "Did you… hear her just now?"

Turning back to her, the young man shook his head, "I honestly can't hear a thing."

"Well… that's troubling" mumbled Murakumo with a shiver. After a moment, she scratched the back of her head and shifted her weight back and forth as silence took over the two. Then, without warning, the shinobi jumped with a small yelp and slashed her sword into open air. After a moment of her breathing heavily, she barked, "Buzz off!" and sliced her sword again.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked the young man.

"It's-," stumbled Murakumo before she tripped over and fell off the mound of rubble. Knowing that she wouldn't feel any pain, the young man casually walked over to her and watched silently as she scrambled to pick herself back up, "Sato, you coward…! You-, mock me as you will, I'll make sure-," before facing the infiltrator, "What is she doing here!?"

Not even seeing a hint that Sato was in the surrounding environment, the young man just turned to the mound that she was supposedly standing upon and stated, "SATO! WHAT'D I SAY OUT THERE!? FUCK OFF!"

"You heard him!" stated Murakumo as she combatively raised her blade. Then, after a few seconds of silence, the girl innocently turned back to the young man to say, "Oh… Apparently, she can't hear you either…"

The boy proceeded to pinch the bridge of his nose as he grumbled, "What're-, you're kidding me-, Oh, by the word of whatever god or goddess that reigns above…" before he raised his head, "Is she talking? Can you ignore her while I talk to you?"

Murakumo began by saying, "I don't know, she's trying to make conversation-," but then suddenly raised a palm up to the rubble, "No, I was talking to-, you're the she I was referring to! What other she could I-, Are there other people in my head too!?"

Holding his head with evident frustration, the young man tried to think of a way to simplify the current matter. He reviewed his objective, that being to get Murakumo to accept back her impulses to conform, and tried to plot out a way to hold her attention. As he did his thinking, the shinobi continued her conversation with Sato.

"Yes, I have a problem with you being here…! Remember what you did on the street? Between the guns-, what…? No, you started to say something… Go ahead, go ahead…" All the while Murakumo's body language would jump from hostile to curious to friendly to hostile on repeat. Where she was leaning her body forward and reaching for her cleaver one moment, she was crossing her arms and nodding along the next. At one point, she jumped and clenched both of her fists, "Don't bring up the scene… No, there's no shame in it. I just don't like the thought of being judged by you…! Oh, apologize as you wish. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason we're stuck here right now is because of you… Yeah, well, sorry doesn't cut it. One day, I'm free to draw and imagine my comics in peace. Now, I have you and a guy with a stick up his ass mocking me for the private imagery within my own head…"

Still in the middle of his train of thought, the young man casually waved his hand to retort, "You're free to do as you please without my mockery so long as you take serious situations, you know, seriously…"

Murakumo turned to him, "I am taking this seriously-…" before she turned her head back around, "No, that was… Yeah, he's just making some snide remarks… Well, he sounds like a jerk because he can be a jerk… No, he's actually pretty cool. Stiff and dry, sure. But he has his moments of being a bit more lively… I mean lively… As in-, yes… No, seriously. He's gone to karaoke, makes small jokes with some decent timing… Well, no… There aren't many examples to choose from thanks to all the stress we've all been under, no thanks to you, by the way… Again, sorry doesn't cut it… Well, feel free to work on that…"

Unable to focus anymore, the young man narrowed his eyes on Murakumo as she set her weapons to the ground and asked, "Are you making friendly with Sato? The same girl who literally blew apart your mind? Are you serious?"

Murakumo waved a hand over to him as she relaxed her shoulders, "You just do your thing for a bit. I'm listening to what Sato has to say for herself," before turning back to where she'd been facing, "Yeah, he's pretty ticked with you… What all else happened out there…? Okay. Now, what kind of trouble did you cause…? Could you be a bit more specific…?" From there, Murakumo just began to nod along as the apparent story of Sato's chase was recounted to her.

The young man, on the other hand, finally managed to plot his argument against the shinobi's objection to the correction. But just as he raised his hand to get Murakumo's attention, he was waved away while she continued to listen to the story, making all kinds of comments that ranged from, "Jeez, they went all in on you," to, "Well, you certainly suck. I'm amazed they didn't kill you," along with a rare, "Impressive." Through it all, the young man sat idly by while he felt more and more amazed by the fact that Murakumo would rather make casual conversation than be corrected. Certainly, he could understand someone not wanting to address something they didn't like, but one's mental health usually took priority. Then again, perhaps because of the lack of her conformity, Murakumo had no real inclination to behave normally when no subconscious brakes were applied. Heck, with that in mind, he didn't really need to question her uncharacteristically hyperactive behavior. Rather, he just focused on the fact that she hadn't been wearing her mask through a great portion of the conversation.

Eventually, once Sato's tale was finished, Murakumo gave a solid nod and said, "You'd make a crappy final villain, let me tell you," with a single clap of her hands. After a moment, the shinobi defensively crossed her arms and stated, "You ran… Final bosses don't do that… Well then those are some pretty crappy games you've been playing then… Want me to describe it? Fine. A final boss is supposed to be the grandest confrontation in the entire work. It comes to a slow start and steadily builds with intensity. It's supposed to be a physical and mental battle between the hero and main or secondary antagonist, though the latter can only be provided when the main antagonist is a weak coward. Either way, the point is that there needs to be a grand confrontation…"

"Murakumo," called the young man with a glower, steadily losing his patience while the girl chatted with Sato like they were actually friends.

"Hold on," called the shinobi without making eye contact, "we're talking about the critical elements of storytelling right now…"

Raising up his hands into the air in a mix of anger and desperation, the young man slowly asked, "Is that seriously more important than fixing up your head…?"

"In this case? Yes."

The boy slumped to the ground in defeat and prepared himself to sit for an eternity in a terribly monotonous Hell. Gazing out to the burning city within Murakumo's imagination, the only thing he could mumble was, "Run, sweet citizens… your savior has abandoned both you and I…"

"You're sure…?" asked the shinobi after a few seconds of silence, still maintaining her conversation with Sato, "To be frank, I don't see myself going through with it… Yeah, really. I haven't felt this good since… Well, I don't rightly know. But, for the first time since my mom and dad have passed, I don't really care about how I come off… It's not really hard to describe. Without that conformation-thing that he mentioned, I don't feel the need to hide my hideous face… Yes, I said hideous…" Murakumo let out a sarcastic snort, "There's no need to be nice since we're still enemies. I'm hideous…"

Raising up his head a bit, the young man turned around to ask, "Wait, I didn't mishear that?"

Murakumo faced him with pursed lips, "What?"

"You said you were hideous?"

"Yes."

"And you were being serious?"

"Yes."

Waving his hand dismissively, the young man snarked, "Jeez… With beauty-standards like yours, are the rest of us repugnant to you?"

Without any bit of deceit, Murakumo shook her head, "Not at all. I know that my sisters were certainly blessed with great looks, especially with the elegance that Yozakura and Yumi carry with their step. Then there's Ikaruga and Yomi, of course, who're two opposites when it comes to what makes them attractive but are still otherworldly. Though, overall, I'd say that everyone's got a great bit of beauty to them."

The young man narrowed his eyes, "Yet, you call yourself ugly?"

"I'm hideous."

"Shut your face," called the young man.

Murakumo briefly turned to her side, where Sato was apparently standing, "Hey, I've already got him on my case. I don't need you doubling down either…" before facing the boy, "I'm only speaking the truth."

Boldly standing himself up straight and strutting to the girl, the young man looked up into Murakumo's eyes and brazenly asked, "Alright, I'll indulge your thought process for a bit. Point out which part of you is ugly."

The shinobi blinked, "My face."

"Which part?"

"All of it."

"Be specific."

Murakumo gave her cheeks a small puff as she narrowed her eyes down onto the young man and grunted something incoherent. Then, after letting out a defiant breath, she pointed above eyes, "My hairline shows too much forehead."

"And what a lovely forehead it is. Point rejected. Next."

Murakumo raised her finger with a bit of a falter, "My… hair is too thick and it isn't a nice shade of brown…" before she recalled the other shinobi brunettes and stammered, "for me, anyways."

The young man raised a hand and hovered it up the girl's head, "If I may?" and awaited permission to pat her.

"You may not," stated Murakumo with narrowed eyes, determined to hold the high ground of the conversation.

"Very well," said the boy without much concern before he added, "While I can't speak for how thick your hair is, both the color and the texture of it are lovely," and gestured to the red ribbon holding Murakumo's mane in a ponytail, "and that complements it… Plus, there's nothing wrong with thick hair. Point rejected. Next."

"Oh~… I know what you're doing," stated Murakumo as she lowered her arms and clenched her fists, "You're just trying to butter me up so that you can turn the conversation into an argument for me to accept the correction. Don't lie."

"I'll be honest," said the young man as he calmly raised his hands in surrender, "my goal is to steer the conversation in that direction," before pointing up a finger, "though, I do still consider the prospect of you being hideous to be completely bull."

"You're lying," said Murakumo with a hint of aggression.

"And you're lying about me lying because you know I'm being truthful," retorted the young man.

Recoiling a bit from the exchange, the shinobi slumped herself over for a moment. After a few seconds, she raised a palm to the unseen Sato, "No, I'm fine… He's just being frustrating…"

"Frustratingly truthful?"

"Shut up, you ass," hissed Murakumo before she proceeded to rub her temples. Regaining her composure, she pointed a finger to the boy, "Listen, we could go over how hideous I am from the nose to the mouth or my cheeks-," but was cut off.

"All of those are lovely, I'll quickly add."

Tired of feeling like her point was being ignored, she pointed to him, "Shut up," and continued, "Regardless of all that, I still feel wonderful without that impulse to conform or whatever you called it. What good will it do me to take it back?"

"You'll be you again," stated the young man as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, what if I told you I didn't like who I was!?" growled Murakumo. She took an aggressive step against the young man as he continued to hold his ground and said, "I want no part of who I was before. All of that hiding behind a mask, all of that fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time… it's gone now and it's so liberating! Now, I just don't care about the approval of others. I can say what I want to say when I want to say it!" After wracking her mind for a moment, she gestured to the boy, "Do you think I could say all the things I said earlier, when I was reenacting a scene from my comics? All of those things that would make me look like a middle schooler in real life? Or, better yet, do you think I'd be able to argue against you in the way I am now? Without my mask?" and then to her face, "Have you even seen without it before?"

"No. I haven't seen your face before," replied the young man before adding, "Also, no. I don't think you would have said any of those things that you said earlier and, from what I can guess, you wouldn't be able to argue without your mask."

"Well, if my face is so pretty to you," groaned Murakumo, "then you'll be sad to see it go once I have to accept back my conformity or whatever it is," before a new thought occurred to her and she sneered, "Or am I just too unbearable or annoying with how I am now? I imagine that my hideous face probably isn't worth all of the babbling I'd be doing."

"Certainly, you're a bit forward and even a bit obnoxious the way you are now," said the young man with a nod before stating, "but I wouldn't go changing someone into a certain way just for my own benefit."

"Quit lying!" cried Murakumo as she extended her hand and shoved the boy back a bit, "Do you think I've forgotten why you're here in the first place? Correcting me and everyone else isn't a charity that you're running out of the goodness of your heart. You just want to complete your deal with Hanzō and Jasmine, finish working with us, and then you'll make for the highway!" Before the young man could interject, Murakumo approached him again and shot a finger into his face, "You said it before! You called yourself a selfish piece of shit!"

"I have!" hissed the young man as he jutted his face into the girl's finger, getting poked in the eye in the process of doing so, "I am a selfish piece of shit and I haven't forgotten my goal while I've been here this whole time. It's the whole reason I've been enduring as much as I have in the first place."

While he took a moment to cool down, Murakumo took the opportunity to jab at him, "Then quit acting like some kind of wise and generous saint. You want to guide me to being the entire me that I am, with all of my weaknesses and shortcomings, when I could a live a free life that you, yourself, strive for? Don't be a hypocrite."

The young man snorted and pulled his lips into a tight frown, feeling the full force of the insult that the shinobi dished out to him. But, after forcing himself to suck in a breath and letting out a lengthy exhale, he stared at her with hardened eyes and spoke in a quiet voice, "You're not wrong with some of the things you said… I'm not a saint. In fact, I'm probably some overbearing idiot who's offering life advice to a bunch of people who've experienced just as much hardship as he has… if not more." After taking another breath and averting his gaze to the burning city that Murakumo found comfort in, the young man continued, "Perhaps, I'm even a hypocrite at times. But, when I tell you to accept back what you consider a weakness or shortcoming, I'm not doing so just to get the job done… I'm not doing it because it's the easy way. In fact, with all of this, the easy escape would be to just cut off the correction and celebrate how I totally cured you, saying that your new personality is just some side effect or some other lie."

Murakumo snorted and averted her eyes away, "Just do that then… Let's be done with this."

"No," replied the young man in his low voice.

"Why not?" demanded the shinobi before she waved her arm, "We can walk out of here, me without any of my usual weaknesses and with you being a step closer-," but was sharply interrupted.

"I may not seem like it," growled the young man, "but I have some disciplines in me. One of which deeply conflicts with what you're telling me to do."

"And what would that be?" questioned Murakumo as she fixed her eyes back on him.

"Acceptance and love for one's self," stated the young man. Offering a pat to the left of his chest, he annunciated, "Every strength and weakness… every disadvantage and shortcoming I have as a person… from my tendency to be a dickhead all the way to my recent habit of making stupid choices in the heat of a moment when I had time to plan better! All of it, I love and accept it!"

Murakumo sneered, "And I suppose that, because Narcissus here loves himself so much, the rest of us should follow suit?"

"Perhaps and perhaps not," retorted the young man before he stated, "Sure, I deem myself acceptable but others will disagree. But," and emphasized the last word, "I do know one thing because of my personal impulses for conformation. I'm fit and healthy to be with the rest of society. I won't have a bunch of people point at me while commenting about what a lunatic I am. Therefore, I see nothing wrong with myself." Taking a brief moment to think, he continued, "From there, I can work to overcome my weaknesses with my own strength! I have no need to subvert or try and act like my weaknesses don't exist because I've already acknowledged them and can work around them!" Shaking his head, the young man gestured to Murakumo, "Yet, you'd rather throw away a part of yourself to ignore those weaknesses. Then what? You think you'll be without weaknesses from here on?"

"Why wouldn't I be!?" questioned Murakumo, feeling herself crane back as the infiltrator began to push himself closer, "If there's no weaknesses, there's only strengths!"

"Two words," said the young man as he raised a couple of fingers. "Yin and yang. You'll get rid of the dark now but it'll show up in a different form right after. Then, once that weakness or shortcoming makes itself known, you can have fun trying to work around it. Meanwhile, you can bet that everyone else will be leaving you on your own."

"You're saying that everyone will turn their backs on me?" questioned Murakumo with narrowed eyes, halting her retreat as someone dared to suggest that she would be abandoned, "You think my sisters would leave me just because I've changed a bit?"

"With how tightly knit the lot of you are? No," answered the young man before his frown tightened even more, "but it won't be the same thing you have now." He took another step toward her and growled, "Whether you like it or not, they know you as the Murakumo who liked to hide and talk tough behind a mask. Sure, they may love and accept this new you once you're out, they're your sisters after all… but, with how drastic this change is, it'll be like meeting a new person for them. From there, you can enjoy the coming years of trying reintegrate yourself as their sister… because whenever they recall your name and consider who you are as a person… they'll recall who you were before you decided to take the easy route… before you decided to jump into supposed strength while actively avoiding whatever growth they could witness out of you…"

Murakumo was about to strike the young man but, as though an invisible force grabbed her shoulder, was spun around to where Sato was apparently standing. She swore at first and raised her fist again, "Not now!" Then her head cracked to the side and a red mark appeared on Murakumo's face. She stood there silently for nearly a minute, not feeling any pain as she slowly turned her head back to Sato. Twitching in response to the harsh words they were taking in, her ears understood all of the words that the young man couldn't hear. He was going to interject to try and grab Murakumo's attention before he noticed that she was beginning to tear up. Instead, the young man opted to stay back. On the other hand, the shinobi's face only continued to tighten up. She sucked in her lips and pulled them into a defiant frown as she tried to muster words of rebuttal. But Sato kept talking, whether to shame Murakumo for setting aside a part of herself or to share her own experiences from one dysfunctional loner to another. At the end of it all, the shinobi reluctantly turned to the young man and murmured, "Do it then… Go ahead and… do-, just do it…"

Letting out a heavy breath mixed between sympathy and relief, the young man did not tarry. He approached Murakumo again and extended his hand forward, to which she reciprocated by hesitantly extending forth her own. From there, he pushed the impulses of conformity back into her and made her whole again. At the very moment that they came apart, Murakumo whipped her mask onto her face and looked down to the ground. Feeling a bit of guilt wash over him at the sight of her lowered head, the young man asked, "You're alright?"

"I don't want to be here anymore," came Murakumo's gruff voice.

He began to ask, "Do you want to talk-," but was cut off.

"Just get us out of here."

Though he saw the anger coming once the two began to argue, the young man was still a bit hurt by the aggressive attitude that Murakumo was taking. But he knew that it was her right and, so long as she was whole again, he wouldn't argue against it. Thus, he nodded his head with a hint of determined finality, "Alright."

Just as he was about to release himself and Murakumo from her cognition, the girl suddenly ordered, "You aren't to tell anyone what happened in here… Not without me present," as her voice began to distance itself without warning, "Under-, understand… what's happening?" Suddenly, the world all around them burned white and everything broke away.

The young man couldn't respond at all. His mind was getting sucked back into his body as the connection between all of their minds gave out. While Murakumo remained behind, he and Sato were thrown back into their respective bodies. The young man couldn't hear the dignitary but he believed that he could feel a confused and terrified presence alongside him. Not long after, it was gone as the two passed through Sato's mind. Quickly after that, he was thrust back into his body.

Even as alarmed voices around him inquired after him… even as the gentle hands which kept him pressed up against Sato's forehead were caressing him with assurance… even as he could make every voice out as clear as day… the young man could only register the agony of a headache to surpass any worldly migraine. Even worse, he remembered from his grandfather's warnings that his was only suffering the beginning. Clenching his hands up to the side of his head, the young man started a groan which turned into a strained yell.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of conformational impulses, you have saved a young woman from a life in which she'd be lost in the pleasures of her own self-indulgent madness, who would act without care or regard for those whom she still loved…**

**Ah…**

**Despite this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has cursed her again with a weakness which she desperately wished to set aside. From this, contempt is born. And from this contempt, the flames of hate will burn until circumstance extinguishes them…**

**You've done your ultimate… It is only that the world yearns for your end that this should be your reward… Really and truly, life is too cruel…**


	38. Chapter 38: Unforeseen Consequences

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 38: Unforeseen Consequences

For Tsao, the relocation up to the northern countryside had been one of his greater decisions in recent years. Between the pleasant temperatures from late spring to early fall and the ability to bundle up once the frost came, there was almost a year-round feeling of being soothed by the natural elements. In addition to that, Tsao's daughter, Little Nian, was able to quickly make friends at the local school and his wife, Chitoge, was able to find a part-time job as a bartender to keep herself busy. At the end of the day, once he finished his work as a dark web consultant for anyone within a violently illegal line of work, the family would come together and would find contentment in one another's company.

If Tsao didn't have to set out, he would have been able to enjoy that little paradise on Earth for a bit longer. But, between the news' multiple broadcasts and the calls that he managed to make, he couldn't let himself be at ease. How could he when evidence was mounting and screaming the words, "Your youngest brother is in trouble! How can you sit there!?" Thus, he got onto the nearest train and rode off.

Of course, Tsao wrapped up the two loves of his life into his arms before leaving and told them that he had to go save Uncle. Just the thought of that final scene reminded him of how pure Little Nian was. While Tsao's middle brother was simply called Uncle Haruo or just plain Haruo with little regard, since even a child could tell how unlikeable that man was, the young man was always referred to as Uncle, an affectionate name to label him as the head of all uncles. So, when Little Nian pointed up to her daddy and ordered in her squeaky voice, "Save Uncle," while throwing her arms into the air, "and win against the bad people!" to send him off, who was Tsao to disobey?

Amidst his pondering, the tall man received a phone call from one of his contacts. Grunting out a bit of frustration for having his precious memory cut off, Tsao clicked open his cheap flip phone and answered, "Lajos?"

"Yessir," came a man with a distinct European accent, though nobody shamed him since he came extremely far in the few years that he'd been learning Japanese.

Of course, Tsao had no issues with making the man comfortable by speaking his Hungarian tongue, "_You were able to make the arrangements then_?"

"_Yup_._ I_'_ve managed to sort out an apartment_." There was some shuffling on the other end, "_Uh_…_ hold on_._ And I_'_ve got confirmation that we'll have thirteen of our people_, _you and Haruo included_,_ there within thirty-six hours_."

"_Thirteen may not be enough_, _considering how many dignitaries we_'_ll probably be going up against_." Tsao sighed loudly before adding, "_And that_'s_ before we consider the shinobi_…"

"_I tried to get Rico_'_s team together_. _Unfortunately_,_ he was on vacation with his mother and father_." Lajos tittered halfheartedly and said, "_Of course_,_ with your history_-"

"_That_'_s what he_'_s calling it now_?"

"-_he_'_s leaving early and is getting a flight back to the US_. _From there_, _he_'_ll get connecting flights to Osaka and ride the trains to us_._"_

"_Keep me posted then_," grunted Tsao, wondering what kind of challenge would likely be awaiting the infiltrators. If they had the usual group together, there wouldn't be an issue. But, as with anyone, they had their own lives and even the sudden news that the young man was likely in danger couldn't put everything on hold.

"_Will do_,_ Boss_," came Lajos' voice before Tsao clicked the phone shut.

He reached to the large suitcase resting by his legs and dared to briefly pop it open so that he could check the components of his equipment. However, upon seeing the metallic glint waiting for him inside, Tsao decided against an in-depth investigation. Both he and his wife had already doublechecked everything. At that point, he knew he was just being overcautious in the face of the coming struggle. But there was no need to worry. Even if some people were unable to come help, he still had the same tools which had not even once failed him in the past… If he could only get ahold of Haruo, everything would be together. Though, by the sound of it, Lajos had better luck than he did on that matter.

Taking his thoughts off his middle brother, who was likely getting wasted in a bar or sexed up with his fellow degenerates, Tsao dwelled on the TV broadcast he'd watched earlier that day. But just remembering the footage of a young girl, who was certainly a dignitary if her equipment and lackluster fighting had anything to say, was enough to bring anxiety to the tall man. Never mind her flying around and the fact that, by the news' words, "her mask was ripped off by a strong updraft of sorts, exposing her to be a student named Hazuki Sato," Tsao wasn't able to stop thinking about the fact that she had apparently been shooting at someone. Between suspicious updrafts that had the internet debating what actually happened and targets that witnesses said were two young men who had yet to be located, it wasn't very hard to know what was going on in the city where his youngest brother was working to correct a mass of shinobi. The only question, in regards to those shadowy killers who were hidden away from the lens of every camera, was whether or not they were hostile.

Clenching his teeth together and swearing death on anyone who could even be associated with danger to anyone he loved, Tsao continued to ride the train in complete silence. His time would come soon. All his little brother had to do was wait. From there, he would be safe and suffer no more harm.

Meanwhile, the young man was groaning loudly into the air as he continued to press his hands into his forehead. Voices continued to scatter around him, between Yumi saying something to Asuka before leaving him with the brunette to Homura threatening Sato, ordering her to not even blink. He could discern and understand it all. It just really blew his head into a world of pain to think about any of it.

During that little bit of chaos, Yozakura was kneeling in front of a blinking Murakumo while snapping her fingers, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey… are you alright!?" before rubbing a gentle hand along the girl's head, "You're okay now, right?"

Fatigued and visibly tired, Murakumo could only murmur, "Yeah… good enough…" before tiredly slumping over. Not allowing her to rest against the ground, Minori and Shiki caught the girl in their arms and pulled her into a hug while Yumi oversaw them. Once she was sure that her sister was fine, exhibiting the same traits as she did after her own correction, she turned back to the young man with a visible air of worry.

Though Asuka was rubbing the top of his head, offering comforting whispers after comforting whispers, "It is-, it's all over now… You're okay, you're okay…" it became apparent that his pain wasn't subsiding at all.

Fully aware the young man's suffering and how little pain Sato appeared to be in, Homura and Miyabi already had their weapons drawn on the dignitary, with the latter holding her wounded arm, and were asking, "What'd you do!?"

Of course, not having any knowledge on the process of tethering or any of its potential consequences, Sato couldn't even begin to guess about what had happened. All she could really do was frightfully stammer, "I didn't-, I swear I didn't do this! This isn't me!"

Seething through his teeth, the young man adjusted himself and kept taking heavy breath after heavy breath. The pain he felt could only be labeled as a severe headache. Through all of the throbbing in the front of his dome, the straining sensation behind his eyes, the ringing within his pulsing eardrums, and a sore feeling in the back of his neck, the only thing he could truly dwell on was how insufferable all of the noise was.

"Too loud," grunted the boy as he pulled a bit from Asuka's gentle hold.

She rubbed another gentle hand across the top of his head while murmuring, "Please, just rest for now…"

The young man didn't even regard her on that and pulled himself up to growl, "I am fine…!" before launching himself out of Asuka's grip and onto his feet. While he wasn't fast enough to get out of her reach, as the brunette quickly stood up and grasped the boy's shoulders, he was able to get the attention of Miyabi and Homura with his brash act. The two shinobi turned their attention away from Sato and toward him and, just as they were about to say something, he gave a hoarse cry, "It's as I said before…! …just a headache…"

Seeing the young man's unsteady wobble, which left him dependent on Asuka to continue standing, Homura was the first to question, "After all your yelling, you'd call that a headache?" and sheathed her blades, "It sounded like you were on your deathbed a moment ago."

Waving his hand dismissively while trying to ignore the pain in the back of his eyes, the young man spouted, "I won't say it doesn't hurt but, as I said before correcting Murakumo, it's just a headache and nothing more…"

Miyabi turned a suspicious eye back to Sato, who was quivering in fear, before sighing, "If it's just that… fine-, but still," and quickly approached the boy, "you should be resting. We'll get you home."

"What about Sato?" came Oda's voice from above. Mostly everyone's eyes went up to find the massive shinobi slowly clambering down a fire escape, with only the young man clenching his eyes shut to give them a brief moment of relief. Once he was close enough to the ground, Oda leaped over the railing and landed before the dignitary.

Before anyone could offer any potential threats her way, Sato looked up to Oda and folded her hands together to beg, "Please… I don't want to die-," but was cut off.

"It isn't about what you want," answered Oda in a cold voice before he turned to the girls, glancing his eyes toward Murakumo more than once, "By law, I should be arresting her and bringing her in," and then locked his eyes onto Miki, "You too."

Feeling his heart stop, Miki turned pale as he faced the prospect of being arrested and facing the consequences for being a dignitary. But, before he could say anything to his defense, the young man already groaned out for him, "He never chose to be a one of them…"

Oda narrowed his eyes back onto the infiltrator, "What do you mean?"

Shutting his eyes to breath in and letting out a loud exhale, the young man locked to Oda and asked, "You made an exception for me because of my circumstances, right…? It's because you knew I had no choice in being an infiltrator that we made our deal…?"

Seeing where the boy was going, Oda was about to defend his actions before taking in the young man's exhausted form. Even though he had no idea what kind of struggles the infiltrator had gone through up to that point, the shinobi still had sympathy. Thus, when it came time to reply, Oda could only murmur, "You're correct."

"Miki's the same way…" said the young man, "Though he's a dignitary, he had no choice in the matter… Yet, despite his background, he's as normal as any other person… Even as one who was born into a higherup's family, he still looks and behaves like an airheaded high schooler…" After a moment, the boy continued with a voice that grew heavier with every word, "If you think that he's a threat, I'll point you to what happened yesterday, when he admitted to my face despite knowing that I'd probably react violently… And, when I did exactly that, he still warned me of a coming attack on Sato's part…" The young man's voice descended into a groan and he had to hold his head for a moment. Yet, once Oda moved to talk, he held up a finger to quiet him before continuing, "If you'll have mercy on me, then show some on him… or feel free to give me back the resources I gave you to hunt Tsao and take the both of us."

Turning to face Miki, who was breathing heavily with uncertainty at that point, the shinobi sucked in a breath and pondered his options. He remembered his disciplines and beliefs that brought about the deal with the young man and considered doing the same with Miki. Yet, there was still a defining difference between the two. While the young man was actively working to leave his life behind, there was no sign of that from Miki. Oda sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Once again, his principle to uphold the law conflicted with the order his grandfather bestowed to him. Yet, how could he be a liberator of sheep on their way to the slaughter if it meant that he was continually playing loose with strict directives?

There was only one way for Oda to properly test his own resolve. He approached Miki and kneeled down to look him dead in the eye. Then the shinobi asked himself whether or not he'd be able or even willing to kill the boy by his own hand. After all, if an executioner couldn't look into the eyes of those he was killing and find peace with what he was doing, what right did he have to take that life in the first place? As it so happened, Oda found his answer not long after. It only took a small bit of observation into Miki's wide and frightful eyes to realize he was as harmless as a garter snake hiding his tiny head within some coils. If he intended to remain that way and stay out of shinobi business, unlike the young man, then what harm was he?

"I suppose…" Oda clicked his tongue, stood back up, "I never saw this boy today… and, with our limited knowledge of dignitaries, neither I nor any of my subordinates are very sure that he's aware of his father's activities… We can't even confirm he's a dignitary after all, so long as he carries on with his," and emphasized the next word, "legal activities."

At first, Miki didn't catch on, "No, wait-, that's code for… something?"

The young man quickly groaned, "He's saying that you're good to go…"

The brunette's eyes practically beamed once he realized that he was being set free. He stood up, bowed profusely to Oda while stuttering, "Thank you! Thank you, thank you so much!" and faced the young man, "Thank you too! Bless you and thank you!" He began to turn away towards the alley's exit before a thought occurred to him. After hesitating with a few steps, Miki turned around and faced Sato, who had an expression of jealous resignation on her face. It became extremely apparent that she believed her death was coming quickly. There was an upset bounce in Miki's heart that told him he couldn't leave right then. Thus, he turned back to Oda and asked, "What about Sato…?"

Oda shook his head, "After today, there's no way I can make an exception."

"Make one," came Murakumo's voice after making sure that her mask was secured onto her face, "She helped correct me."

There was a split-second pause throughout the group before everyone faced the girl with a shocked expression. Even the young man, who was a one-sided witness to the correction, tightened up his mouth and looked to Murakumo with narrowed eyes in alarm. Thankfully, it was Yozakura who raised the most immediate question, "She's the one who shattered your head in the first place! You can't be serious!"

"I am," replied Murakumo who pulled up her tired body from where she was sitting to approach Sato.

The spectacled dignitary was still shaking in fear, still believing that she'd be killed despite the objection. Yet, when she considered the defense that she was receiving from Murakumo, the key victim of her actions from that day… there just weren't enough words to describe how she felt. On one hand, Sato was immediately thankful and felt her eyes begin to glisten with hope. On another, she felt it was still a useless effort and wanted to urge the girl to quiet herself before she faced rebuttal. A third feeling came about a few seconds later when she believed Murakumo might have just been toying with her in some sadistic way. Just as Sato was about to beg Murakumo to ease her supposed sarcasm, not at all believing that her advocative words were true, a fourth feeling came about in the form of a twisted gratitude. The dignitary had not one defender through her entire ordeal and, at that point when the shinobi stood up for her, felt she wasn't at all deserving of the defense. Thus, she was almost tempted to accept her fate.

As all of those emotions swamped down onto Sato, Murakumo fell onto her knees and grasped the girl's shoulders, "Everything that you said in there was true… After you slapped me, you were being truthful?"

Pulled from her thoughts, Sato hesitated to answer before giving an unsure nod, "I was…"

"You're being honest?"

With a bit more firmness, Sato nodded again, "I was."

"Your experiences, the fact that you're a loner, all of those… empathetic words…" Murakumo looked away for a moment before facing the dignitary again, "All of that?"

"It was the truth."

Miki awkwardly piped up, "I can attest…" but recoiled when the masked shinobi turned to him, "…to that… the part about her being a loner, that is…" and proceeded to grind his shoes into the ground, "She doesn't talk to people at school-, I mean, I was supposed to talk to her because I was supposed to train her but then I dilly-dallied and-, not that she needed training! She seems better than me-," before turning away, "I'll shut up. I'm not helping."

"You are," assured Murakumo, who stood straight and faced Oda, "Let her go. She wanted no part of the dignitaries either. It's only because everything turned out complicated after a poor decision that she winded up here."

"Unless I'm mistaken…" chimed the young man, who was leaning his head into one hand and still being held up by Asuka, "that poor decision was her trying to kill me…" His eyes were deathly serious and critical as they tried to pierce through Murakumo, who remained undeterred, "In case you've almost forgotten, that decision of hers would have killed me. Hell, it has Jasmine and Hanzō laying around right now…" Dropping his hand away from his head, the young man stood straight, "But that was just a poor decision?"

"I believe so," said Murakumo before she gave a slight nod, "One that almost led to serious repercussions, I won't deny… but we handled it…" She then looked to her fellow shinobi, "And, if our past experiences can be learned from, we've forgiven each other for attempted murder before…"

"Yeah, that's you guys. I'm not so forgiving…!" growled the young man before he stood from Asuka's arms, gestured to some of the girls around him, "Or, if we're going to ignore the fact she tried to kill me, look to everyone else! Miyabi's got some bloody bandages on her arm! Asuka, Hibari, and Imu are all bruised up! And that's before we consider how many people that she must have almost shot with her theatrics today!" and spat, "That's also if no civilians got shot in the crossfire…"

"She hurt people, yes," replied Murakumo before gesturing to all of Sato's wounds, "but we've gotten her just as bad, by the looks of it. Plus, if she had accidentally shot someone, I'm sure that would have been mentioned by now."

"And the attempted murder!?" boomed the young man, "It's the second time she's tried that! You think she won't come back for a third round!? Who'll be at risk next time…!?" He huffed a few times and continued, "Besides me, who's going to wind up getting killed because of her antics!?"

A huff of air came out from the underside of Murakumo's mask before she shrugged and drew her cleaver. At first, the young man believed she was going to get combative over the matter and jumped into a defensive stance, with multiple girls standing beside him while others shouted at the shinobi to lower her weapon. Then, much to everyone's surprise, she said, "If you believe we should kill her," before planting the blade against the wall, "do it yourself."

The young man stood straight and defiant, "I never said kill her," ignoring the screaming pain behind his eyes and across his skull, "I'm not playing your game." He crossed his arms, "Arresting her would be just as good and warrantable."

"If you can't do it yourself, shut up and back off," declared Murakumo.

"Is that what you'd tell the victim of a-, of an attempted murder?" stammered the young man before balling up his fists, "Would you go up to someone suffering some trauma, give them your blade, and order them to execute the criminal in question unless they want them to be released!?" Stomping one foot forward and getting close to Murakumo, he bellowed, "Is that the sick way you want to do this!?"

Craning her head forward, Murakumo said in a low voice, "Knowing Sato's circumstances, I wouldn't feel at peace if I just let her get killed…"

Contorting up his face with repulsed confusion, the young man pointed up to the shinobi and stated, "You know, I thought you one of the more levelheaded people I've come to know here… But, by wanting to spare this girl from the consequences of the actions she took-," and proceeded to scream, "Of the actions that she willingly took…! What, just because you're feeling a bit sympathetic…?" before jabbing his finger to Murakumo, "You're an idiot!"

In response, Murakumo shoved him back and was about to advance forward. Fortunately, keeping the two separated, nearly everyone else jumped in and pulled the girl away while also distancing the young man. Over all of the resulting shouts, Murakumo's voice rang as the loudest, "If you wanted an exception to be made for yourself, way back when, and for Miki, then you should be willing to extend the same to Sato!"

In response, the young man screamed back, "I never tried to kill anyone! Nor did Miki!"

Getting the best over a few of the shinobi holding her back, Murakumo was able to pull away with just enough time to yell, "SATO WAS THE ONE WHO CORRECTED ME BACK THERE! MAKE NO MISTAKE!" before she got shoved back by her own sisters. Yet, even as Yumi was loudly ushering the girl to be quiet, the shinobi continued to yell, "While you were sitting there, looking down on me for wanting to change myself for the better-, let go, Yumi! While you were doing all that, Sato was the one who offered me some real empathy! She laid it out and understood my circumstances!" Nearly kicking a few people as she continued to resist, Murakumo finished, "If you want her killed after that, all the more shame on you!"

With his face beet red and twisted with anger, the young man was about to offer an equally loud rebuttal. Yet, when considering all of the words that Murakumo threw at him, he could only force a furious snort out of his nose.

Then the alley went quiet. Murakumo's body relaxed and her mask craned back a bit, as though she were expressing shock. All of the girls holding her back had their eyes glued onto the young man, with some wide and others narrow. Dropping the hand that she was pressing forward to keep her sister back, Shiki fully turned her body to the boy and quietly stuttered, "Hey… are you okay…?"

The young man blinked and turned to the girls who had been keeping him back. Miyabi's jaw was tightened together while her eyes narrowed and focused onto a spot underneath his eyes. With an equally shocked look, Homura patted at his shoulder and slowly asked, "Say something. Are you okay?"

Holding him from behind, Asuka zipped around the young man and pulled up her red scarf to wipe at the bottom of his face. Once she pulled the fabric back, he noticed a blotch of sickening crimson staining it. The young man began to breath heavily, becoming a bit more aware of the headache that had been screaming all that time and felt at his nose. Just as he pulled up his fingers, Murasaki's quiet voice echoed from behind him, "Your nose is bleeding…"

Looking down to his fingers and gray school uniform, the young man could see the little dark red mark and a small splash where the blood had splattered from his nose when it snorted. He turned to the purple-haired girl, whose body was rising up and down with strained breaths as she maintained a straight face, before facing his front again. Yumi was looking at him, eyes wide and with a slack jaw, before his focus went back to Murakumo. The girl in question took a few steps forward, with none resisting against her since their focus went to the young man, and quietly asked, "Are you okay?" As furious as she was a moment before, her body language had dropped all forms of aggression.

Just as the young man finally realized that he had to say something, his vision began to blur as the pain within his head continued its onslaught. He took a few breaths and even adopted a defiant smirk for a moment before murmuring, "It's just a headache…" and turned to the people around him. Even in the face of his delusional smile, the looks he received only reflected pure concern. Even Sato, who'd dropped her gaze during the argument, was looking to him like he had just been murdered. Feeling his body temperature rise to a feverish warmth, the young man's smirk fell away and he held his head for a moment. Then his arm dropped as he said, "But… gods…" and slumped forward, "…what a headache…"

The young man was caught and held gently as his nose was plugged by a couple of handkerchiefs on hand. Even as he began to lose his consciousness to the hammering pain in his head, the uncomfortable heat that began to weigh him down was attended to by a different kind of warmth. While he couldn't name it at that moment, he did recognize it as the same kind which was felt during an affectionate hug. With that on mind, the young man closed his eyes and rested peacefully without any dreams, unaware of the surrounding panic.

From his perspective, it felt like seconds had passed when he woke up on his futon. Sitting atop his head was a wetted towel, taped down by an excessive number of bandages. Uncomfortably hot with the blanket placed over him, the young man threw it off of him and gave his body some apparent relief from the feverish heat that continued to plague him. The only kind of warmth that he wanted was what he had when he'd gone under.

"You'll get a cold," came a voice that distinctly belonged to Jasmine as the blanket was thrown back onto him, "Keep that on."

The young man groaned in disapproval as he finally opened his eyes and looked up to the woman, Hanzō, and Oda. He blinked once after a few seconds and slowly stated in a hoarse voice, "You foolish cripple, you," before he threw the blanket off again, "A cold is caused by a virus… And, with this kind of heat, I'd rather be shivering than not."

"By his mouth," Hanzō chimed with a bit of grim cheeriness while resting his back against the chair he sat on, "we can say that he's alright."

The young man felt at his head for any lingering pain while swiping away the blanket that Jasmine threw back over him again. After confirming that his headache was, thankfully, gone for the moment, he turned to Oda and gave a curt nod. The large shinobi straightened himself and asked, "How do you feel?"

"Warm," came the immediate answer before the young man swatted Jasmine's hand as she reached for the blanket. He blinked a few more times as he raised his other hand up to his face, "The backs of my eyes are killing me too…"

Oda gave a few sympathetic nods before continuing his line of questioning, "Do you remember what happened?"

"As though it were just a minute ago," answered the young man. He sat himself up a bit more and looked into the shinobi's eyes, "Answer me quickly. What happened to Sato…? And Takatsukasa… what happened to him too."

Sucking in a breath of air, Oda briefly lowered his head and looked into the young man's eyes, "I interrogated Takatsukasa and found out what he was doing there. Turns out, he spotted you and Miki carrying Murakumo into the alley but decided to keep walking so he could get to work." Clicking his tongue, he added, "He only came back to investigate when the trains were shut down in response to the shooting… and, in his words, due to a morbid curiosity." He gave his hands a single clap and stated, "A hefty check that made his eyes jump out and a few indirect threats have scared him into secrecy. He won't be approaching nor questioning you about what happened, especially once I make the call to keep an eye on him. If he even tries to talk, my subordinates will be on him."

"Let's hope your watchers are faster than you, if the situation with Sato is anything to go on," remarked the young man before his face turned deathly serious, "What happened to her…?"

Oda's reply was slow but immediate, "She's gone for now."

There was an immediate spike of pain that echoed through the young man's head while he dwelled on the implications. As Hanzō and Jasmine both reached over to press him back down into the futon, he managed to get a grip on Oda's shirt with two of his fingers before growling, "Tell me that, at the very least, means you've arrested her…" When the large shinobi shook his head, the young man scrunched up his face while muttering incoherently. But just as he was about to shout, a spike of pain across his forehead tore his focus from the subject, "God… what a headache…"

"You and I feel the same way," said Jasmine as she rested the blanket back over the young man, briefly glancing over to Oda, "It was idiotic to let that girl get away. Even for what you said earlier, an arrest was more than warrantable."

Even Hanzō let out a gruff, "I'm not one to call for the death of another," before he also turned toward his old friend, "but just letting her off when you know she'll be back is a large problem. It'll bite us hard when it comes down to it."

Clenching his eyes shut, Oda shamefully nodded along, "I know… I know…" before turning his gaze away.

"How'd it happen?" asked the young man as he adjusted the towel on his head to cover over his eyes, "How did she get away when there were twenty-one shinobi right next to here? Even if Murakumo-," but was cut off.

"Murakumo was minimal in the decision," stated Oda as he faced the young man again, "It was… it is all on me."

"Ah…" breathed the young man before he seethed, "Truly, back when I called you a worthless cretin… I wasn't entirely off the mark…"

"Easy there," called Hanzō in a quiet voice while Oda tensed up.

But, after a brief moment of consideration, the larger shinobi just shook his head and said, "After everything, he has the right to let out his frustration," and slumped his head forward with evident shame, "Between that vote and Miki-," but was promptly cut off.

"YOU LET HER GO BECAUSE OF A VOTE!?" cried the young man, who shot his body up into a seated position before he pried the towel from his head and flung it into Oda's face. Through his teeth, the boy growled, "ARE YOU A KINDERGARTEN TEACHER OR A GOVERNMENT ENFORCER OF THE LAW!?" He moved his mouth to say more but proceeded ball up his hands as he leaned back onto the futon, "Gods… my fucking head…"

"What happened to you?" questioned Jasmine as she took the towel back from Oda to place it back onto the young man's head, "From what I saw, you didn't take a blow in that last fight."

"A botched tethering process," growled the young man before he let out a strained groan, "To correct Murakumo, I had to tether myself to Sato's mind while she initiated a correction." After taking a few seconds to calm down, he took a breath and murmured, "We stuck around too long… Sato wasn't used to extended corrections, so I suppose her connection must have collapsed in the end. After that, my consciousness got dragged along with hers and I had to bounce around in her head before finding my way back…" He let out an hiss of pain and grumbled, "Somewhere along the way, something must have gotten screwed up…"

"Ah," came Hanzō's hushed voice before an approving grunt could be heard, "Well, just rest until you get better."

"You don't get better from these kinds of things," said the young man in a quietly defeated tone.

There were a few sudden huffs of air from the adults' noses before they began to exchange looks. After a moment, Oda asked, "Hey… hey, hey. What do you mean by that?"

"Straining one's mind is about as bad as straining one's body…" mumbled the young man as he reached up and moved the towel over his eyes again, "But, when you pull or tear a physical muscle, it needs time to heal… while, with your mind, there's no healing. Just like with any mental disease, there may be medicine or practices to treat or work around it… but it's always there…" As if to prove his point, he raised up his arm into the air and lifted finger for every point he listed, "You cannot cure depression. You cannot cure schizophrenia. You cannot cure psychological disorders," before thumping his limb back onto the futon, "You can treat them all… you can treat whatever I have… But it will never go away…"

A guilty exhale blew out of Oda's mouth. He pondered what to say for a few moments before offering, "I'm sorry… If I'd been more wary of Sato-," but was interrupted.

"None of this would have happened… I know…" breathed the young man before clenching up his fists, "Yet, you decided to release Sato on the basis of a vote…!"

"It wasn't the vote," interjected Oda in a loud voice before remembering the situation and calming down. Biting his teeth together to quiet himself, he took a breath and slowly said, "While Minori suggested the vote and the girls participated, that didn't make me release Sato…" With a forcefully humorous snort, he added, "Actually, it wouldn't have done anything at all. The results were half and half. Nine for Sato and nine against."

"If you think that's funny or if you're trying to make me laugh with that," groaned the young man, "just stop. You're not helping the situation… in fact, hearing those results stresses me out even more."

Dropping his façade, Oda nodded his head and mumbled, "We're of the same mind then." He clasped his hands together and said, "Fortunately, it doesn't mean that half of them were… supportive of her. They just didn't want her die in that alleyway or after her trial." After a moment, Oda added, "And, you ought to know this, a dignitary on trial will likely be sentenced to death… just like any infiltrator, provided there isn't some kind of deal with that person… Like you and I."

"I get it," grunted the young man, "but how did Sato get released then?"

After taking a breath, Oda stated, "Miki threw himself onto the table." Watching as the young man raised the towel up from his eyes, the shinobi waited a moment before explaining, "While the girls were arguing over the vote… of which, I should note that Murakumo and Imu had gotten physical…"

The young man blinked before a new question popped into his head, "Well, that sounds right but now I'm a bit concerned. Were you guys taking votes and arguing with one another while I was just laying down on the pavement, drenched in my own blood and suffering a horrible headache?"

"A dramatic way to say you were unconscious with a nosebleed," said Oda before giving a shrug and raising up some reassuring hands, "but don't worry. Asuka and Homura carried you home… hence why the vote was nine and nine."

On the verge of making a sarcastic retort, the young man froze for a moment and asked, "You said Asuka and Homura?"

"Yes," replied Oda, visibly confused by the tone of worry in the boy's voice.

Turning toward Hanzō and Jasmine, the young man quickly asked, "Did I… was there anything visibly wrong or different about me?"

"You were bleeding from your nose," mumbled Jasmine before nodding her head, "So… yes."

"Smartass," grunted the boy before he gave a light shake of his head, "I meant, did I have anything like… I don't know, kissy marks on me or anything that would imply I was… taken advantage of?"

"Good lord…" grumbled Jasmine as Hanzō laughed.

"Oh~, is that what you want?"

"No," came the young man's serious voice.

"Oh," the old man's face fell before he shrugged, "Nah, you seemed fine…" but waited until the boy let out a breath of relief to say, "…however, you weren't wearing any pants or underwear… There was a strange smell too-," but was interrupted by a cry of alarm from the young man. Immediately, he put up his palms to ease the boy down, "Kidding! KIDDING! I was kidding!"

Quivering a bit and pulling up the blanket to wrap up his body, the young man asked in a squeaky voice, "Am I still pure…?"

"I wouldn't say pure," retorted Jasmine as her eyelids drooped, "but there hasn't been any inappropriate touching, so… you're good." She took a moment to think and then began to ask, "Wait, are you seriously worried about-," just before she was cut off.

"To get back on track," annunciated Oda, who had no idea how the conversation had shifted into such a silly exchange, "while the girls were arguing about the vote, Miki approached me, explained a few things, and made an offer." Upon hearing his friend's name again, the young man's ears perked up and he turned his full attention onto the shinobi and the explanation continued, "To summarize, he told me that Sato is likely going to be killed anyways… if not worse. By the sound of it, the dignitaries aren't pleased with the fact that she hadn't given away your name yet. As such, they'll likely be making an example out of her within the next few nights." After a moment, Oda paused and stated, "So… Miki explained that, since she was going to likely be killed anyways, we might as well let her go."

"But then they'll be getting my information," said the young man, straightening himself a bit, "Regardless of whether or not they're going to kill Sato in the end, they'll do whatever they need for her to reveal what she knows-," but was quieted by an assured hand from Oda.

"Which will give us an opportunity, I believe," assured the shinobi before he continued, "See, Miki offered himself up for Sato. He stated that, with no signs of a lie or deception on his face, he would be willing to warn me when the dignitaries plan to go on the offense. He'll give numbers, positions, and everything we'd need to know to win an engagement." Oda smiled and raised a finger, "He said, with no uncertainty, that he'd be able to get these details due to his father's position in the organization… All in exchange for Sato's temporary safety." After a moment he breathed and reluctantly admitted, "Looking back, it was certainly a foolhardy decision of mine but…" before shrugging his shoulders, "…you cannot deny that there's an advantage to be had with it."

Narrowing his eyes, the young man asked, "What about after?" He held up a finger and said, "Let's just assume that Sato knows where I live-, no, I could actually believe that. How else did she track me down for that first attack of hers. What do we do when she brings her infiltrators to my door?" With a raised voice, he emphasized, "In case you forgot, said door can't even be locked since it was broken out of the wall by one of you bozos!"

"Actually-, sorry to interrupt," chimed Hanzō before holding up a finger, "the door was actually replaced today. We figured it'd be a nice gift for getting around Sato today…" before meekly shrugging his shoulders, "Plus, when you and Sayuri were arguing last night, I believe that point came up."

"That along with all of the hundred things that're my fault…" grumbled Jasmine, turning her head away in hopes that the young man wouldn't hear.

His reputable ears didn't fail him, "I'm not wrong."

Oda raised up a hand, "Alright, alright… Timeout," and thumped it against his thigh, "I can read the mood and can tell that there's some beef between the two of you. I know your circumstances and I'm going to assume that's probably the center of it-," before he was interrupted by the young man.

"Me being… conscripted to help the girls isn't so much the problem anymore," came a low growl before he whipped his head to Jasmine, "It's more or less the fact that I'm dealing with things that weren't in the job description. You know," before reading off the situation in a mocking sing-song voice, "dignitary issues, awkward situations, shinobi attacks, shinobi attacks with unwanted kissing~…! And~… then there's physical trauma, physical trauma, physical trauma, with a new dash of psychological trauma ~…!" After his next pause, the young man slumped his head and murmured in a quiet voice, "The only thing we're missing is dismemberment, asphyxiation, an alien blowing out of my chest, with full blown sexual assault on top… because, if we're trying to get life to tell me to go fuck myself, why stop halfway?"

Taking in the low sight of the young man, the three adults looked to one another, blinked and looked back at the teenager. After a moment, Oda dryly added, "Well, if everything goes wrong, we could also add getting shot in there…"

With his head still slumped down, the young man grumbled, "Can't hear you. I'm already visualizing how I'm going to get skinned and buried alive tomorrow."

"But, if everything goes right with this plan of ours," said Oda, trying to cut down the boy's self-pity, "then there won't be anything else to worry about. And, if Sato does give away this apartment's location, I'll be happy to accommodate another residence. One which the dignitaries wouldn't think to find you."

"Yet, in the meantime," grumbled the young man before yelling, "I don't even have a proper door!"

Hanzō poked his finger into the side of the infiltrator's head, "Hey, are you deaf? I already said that we got the door fixed."

There was a brief silence before the young man blinked his eyes and looked up to the elder, "Did you? Sorry. I must have missed that."

"Look," called Oda as he raised his hands and stood up, "I understand that this isn't ideal. But the dignitaries won't be backing off anytime soon. The only thing we can hope for is that, when they come, we'll be able to hit them hard enough to set them back a few months…" Briefly adding some optimism to his voice, he added, "Plus, if we're lucky enough, we may be able to uproot the entire cell and cut them out entirely."

"Ah, yes," replied the young man with a quiet voice and drooped eyelids, "With my luck, the best results will surely come…"

"However it goes," continued Oda as he began to make for the apartment's exit, "I'll have your back. Plus, we have an advanced shinobi group coming back in from Taiwan. I'll introduce you to their leader, Onoda, tomorrow." Snorting a bit under his breath, the large man turned back and added, "She'll be a bit of a character but I stand by her. I believe she can stand up to Tsao… so what're some dignitary bumpkins?" before offering a confident wave and making his exit. Before the young man, Hanzō, or Jasmine could make conversation, his voice rang back, "Oh, you've got visitors."

Peeking around one of the apartment's corners, five heads appeared in unison with scrutinizing eyes. Since they had an idea of what was about to come, Hanzō and Jasmine nodded to each other and simultaneously said, "Good luck," before turning their eyes onto the girls to add, "Be gentle and stay calm. He's frail right now."

Not a second later, they were up after a bit of struggling and waddled out of the way, expecting an energetic tackle to surprise the young man. Instead, Asuka, Homura, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi came around the corner and kneeled beside the futon without a hint of overexcitement. Hanzō and Jasmine offered looks of admiration, lightly praising the fact that the girls would be able to read the mood and not combat one another during an already tiresome situation. Thus, as silently as they could, the two creeped around the corner and out the door.

There was an awkward silence between the six teenagers and Bebeby before the young man sucked in a breath and decided to break the ice with an extremely dry, "The doctors said I may never be able to walk again, my Ping-Pong career is in shambles, and the terrorists are going to get to the rainbow-bear treasure first." While the girls processed his nonsense, he turned toward Asuka in particular and extended a hand onto her shoulder, "You must uphold my legacy. Take my sword and plant it into the heart of the-, that guy-, I don't know that star's name-," before dropping his head, "Fuck, there's goes the punchline."

The brunette blinked a few times, sucking her lips in with great confusion, before commenting, "I… don't know what I'm supposed to say to that."

"Which means you're mentally stable," replied the young man, who was still angry with himself for botching the joke, "Very good."

Bebeby loudly commented while rocking back and forth, "The same cannot be said for you. We must commence the man-whore's surgery. Someone, get the scalpel."

While the young man flicked his middle finger to the bear, Murasaki wrapped her hand around Bebeby's mouth and proceeded to hush her. In the meantime, Miyabi leaned forward and spoke with evident concern, "Considering everything, that was a bit… random."

The young man shrugged, "Yeah, but with the six of us-," before he was cut off.

"Seven," chimed Bebeby between Murasaki's struggling fingers.

"You're not a legal Japanese citizen," declared the young man while pointing at the bear, "You're not even a person. You don't get rights."

"Alas, his hypocritical colors have been shown!" cried Bebeby as she bounced from out of Murasaki's arms and onto the bed, "Show him the consequences for toying with the hearts of six maidens!"

Without a hint of hesitation, the young man straightened himself up and whacked the bear over the top of her head with his pillow. The other five girls paused and watched as Bebeby remained frozen in place for a moment before falling backwards into Murasaki's arms, fully unconscious. After a brief moment, the young man continued, "Anyways, I figure that the six of us, specifically, all being in one room is a recipe that will stress me the hell out…" He gestured up to his nose and added, "Considering earlier… can you blame me for offering a stupid joke at a time like this?"

"Not at all," replied Yumi with a smile that had some hints of force to it.

Reading her expression, the young man sighed to himself, "Well… let's get straight into it then…" and quietly mumbled, "I suppose you probably want to talk about my arguing with Murakumo."

"She already filled us in about her correction," said Homura, her face straight and without any critical judgement. After a moment, she raised her hand, "You should know that we're all in agreement with you correcting her… and so is she, for the most part."

"Oh?" breathed the young man with a joyless smile, "I'm not sure if she lied or if you misinterpreted her wrong, but she was completely resistant to the whole idea of being corrected."

"Yet, you corrected her anyway?" asked Yumi.

"I did," stated the young man without any hesitation, "Murakumo is not Murakumo if even one part of her is changed by abnormal means." In the face of the girls' unexpressive looks, he raised a hand defensively, "Now, if she'd come to that point by changing-, wrong word… by growing into such a person…" He took a moment to think and then explained, "If she'd gone through the process of… growing by herself, fully deciding and agreeing every step of the way that she wanted to be that kind of person, I wouldn't have a problem with that." Finally, the young man shook his head, "But she didn't want to do that. She wanted a quick-fix easy solution, damn all the consequences that came with it," before looking all five of the girls in their eyes, "and I can't accept that. Not when I'm in control of the situation and have to leave my stamp of approval on the finished personality."

"And I'm glad you did what you did," replied Yumi, offering a much more genuine smile. She gestured to the other girls and said, "We all are-, nearly everyone is."

"Nearly?" questioned the young man before thumping his head back into his pillow, "Who're the outliers…?"

"There's no one that disagrees with the fact that the correction was needed," stated Asuka, offering a gentle pat to the boy's wrist, "It's just that some of us-, that is Yomi and Ikaruga in particular… and me, I won't lie, felt you were… We felt you could have handled it better."

"Oh?" the young man let out a grunt of interest and asked, "Please, speak frankly. What could I have done better?"

"Remember how you were during my correction?" asked Miyabi, who jutted her head close to the young man.

Easing his head away with evident discomfort, the boy responded, "Yes…"

Noting how uneasy he came off as when she got close, Miyabi backed off a bit as she explained, "Well… you were much more calm and explanatory about it. Even when I was punching you in the face and crying that I didn't want my rage back, you were just so patient…" Caught within her reminiscing, the woman continued, "Even after we chased you around the academy, you were quick to forgive and continued like nothing happened."

"With me too," Homura spoke and raised a hand, "During my correction, you were slow, receptive, and spoke frankly but gently… Even apologetic at one point."

Once the tanned girl remained quiet for a moment, the young man spun his hand around and stated, "It looks like there's more you want to say," and added, "Go ahead."

Having been given the reigns to speak her mind, Homura spoke out the words, "To be frank, I was a little shocked when I heard how heated you two had apparently gotten… As a matter of fact, I almost couldn't believe it when you two were arguing in that alley." She dropped her eyes away before fixing them back onto the young man, "It just didn't seem like you…"

The boy sucked in a breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment, not at all liking the prospect of giving a poor impression. While he was still combating against the girls' feelings and also desired to speak freely, the young man still hated the fact that he came off as such an ass after giving such fair impressions in the past. Yet, it was warrantable. Since everything was said and done, he could look back in retrospect and see how he'd bent to the pressure of the surrounding situations. Between the attempted assassination, the threat of the tethering, and the blatant combativeness from Murakumo, he had steamed up until he couldn't take anymore and exploded. That, without a doubt, didn't paint the picture of a patient man.

Noticing the conflict within the young man first, Murasaki set down Bebeby and grabbed onto his hand, "We aren't angry with you for it." When he looked to her, she gave a soft nod and a small smile.

With a more neutral expression, Yumi also began to rub at the back of the young man's head as she said, "And I'd wager no one, not even Murakumo, will have hard feelings for it by the end of tomorrow…" She paused for a moment and added, "Well, I should say that Murakumo may continue to be steamed if you don't talk to her."

Unwilling to combat the pleasing sensations as the girls began to offer him more physical comfort, the young man grunted, "I'll talk to her then."

"Rest for now," ordered Yumi as the boy meagerly tried to straighten himself up, "but do talk to her sometime soon." A more prominent smile popped onto her face as she announced, "Besides, it'll be harder to win your heart if one of my sisters disapproves of you."

"Nobody is going to win this heart," murmured the young man as he tried to muster a resistance against all of the pats and caresses. He failed with little misery.

Asuka threw in the comment, "We'll be fighting for you anyway," and was followed by Homura.

"For all you know, we may surprise you."

Feeling the pleasant warmth that he felt when he'd gone under earlier that day, the young man could only mutter, "Perhaps…" as he began to get lulled back into sleep. He was fully aware and wouldn't voice it then, but his heart was opening up… For better or worse, it was opening up to the girls despite all of his past objections.


	39. Chapter 39: Oncoming Encounter

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 39: Oncoming Encounter

**April 24 – "Whether life is grandiose and social or simple and lonesome, every major or minor success and failure is thanks to a wide-ranging web of people. Whether it's the star and their camera crew or a woodsman and whoever first invented the axe, there's always a connection. From there, it's a choice to accept or turn away that web."**

The only thing Sato could do was trust her life to Miki. Since she failed to bring the body of the young man forward, the dignitaries were going to have her blood one way or another. While a part of Sato was hoping she'd still be alive by the end of it, she knew it would most likely be a decision between a quick or slow death. If Miki had a say in it, hopefully it would be the former.

Having been driven through the factory district by her parents and allowing them to guide her by the shoulder into that morning's meeting place, Sato could only focus on trying to slow her ever accelerating heartbeat. Since the sun had not yet risen, the only lighting in the entire area was the spooky streetlights with eerily familiar faces chatting or smoking underneath. When they turned their heads toward Sato to try and make eye contact, she lowered her head and began to search for a religion for some kind of peace. Since her head was already being ravaged by the uncertainty of what was to come, she found no such spiritual solace.

After stepping off the sidewalk and approaching the doors of a defunct off-brand company's distribution center, Sato's parents stepped up to the intercom, looked into the camera installed above it, and wordlessly waited to be buzzed in. The door clicked open and the girl was guided into her place of judgment. The three dignitaries passed by a few other such checkpoints, making eye contact with the men and women who were that night's security. After the final set of doors, they reluctantly walked into the wide-open warehouse. Of course, most of it was empty, save for some of the leftover mechanical components in the metal racks that were often reused or melted down to create dignitary tools. While the supply was finally starting to dry, they'd been invaluable for the previous two decades. In the back of her mind, Sato was wondering what would happen when those components finally dried up.

Taking her eyes away from the racks, the three dignitaries settled their eyes onto the open area where bagging machinery once sat. In place of the distribution center's old tools, was a wrinkly shell of a man standing upon a podium. Despite only being in his late forties, the reigning leader of the dignitaries, Genpaku Matsuda, looked as though he were nearing his early seventies. A running gag between some of the more outspoken members was, "Sitting on his ass, Paku-Paku endures more stress than the poorest mass." While the poor old fool resented the repeated jabs and wished to offer rebuttal, he could only ever put a smile on his face and laugh it off to maintain proper courtesy and civility. Although, in recent memory, he'd been verbally lashing out more and more against his critics.

Standing beside him and gesturing for the three Hazuki's to come forward was the second-in-command and the most significant figure of any dignitary: Kazami Kira. Standing stoic and tall before everyone who was already in the room, his ambition and ability could be read by a preschooler. Whether it was his narrowed eyes scrutinizing his technical superior's every move or the soft interjections of his commanding voice, there was no question that he was the one who pulled and plucked every string in what remained of the organization. Save for a few other higherups whom he deemed to be insignificant, Kazami was also the most popular member for his grand mix of decisiveness and activity. Like a legendary general upon a horse, he would be the first to ride into any fray if his men swore to follow after him. With how radical his fans were, there were no shortage of people who were willing to burn in Hell if he demanded it.

It only raised the question: how did such a man come to raise such a loudmouth for a son? In his first eight years of life, Miki's tendency to babble in the middle of a gathering was cute and endearing, even to his less expressive father. Yet, when the boy continued to prattle on about his confusion toward carnivorous plants, the invention of the first computer, or other such random nonsense, it gradually became obnoxious and annoying to the group as a whole. Certainly, they could see it wasn't deliberate since the boy was just awkward when it came to finding the right subject to talk about. But the patience of all the other dignitaries was still thin when it came to enduring his rants, even if they'd been getting shorter in length through recent years.

Watching as Sato and her parents meekly walked toward the front of the room, Miki sat at the front row and did his utmost to seem as invested as possible while trying not to look too attached. If his plan to plea for Sato was to be at all possible, he would need to be cool and calculated above all else. As exhausting as it was, he had to keep his mind focused and on center without distraction. While, in the past couple of days, he'd proven himself capable during graver matters, Miki still found trouble holding confidence within himself before his father.

After Sato passed the front seats and continued forward to stand before Genpaku, who gestured to one of his more loyal subordinates in one of the open area's corners, her parents took their seat on the side opposite of Miki and lowered their heads. At first, he was about to attribute their crestfallen attitudes to the fact that their daughter was standing a potentially lethal trial. But, remembering all that he'd been told about the often-silent duo by his mother, Miki knew that it was likely a severe case of self-pity. Sucking in a breath and keeping his composure, the boy averted his eyes from the cowards and watched as everyone around the room and outside began to convene.

In under a minute, all of the numerous rows chairs for the families summoned to the meeting were filled and the dignitaries acting as security began to make their rounds to watch for potential trespassers. Thus, Genpaku's subordinate, a simple looking man who went by the name Chū, stood in front of the podium, faced the crowd, and spoke soundly, "This day, April twenty-fourth, marks the first trial of Hazuki Sato. If complications are avoided, today will be her only trial." Off to the side, a recordkeeper was jotting down the dialogue while the subordinate continued, "Her charges are a breach of secrecy, withholding critical information, assassination fraud, and attempted embezzlement of assassination funds." Chū passed a glance to Kazami Kira, who responded with a nod, before continuing in a meeker voice, "The community recommends the extraction of information and death by means yet to be determined." Standing just a bit straighter, the simple man finished, "The matter is left to the three hierarchs to decide," before forcing himself to suppress a smile, "The records will show that, since our third hierarch has yet to be replaced after Amamiya's timely death, his vote will be deferred to Leading Hierarch Genpaku."

While Chū was hoping that it would be considered a subtle dig to Kira's authority, the large dignitary just straightened himself and looked to Genpaku. Feeling the eyes throughout the room fall on him, the man sucked a breath into his nostrils and declared, "We will begin immediately," and lifted his hand to wave Sato forward, "Miss Hazuki, you're ordered to respond to the accusations that will be brought forward. Is this understood?"

The girl took a few steps forward before stopping and bowing her head, softly murmuring, "Yes, Hierarch…"

The man craned his head forward a bit, "I didn't hear that very well. Could you repeat?"

"Yes, Hierarch," came Sato's clearer voice.

"Thank you," said the man before he clenched his eyes shut and recomposed himself. For every second that passed, he could feel the harsh criticism of his supposed underlings piercing into him. In the back of all their minds, Genpaku knew they would rather have Kazami continue the proceedings. But he wasn't willing to endure that kind of shame yet, "Miss Hazuki, your first accusation is a breach of secrecy. How do you plead?"

Sato paused for a moment and remembered the advice that Miki gave to her earlier. She closed her eyes and raised her head, "I'm guilty, Hierarch."

Letting out a sound of approval for how smooth he believed the proceedings would go, Genpaku continued, "Your second accusation is the withholding of critical information. How do you plead?"

"I'm guilty, Hierarch."

"Your third accusation is assassination fraud. How do you plead?"

"I'm guilty, Hierarch."

"Your last accusation is the attempted embezzlement of assassination funds. How do you plead?"

"I'm guilty, Hierarch."

"Your honesty and cooperation are appreciated, Miss Hazuki," said Genpaku before he turned to the audience, not at all surprised that there were still snarky or even critical looks on him. After all, what merit could be found in making an anxious girl admit to undeniable transgressions. As much trouble as it would have meant for Sato, he was hoping for her to throw a fit so that he could put on a show of power. Genpaku sighed and spoke, "You are guilty on all four charges, ergo we, your hierarchs, will be deciding your fate today."

Sato nodded and had to actively force herself to not glance at Miki, whom she didn't know was waiting for the perfect moment to arise. Though it was a gamble, the history between Genpaku and his father was almost certainly going to create the perfect opportunity for him. As if on cue, Kira raised his head and spoke out of turn to his technical superior, "The community has already spoken, Matsuda. Let us extract-," but was interrupted.

"You'll not address me so dismissively and disrespectfully, Hierarch Kazami," hissed Genpaku who thumped his palm against the podium, "I know what you're trying to do and I will not stand for it. We'll be going by the book."

The stronger of the two snorted, "We should cling to old precedents then? The same of which that have led us down this filthy path of mediocrity and inaction?" He looked to the audience and said, "Should we really be torturing this girl by going on and on when we can give everyone an immediate answer to all the trouble that's happened?"

"There is a procedure!" cried Genpaku who pointed one of his tired fingers to the man, "Set in place to protect us from power-hungry fools like you!"

Kira played the card he'd been holding onto since before the meeting, "Bold of you to call me power-hungry when you keep defending your claim to power, the same of which you've failed to exercise meaningfully since you first took your title as hierarch."

There were a few calls throughout the audience, "Hear, hear!" as they looked up to the more outspoken leader of the two. Gossip began to go around, repeatedly stabbing into Genpaku's position as their organization's head until Kira held up a hand and quieted them. By that little show alone, the frailer man knew he had no room to properly argue.

Trying to maintain his composure, Genpaku gestured to Kira and asked, "Very well, let me hear your proposal on how to deal with Miss Hazuki."

"My thoughts are aligned with the community," said the taller man, passing a knowing glance to the crowd in order to confirm that they were still very much on his side. Of course, there were no objections and he continued, "We'll extract what knowledge we need from Hazuki and sentence her to death."

While Sato froze up and stood a bit straighter, Genpaku slowly asked, "By what means?"

As though he were thinking it up on the spot, Kira tapped a finger to his head for a moment and declared, "You're so built on precedent and the old ways of doing things, yes? Perhaps we'll have Hazuki gut her own stomach before we lob her head off?"

Choking down a cry and doing her utmost to keep her tears back, Sato remained quiet until Genpaku retorted, "What barbarian do you and your flock take me for, Hierarch Kazami!?"

"It's just what I thought you'd care for," said Kira before clearing his throat, "In actuality, I'd rather her be killed by more humane means, such as a clean bullet to the head."

Hearing the murmurs of the audience behind her as overzealous approval for Kira was echoed, Sato began to wonder when Miki would be offering her his help. Yet, she still decided to put a bit more faith in him and awaited whatever move he had in mind.

"Very humane, indeed…" muttered Genpaku before he faced the crowd of treasonous individuals. Thinking to himself that he was likely going to die by the lot of their hands anyway, he decided to stage his own little bit of rebellion, "but, with my vote as leading hierarch and for our still lacking third hierarch, I veto your motion."

Expecting the rebuttal, Kira listened to the loud and dissatisfied whispers within the audience before retorting, "Perhaps you've a better suggestion then, Matsuda?"

Slapping his hand down into the podium again, Genpaku loudly announced, "Indeed, I do!" and waved his hand to Sato, "Rather than proving ourselves to be grounded in the old and barbaric ways that the lot of you accuse me of being stuck within, let us have Miss Hazuki reveal what information she knows and then place her under observation for three years!" He would have continued further but the infuriated shouts of the audience drowned his voice out.

With a deep-rooted urge to smirk at his rival, Kira took in the dissension and loudly proclaimed, "This girl has placed our entire organization in danger and you wish to be gentle with her!?" before facing the audience, "Is that not only going to bring greater grief on all of us!?" He whipped an accusatory finger toward Genpaku and continued, "However much money we pull in by all your schemes, however much we embed ourselves into modern companies and organizations to hide ourselves, won't we just be asking for our lives to be uprooted if we leave such a dangerous nuisance alive!? Why don't we just wait until the shinobi come and murder us all!?"

"You are not in control here!" boomed Genpaku before he faced the crowd, "None of you are!" He thumped a fist to his chest and stated, "Now, I know that I can discern the truth from pretty words!" before pointing up to his eye, "I can look into the eyes of each of you and see your real motives!" and finally pointed to Sato, "As such, I can look into Miss Hazuki's eyes and can see what she was going for!" The girl in question tilted her head and wondered if Genpaku could really see through her selfish nature. "Do you actually believe her actions were born from some kind of malicious nature?" Perhaps he empathized with her and, in fact, his intervention was Miki's plan from the start. Then Genpaku said, "She pursued an infiltrator for the good of each of us! Even if she failed twice, does she deserve death when it was our training that failed her!?" Sato had to suppress a sigh as she realized that he was just talking empty words, trying to grab for whatever ammo that he could use.

"It's great that you see our training is inferior," spoke Kira before he tried to continue, "but, regardless-," but was interrupted.

"Perhaps I used the wrong word before," declared Genpaku, "Our training isn't what failed Miss Hazuki!" before he pointed to Miki in the front row, "It was the trainer! The one who failed to teach any method of patience as a proper hunter!"

The younger Kazami froze for a moment before he realized that he had the opening that he'd been waiting for. Harnessing the inner-airhead within him, he let out his rehearsed stammer, "Sir-, excuse me, Hierarch Genpaku… but I-," but was also interrupted.

"What have you been doing while Miss Hazuki was hunting the infiltrator? Didn't you think to offer her help when word reached you!?" cried the hierarch.

As his father watched to see how his son would respond, Miki took in a deep and deliberate breath before he slowly nodded his head, "Word did, of course, reach me that Sato-, Hazuki was hunting an infiltrator…" After a few seconds, he continued, "To speak honestly, I haven't been training her at all before this event…"

"What have you been doing then…?" growled Genpaku as the audience's eyes fell onto Miki with critical judgement in their eyes.

"Aside from focusing on my studies," started Miki, trying to ignore a chuckle toward the back when he mentioned the word 'focused' and continued, "I've just made a few friends and have been spending my first couple weeks at school getting readjusted to the new year…" When everyone remained silent, Miki had the sudden urge to keep talking, "We haven't been doing anything crazy! We just went out to karaoke, a friend of mine and I ate at this fast food place-," but was cut off by his father.

"Stop talking."

Then, just as any determined babble-mouth would, Miki stuttered for a moment, "But I was-, am-, I will be-, I am willing to own up to it! Which is why I wish to raise a civil interjection to your decision."

Since such a motion hadn't been raised by any of the audience members throughout all of the meetings over the past couple years, as most of them were more focused on kissing up to Kira, the tall man let out a sound of curiosity and waved his hand before Genpaku could accept or turn Miki away, "Speak frankly, what's your interjection regarding?"

"Sato-, Miss Hazuki's punishment, Hierarch… that is, I'd like to propose a different sort," replied Miki.

The senior hierarch narrowed his eyes on the boy and towards his father, resenting being overwritten but still curious. After a moment, he asked, "And what do you suggest?"

Unbeknownst to all of them, Kiriya and Rin had slipped into the building hours before and were watching from atop one of the metal racks. While the former kept peeking out from the empty wooden box that he was hiding in, the latter kept making notes on all of the apparent politics within the dignitaries' organization from right behind him. After getting down Miki's use of a civil interjection, Rin quietly commented, "After all this time, we've finally got something interesting to show for our efforts."

"Hush," ordered Kiriya as he watched Miki intently, seeing all of the gears turning through his little head.

Rin huffed childishly before finishing her notes. As much as she took the present situation seriously, the previous days had been absolutely dreadful to take part in. Whether it was with Kiriya, one of Oda's subordinates, or holding a quiet phone call with Onoda on the other end, every single event could have been summed up into a single sentence: dignitaries lived boring lives when they weren't trying to kill someone. She'd been sitting or lying in wait across all of the anticipated paths that the terrorists, some alleged and others confirmed, would take. Most often than not, after hours of resting in a cramped location out of sight, the only thing she had to show for it was an inane conversation between two men about attractive idols, a group of housewives talking about a loud tourist making a ruckus, or some odd members' plans for the sports tournaments in the coming year.

After overhearing a quiet and swift exchange between two dignitaries regarding the defunct distribution center, it was the godsend that Rin had been waiting for. She was so used to the chaotic antics that involved her students, both former and current, that she could only feel excitement when an actual lead was finally found. Thus, she and Kiriya got there immediately and were noting every little detail.

Back on the ground, Miki had remained paused for a while as he went over the 'punishment' that he would suggest and all of the coming arguments that he was going to make. While he had no doubt in his mind that it would work, he had to be careful and particular in his choice of words. If everything was to go the way he wanted it, he had to word the argument in a way to pit his father and Genpaku against each other, with the former supporting the proposition.

Thus, once his father gave an encouraging wave of his hand for the boy to speak after some silence, Miki loudly proclaimed, "If Sato is to be properly punished, she ought to do so in a way that's useful to all of us! Let her guide us to the infiltrator she's been tracking! From there, she'll take the lead and will likely be killed in action once the shinobi arrive! From there, once they're drawn out, we can ambush the lot of them and finish off all our enemies in one go!"

Watching from afar, Kiriya made a curious noise. While he'd been informed by Oda that the boy, Miki, was apparently on their side, he wondered if he would stick true to his word and give all the information necessary for the coming attack. If he did, the dignitary was truly honorable and good for all that he had to say. If he didn't, it exposed Miki as a liar. It wouldn't matter much to Kiriya nor Rin, since they had the means to listen in on the plan that would concocted… but if the boy was a friend to the young man, how would he react to such a betrayal?

Regardless of the questions in his mind, the Hanzō Academy teacher kept watching. A bit to his confusion, Miki's father was offering a small but supportive smile in regards to the plan while Genpaku looked significantly more steamed than before.

Hours later and into the afternoon, Murakumo looked over the scene taking place from the apartment's walkway and muttered under her breath, "I swear, they're obsessed or something…"

In the middle of the parking lot, with school having been called off for the rest of the week due to the previous day's shooting, the young man and his five admirers were cleaning the parking lot of all the tents stored around and about… Or, rather, that was the intention. Instead, the five girls kept randomly approaching him with one issue to comment on or another, seeking either close proximity, approval, or a flustered reaction. Through all of that, the young man kept his face straight and unfeeling, replying dryly with narrowed eyes to each of them, occasionally holding his head whenever he got frustrated. After all, the only reason he came outside in the first place was to focus on something else after the awkward morning he had. Upon waking up to the five girls leaning against his bed, the boy had to relive the embarrassing memory of leaving himself vulnerable to them all despite their present circumstances. Unwilling and very unable to deal with their coddling, he searched for the first opportunity to try and get away. From there, they eventually found themselves trailing after him as he swept through the parking lot.

"They're in the honeymoon phase," commented Katsuragi, who was leaning into the walkway's railing, "Plus, it doesn't help that he's been blue-beaning them…"

Hearing the more vulgar term, Murakumo shook her head and slumped forward, "How that dickhead-,"

The young man twitched his nose and sneezed.

"-gets them like that is beyond me." After a moment, the masked girl pointed down to the boy and said, "Look. He's literally dismantling tents. He's not doing it provocatively, he's not flexing… he's just taking apart a tent… and they're watching with wiggly hips and jittery tongues."

As if on cue, Asuka approached the young man from behind and patted at his shoulder. The boy turned around for what had to have been the umpteenth time and stared blankly at the brunette without a word. Nearly forgetting what she was going to say, Asuka clasped her hands together behind her back, swiveled her hips, and cutely asked, "Would you be able to help out with Homura and I's tent? We're having some trouble lifting a large wood plank that fell onto one of the… peg-thingies…"

Offering her a slow blink, the young man nodded, "Three minutes," before gesturing to the tent behind him, "This thing is giving me a bit of trouble and there's still some sleeping bags nearby." Then, after thinking for a moment, he asked as Asuka began to turn away with a victorious smile, "How'd this large plank end up on the peg?"

The brunette froze and refused to face him as she quietly uttered, "The wind."

"We haven't had any major gusts in a few weeks," replied the young man, thoroughly suspicious of what the girl was planning.

"Gravity helped," said Asuka, still unwilling to face him, "It was… sat up against the tent and slipped over onto the peg."

"But we moved all the debris away from the parking lot when we were getting everything set up," stated the young man, "Most of it is leaning against the apartment's wall."

Hidden off to the side, Homura snapped her fingers and lamented the plan's failure. Thus, she peeked out from behind one of the tents and cried, "Asuka, I managed to get it!"

Before the shorter girl could get away, the young man called out, "You two know that I'm aware of the fact that you're both much stronger than me, right? If there's something you guys can't lift, there's no chance I'd be of help."

Still watching the scene, Katsuragi was covering her snickering mouth as the boy continued to dismantle one of the tents by himself, readying himself for another encounter with either Miyabi, Murasaki, or Yumi. Not nearly as humored by what had been happening, Murakumo flicked a finger in the boy's direction and quietly demanded, "You have to see what I mean…"

"No, I've got you," replied Katsuragi as she watched Asuka's retreating form, undoubtably planning the next attack, "I just find myself extremely amused."

"That," started Murakumo before she turned her head away to mutter, "or you're just focusing on undressing everyone as they move."

The blonde straightened herself, "To be fair, they've all got nice butts…" before a dangerous smirk came onto her face, "Plus, whenever someone is turned away by him, their skirts flip in just the right way to give me a look…" and shuddered with pleasure. Then she turned her head to look over the railing again and added, "Plus, he's got a good-looking butt as well…"

"Are you checking out my ass?" called the young man, who was still facing the tent that he was trying to disassemble.

While Murakumo froze in embarrassment for Katsuragi, the blonde shamelessly called back, "While the goods are still open and free, I've got every right." When the young man waved her off and defiantly went around the tent to work on the other side, a new question popped into Katsuragi's mind, "Wait, if he heard that," before she faced Murakumo, "do you think he's been hearing our conversation so far?"

"I have," called the young man as the tent finally collapsed.

"Ah…" mumbled the blonde while the masked shinobi just leaned her head into the railing. After a moment, Katsuragi tried to play off the embarrassment of being overheard and called over, "And… do you agree with Murakumo in regards to everyone's doting behavior?"

While she'd been talking, Yumi peered around one of the tents and cheerfully stated, "I managed to clean up the area by the parking lot's entrance. Do you think that's a job well done?" before tilting her head up to Katsuragi.

Before the blonde's words could be processed by the girl, the young man just said, "Yup," and began to fold up the tent he'd been working on. Yumi, believing that he'd been talking to her, strutted over to the stairs with an eager-to-please grin, looking forward to cleaning up more of the area for the sake of getting some praise.

"As much as I'd like to stick around," muttered Murakumo as she stood herself straight and began to walk away, "I've better things to do than watching my sister get seduced…"

Katsuragi turned her head over and asked, "Are you still heated over yesterday?"

"Were you not in that alley or are you just deaf?" spat the masked shinobi.

"Je-ez~," called the blonde as she grumbled, "Touchy much?" After a moment of thinking, she added, "You know, if what Jasmine told us is true, we're going to be getting into another fight with the dignitaries soon. Shouldn't you guys make up and cool off about the whole thing?"

"Why would I do that after what an ass he'd been?" growled Murakumo, stopping in her tracks to face Katsuragi.

"I prefer the term dickhead…" muttered the young man from the ground as Miyabi began to approach him from behind.

"You act like he was trying to pull a Hanzō to cope a feel or something," said the blonde with a face contorted with confusion and frustration, "He was trying to help, doing his utmost to get your head back on track."

"And I didn't want to get my head back on track in the first place. Honestly, I would have rather stayed that way forever," stated Murakumo.

"While that may be true…" started Katsuragi before shrugging her shoulders, "According to Yumi, that's not what you're angry about."

"Yu-mi," came a grumble from beneath the mask before a finger pointed to the blonde, "does not know me better than I do… He changed me for the worse and that's that."

"I bet that ain't it," said Katsuragi with a mocking smile.

"It is," came Murakumo's retort.

"Bet it ain't."

"It is!"

Back on the ground, Miyabi kept pacing back and forth while the young man kept his back to her and stared ahead with evident resignation. Under the woman's breath he could hear her mumbling, "Just touch it-, don't! It needs to be accidental-, but… his hand is right there-, offer to help and accidentally touch it-, I just want to touch it now…" Just as Miyabi seemed to gather some resolve and proceeded to approach from behind, the young man turned his head to face her and stared. After an awkward pause, she pointed down to the tent, "Wou-, would you like some help?" As much as she wanted to summon her bravado from the night before, where she actually got to caress and comfort the boy, it'd all crumbled again.

"I should be good," stated the young man as Murakumo and Katsuragi's back-and-forth continued, "You might want to see if Murasaki could use some help…"

Tripping out from inside one of the tents, the purple-haired girl wriggled along the ground until she laid her eyes on the young man and cried, "Help! I've accidentally tied my hands and legs together!" while looking forward to the fact that he'd have to touch her wrists to free her.

Bebeby continued to coach in the background, "No man could resist a hogtied girl! That pervert will come for you in no time at all!"

"Could you help her?" asked the young man, eliciting a disappointed look from both Miyabi and Murasaki.

Interrupting the argument taking place above the three, Imu suddenly approached from the stairway and popped beside Murakumo to add, "As frustrating as I find him too… I have to side with Katsuragi on this one."

"Eh? What'd he do to you?" asked the blonde while the masked shinobi jumped in surprise.

Gazing over to Miyabi as she slumped down to help Murasaki get untied, both evidently frustrated that their efforts had been for naught, Imu could only bring herself to comment, "Pure unbridled envy…" before her face lit up a bit as she mumbled, "Though, I don't hold it too much against him… For as long as he keeps turning Miyabi and Murasaki down…"

Katsuragi gave a brief nod while Murakumo faced the spectacled girl, "Back up a bit. You also think I'm mad at him for something besides the correction."

"If you were," said Imu matter-of-factly, "you'd be mad at Sato too," as she raised a finger, "You, yourself, said before everyone that you considered her to be the one that corrected you… while also defending her against Oda, no less."

"Do not play with my words-," started Murakumo before Katsuragi quickly cut her off.

"No, no," said the blonde while crossing her arms, "you can't backtrack now. You've acted and we're allowed to call out inconsistencies." After spinning around her hand, she ordered, "Get to the real talk now. Why are you so mad at him?"

"According to Yumi," called the young man from where he was rolling up the tent he'd been working on, "it had more to do with how I handled things." Once he finished his task, he looked up to the three girls and said, "Admittedly, I probably wasn't in the right mindset to be correcting someone." He closed his eyes and shrugged his arms up, "I'm not sure what it's worth, but I am sorry if you feel that I wasn't sensitive or patient with your situation."

A loud huff came from beneath Murakumo's mask, prompting Katsuragi to say, "Oh boy… it's on now," as she took a few steps back. At the same time, Imu just silently stood away and took a glance at the young man. His stance wasn't at all as aggressive as it was the other day, likely thanks to the fact that the situation wasn't nearly as high-stress as before. After giving a knowing nod, she believed the drama would be coming to an end soon.

"I've already said that's not why I'm angry!" came Murakumo's frustrated cry before she threw herself over the railing and landed onto the ground before the young man. While the boy visibly recoiled from her theatric move, she jabbed a finger in his direction and shouted, "You took away what I wanted to be and did so while looking down on me, like I was some little girl in need of scolding from a teacher." She waved her hand, "Even if Sato is the one who convinced me to go through it, I'm sure that was more your influence and her desire to get out of there more than anything else."

The young man briefly clenched his eyes shut in pain, bringing a hand up to his head before he took a breath and calmly stated, "I think Imu's observations uproot a portion of your argument." He gestured to the masked girl and stated, "You defended Sato against Oda, stating that you considered her the one that corrected you, and didn't appear to hold much contempt with her for it."

"Do not play with-," started Murakumo before she was cut off, all while observers from all over the apartment came over to watch and make sure nothing got violent.

"Your words are the only way I can make my point," stated the young man, making sure to not raise his voice. After a moment, he calmly asked, "So, could you maybe explain them? What did you mean when you said Sato was the one that corrected you?"

Knowing that she needed to step back in order for her to still have an argument, Murakumo growled something incoherent and spat, "Fine… I'm not mad at you because of the correction. It's all about how you handled it or whatever Imu or Yumi said. Happy now?"

"Not at all," replied the young man levelly, "We're still on bad terms."

"And we're going to stay that way!" cried Murakumo, huffing and puffing while silently daring the young man to say something else.

In the meantime, by the stairs, Yozakura approached Yumi and asked, "Is it just me or does Murakumo seem a bit more… outspoken than usual?"

"Compared to how angry she's gotten on past occasions…?" questioned Yumi before nodding her head, "Yeah, I can see what you mean."

"If we're going to fighting with our lives on the line, I'd rather we work this through," stated the young man.

"And if I refuse to?" questioned Murakumo before stomping her foot childishly, "What will you do then?"

"I'll pull a Dufresne and keep asking to work away this issue with you," said the young man without breaking eye contact, "From now on, I'll keep approaching once every hour and asking you if we can talk it out."

Murakumo snorted and swayed back and forth a bit. She was aware of her behavior being a bit different than usual, especially with how willfully defiant she was being, but she still couldn't bring herself to dwell on it. Rather, she wanted to end the conversation there and make a retreat so that she could simmer by her lonesome. But, upon spotting the worried looks on Yumi and Yozakura's faces, began to fear how they would react to such an action. So, rather than earn her sisters' ire, Murakumo decided to hear him out. "Alright," she grunted before gesturing to the boy, "talk away… apologize or do whatever you have in mind."

With a brief nod, the young man quickly stated, "First and foremost, I am sorry. Between how I handled everything in your head and not being able to act sooner." Clenching his eyes closed and taking a breath, he continued, "It's all resulted in you and I fighting the way we are now… and, worse than that, a part of your mind has even taken some damage in the process."

Upon hearing that, Murakumo narrowed her eyes on the young man while a few of the spectators exchanged looks, wondering if anybody else had heard about it. "My mind was damaged?" she questioned in a slightly less harsh voice as she tilted her head, "How so?"

"The aspect that I gave back to you," answered the young man before raising a hand, "I'm also sorry for not notifying you sooner." He quietly teetered his tongue back and forth for a moment before adding, "I should note that the damage won't be permanent. The damage done will be fixed over time…" and lowered his head, unsure of what to say as the girl continued to silently stare at him, "It was a bit hard to approach the subject so I thought it would be best to save it until we were settling everything else."

Murakumo continued to stare at him before asking, "So… was it the distortion that caused this damage…? Or did the situation get screwy part of the way through?"

"A bit of both," came the young man's straightforward voice, "When Sato did her… version of a correction, the distortion was still left attached to the rest of your mind. By a thread, sure, but just enough so that it wouldn't be starved. With the distortion being left with your impulses to conform, it ate away at an increased rate."

Not sensing any insincerity from the young man and not feeling as though he were trying to throw Sato under the bus, Murakumo gave a nod and grumbled, "Well… it is what it is then," before giving a dismissive wave of her hand, "but we'll save that for another time. Continue on with whatever you were saying."

Giving a brief nod, the young man took a breath, "Alright," before he continued speaking, "though, there's not much more that I can say other than I'm sorry. Beyond the damage you took, I'm sorry for pressing so hard to have you accept back your conformity despite knowing how much you didn't want it." Clasping his hands together and giving an apologetic bow, he further said, "Furthermore, I'm sorry for getting so heated over the matter. While I did my utmost to consider your feelings on the matter, the best way to say it is that I failed in that regard. So much so that, if Sato weren't there, we would likely still be arguing to this very moment because of my hardheadedness."

"Do you regret wanting to kill her?" asked Murakumo suddenly, keeping her eyes completely fixed on the young man's bowed form.

Raising his head to shake it, the young man uttered, "No."

"What if I told you her circumstances?" pressed Murakumo, taking a step forward that neither Yumi nor Yozakura could I identify as either passive or aggressive, "What if I told you about how similar she was to you?"

"You know her circumstances?" asked the young man with a bit of surprise on his face.

"…**Do not be like me… When I tried to force my way out this madness by breaking through a thick barricade of mold all by myself, the only thing that came out of it was getting hunted down by the lot of you after… you know…"**

"When she convinced me to accept the correction," stated Murakumo. After taking an audible breath to cool herself, she spoke further, "Her circumstances are nearly identical to yours… She's been forced to live as a dignitary and she just desperately wants an out."

"**While I don't know what he's saying over there, I can assure you that I understand. All those urges you must have to speak out, to act in the way you envision yourself… to hold yourself in the way you hold others… Believe me, I understand."**

"Ah…" grunted the young man before narrowing his eyes and shaking his head, "Even still, there's a key difference between her and I that I can't forgive." Before Murakumo could interrupt him, he spoke frankly, "While our circumstances may be the same, I haven't tried to kill anyone."

"**Don't get me wrong… I want you to be as strong as you want to be. It certainly is something you should strive for… but take baby-steps. Let yourself fit into it all comfortably and such… I don't really know how to word it."**

"Wouldn't you though?" interjected the masked shinobi, clenching a fist while pointing another finger, "If it came down to it and you had no choice, wouldn't you kill for your freedom?"

"**Just don't behave like me… If you're going to do something as drastic as changing yourself, do so at a comfortable pace. Just by looking at you, I can tell you have the strength to do it… Others, like me, don't have that kind of strength… So… you know, I'll be rooting for you and stuff…"**

Letting out a dismissive huff from his nose, the young man had to mind his temper for a moment, lest he and Murakumo regress to how they'd been the other day, and spoke frankly, "If Jasmine and Hanzō approached me in the way they did back then… and told me to kill all of you… all of you, whom I didn't even know at the time…" and locked his eyes onto Murakumo, "I would have spat in their faces or some equivalent right then." After a brief moment, he added, "If not that, I would have accepted with the intention to deceive them further down the line." He raised a pointed finger into the air and firmly said, "After all, I wouldn't consider myself free if I had the death of even one person on my conscience. If I'm going to be haunted by my actions, what kind of freedom is that?"

"You'd never even hurt any of us?" pressed Murakumo, taking a more visibly aggressive step forward, "You'd never throw us under the bus for anything? Can you really make that claim?"

There was no delay from the young man as he looked the girl in the eyes, "Everything I have done has been for the sake of both all of you and for myself." He shook his head and spoke further, "I am selfish and I can't deny I'm here for my own benefit… but I won't sacrifice any of you to further my own goals." He closed his eyes for a moment, "Don't get me wrong. I'll willingly argue with all of you and we may even need to fight every now and then…" before opening them and locking back onto Murakumo, "but it will always be for everyone's sake. Never will I sell any of you out for my own sake and never will I do anything that will knowingly harm you."

The girl remained paused for a moment, just looking down to the young man and scrutinizing his every mannerism to see if he was speaking empty words. The only thing Murakumo could bring herself to question was, "What about unknowingly… Will you harm us in that way?"

"Unfortunately, like yesterday," said the young man while only shying his eyes away for a second, "I'll make mistakes." Once he brought his eyes back to Murakumo, he finished by saying, "I can only hope that you and everyone else will be willing to forgive me when it comes to those."

The masked shinobi stared long and hard for a moment, unaware that not being able to read her facial expression only caused great anxiety in everyone else as they awaited her answer. She knew that the young man was being sincere and that he acted with the best of intentions, which was something that Sato certainly couldn't say since she had tried to actively kill them. How could Murakumo bring herself to be more sympathetic with the dignitary if all that were the case? The short and simple answer was that even she didn't know. The young man acted with better and more principled intentions, yet Murakumo was still angrier at him because she felt as though he held himself above her at the time. Even knowing that wasn't at all the case, her irrational frustration still lingered to that very moment. Yet, he was apologizing to her before everyone. Turning him away would only deepen an unneeded conflict on the potential eve of a greater conflict.

Thus, she offered with the slightly empty words, "I forgive you then…" as she began to turn away towards the apartments.

Catching the bit of her words that were hollow, the young man was going to call after her. But sensing that there wasn't much more that could be done, decided to let it be. He was convinced they'd have each other's backs if it came down to it, though he just wished for the heated air around them to disappear. Time would tell whether or not that would happen. Then, just as he was about to turn back to cleaning up the tents, he heard a notification on his phone and pulled it from his pocket.

Still clinging to the frustration that had no particular source at that point, Murakumo kept walking to the apartment until the sound of low and morbid snickering caught her ear. Upon turning around, she found the young man holding his phone a short way from his face while clenching a hand onto his forehead. His tightly pulled lips were curled up into a forced smile while his teeth pressed down into one another. Every few seconds, he let out a quiet cackle that could be easily confused with a strange sort of coughing. Before anyone could question what happened or why he was reacting in such a way, he audibly muttered under his breath, "Not even a day…"

"What?" asked Murakumo as she began to make a slow approach back to him.

"Dignitaries will be coming at some point tomorrow," rang the young man's voice more audibly. Once the words left his lips, everyone on the property was all ears. Between those who spectated his and Murakumo's engagement and those who decided to sit it out, everyone began to convene from their different corners to make sure that they heard right. Upon seeing their relatively calm look, the young man also tried to act nonchalant about the matter. Yet, no one was convinced when his voice quaked, "Why're you guys so alarmed?" It was completely evident that despite his calmness during his prior encounter with Murakumo, he was completely thrown off.

A massive spike of pain echoed through the young man's head, nearly buckling him over as he loudly groaned, which prompted Miyabi to call from behind him, "Hey! Are you okay?" before she stepped over to him from behind.

"It's just a headache," grumbled the boy through his teeth, "That's all this is… just a headache…"

Upon hearing those words which shouldn't have had much meaning, Asuka quickly flanked the young man and spouted, "Well, that's what you said yesterday! The next thing we knew, you were bleeding all over yourself." Then, everyone began to close in on him. Imu and Katsuragi moved for the stairs to make their way down while everyone else seemed to get close, trying to closely observe the boy's face. As that was happening, Asuka reached up to the young man's head and asked, "Here. Let's get you somewhere to rest."

Realizing that he never explained what happened to his own head after Murakumo's correction, the boy would have explained himself then and there. Yet, the message that Oda sent kept bouncing around in his head.

"**Miki reached out to us. Tomorrow, anytime between dawn and dusk, they'll be coming to your apartment. There will be about forty to fifty of them, based on his count. Kiriya and Rin did some work. Their count is about forty-eight. I'm on my way with Onoda. Is Hanzō and Jasmine there?"**

The young man kept trying to tell himself to focus. He wanted to recall where Asuka's grandparents had gone after they left earlier that morning. After recalling something along the lines of grocery shopping, he took a step back and forced a smile onto his face as the pain in his head spiked again. Just as he was about to say something, he heard Ryōbi chime from the surrounding crowd, "You said we were alarmed? You look like you're about to faint."

The young man turned to where he thought he heard the girl and lied through his teeth, "There's no reason to be alarmed… this isn't something unexpected, after all…" It only took a split-second for him to read doubt on all of their faces, silently calling him out on the fear he held within. Yet, rather than come out honestly, the young man doubled down, "What then? What's to be alarmed about? After everything so far, what could possibly top what we've all been through together?"

Letting his phone slip out of his hands, which was smoothly caught by Miyabi, the young man gestured his arms out to see if anyone would challenge his statement. Rather than argue with him, Murakumo was the first to reply, "You're right…" before she approached in a slow and unaggressive way, trying to keep him calm, "In just a few weeks, it feels as though a year has passed… What's one more encounter?"

"Exactly!" cried the young man, pointing his finger to her with evident desperation, "This won't be our first parade! Hell, it probably won't be any worse than that time I tangoed with Yumi!"

Not at all enjoying the memory, Yumi murmured, "You had to bring that up…" before she dived back into the situation at hand and approached the boy, "Here, we can talk inside. Let's see if there are any painkillers-," but was cut off.

"This is no different!" cried the young man, "We've dealt with distortion, we've dealt with Oda, and we've dealt with Sato!" For each problem he listed, a finger was raised, "There's no reason to panic!"

"So, it'd be better if you calmed down!" cried Katsuragi as she and the rest of the crowd began to further surround him.

As the young man tried to yell, his voice came out in a frightened crack, "I am calm…!" as the pain began to spike again through his head. Yet, despite all of his assurances, a few thoughts began to collectively haunt him. If Sato had managed to single-handedly cripple bring him to death's door, neutralize Murakumo, and kept on the run for the better part of forty-five minutes while being chased by twenty shinobi… then how would he and everyone else fare against nearly fifty dignitaries? Even worse, if they were a proper group, they would be better trained than Sato. Keeping in mind the grappling equipment that was designed to specifically evade and counter shinobi attacks, the chances for a victory began to even out with defeat. Then there was the slimming prospect of a victory without any casualties… No, there was a very real chance that he and the girls would be killed.

Under his breath, the young man cracked, "I am calm…" before both of his hands went up to his head, "But… this again…" and he promptly fell backwards. While, like before, he was caught by those closest to him, his fear was more than enough to throw everyone off for the fight to come.


	40. Chapter 40: Determined Assembly

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Male Reader x Senran Kagura)

Chapter 40: Determined Assembly

"Sato," came the unfeeling voice of Minagawa Sakae, hoping to get some kind answers from the girl placed under his observation. Sitting on a chair in her lonely corner of the warehouse a mere hour before the young man fainted, she only let out a tired and defeated grunt to acknowledge the man beside her. Not enjoying the prospect of being labeled some heartless jailor, Sakae asked quietly and simply, "Why won't you just tell someone this infiltrator's name?" When she only grunted again, the college student continued, "I'd like to advocate for you here."

Recalling the eerily similar words that she heard from Miki, who promised he'd do his utmost to save for her, she could only mutter, "Pardon me if I'm doubtful."

Huffing out a noise of frustration, Sakae asked, "Well, if nothing else, do you really have any reason to protect this infiltrator?" before leaning closer with a hint of unintended aggression, "Or is there something else? Have you guys got some kind of respect for one another?"

"He's called for my death repeatedly and holds no sympathy for me," Sato declared quietly, locking her eyes defiantly onto Sakae's, "While I don't particularly want to kill him, I certainly don't feel any personal connection either."

"Then why hold back?" asked the man, doing his utmost to understand the girl's position.

"It won't do me any good," replied Sato as she turned her head away, watching the convening strategists from afar as they thought up what teams to send in and when, "Since they want me dead anyway, they can figure out the what and when before I give them the where…" Standing among the group was Miki, inserting his own seemingly focused ideas while his father looked on proudly to his maturing son. Somewhere out of sight and mind was Sato's parents, who were likely feeling sorry for themselves.

"In case you don't recall," Sakae started in a stern voice, "you still stand a chance." As if he were accurately explaining his point, he held up one finger and guided it off to the side, "You'll need to be careful and less… loud, like you were before… sure," before mindlessly lifting it into the air and whirling it around like spaz, "but, if you get out alive, then you'll be good to go."

Watching the grown man swinging his finger around, Sato narrowed her eyes and audibly mumbled, "Certainly, you're a celebrity in whatever place you come from."

Offering a shrug, Sakae simply planted his finger against his forehead and murmured, "Strange… My fiancé says the same thing…"

Shaking her head and lowering it to face her legs, Sato could only say, "Well, pardon me when I say that I'm not like that Saturday morning superhero… what's his name-, Abyss-Seeker of the Triple Seven Order, that's the one. Unlike that wonderful fool, I don't have any want or desire to get into a situation where I'm likely going to die," before looking up and looking at the strategists from afar again, "and I'll feel no sympathy for those who are trying to get me killed." She finished her statement off by looking to Sakae, "If I can be spiteful for a couple more hours so that there's no temptation to go on an early assault, I'm going to be spiteful."

"What, you want some kind of last sleep or something?" asked the man.

"No, no," murmured Sato, remembering fully well that Miki would be giving every last detail of the battleplan to the shinobi, "I just want to go to wherever I'll go when I die and be able to say I was screwing the right people…"

Sometime later in the young man's apartment, he was waking up on his futon with an instinct of imminent danger. He heard the quietly seductive and predacious words, "…and a kiss will wake the sleeping prince…" while there were some yells in the background.

Despite the pain in his head coming back with great force, the young man's reflexes kicked in as he grunted under his breath, "MENACE…!" and mindlessly rolled away from the still unseen threat. As a result, he crashed straight into Homura and Asuka and unintentionally landed on top of them. Sitting up with wide open eyes and being careful to not inadvertently hurt the two girls anymore than he just did, the young man looked to where he once was and found Haruka sinking her lips into his pillow while Yumi and Miyabi were trying to pull her back. In the background was Murasaki, who was just too startled for words.

After a long ten seconds of complete silence and exchanging glances, Haruka finally commented, "I just knew that would work," before sighing, "though, I don't care for being called a menace…"

Drawing a cross on his chest with a finger, the young man growled, "Begone, she-devil...!"

"Simmer down your antics," cried a new voice from the side, "we've got a lot to go over without the lot of you screwing around."

Turning his head to find a stern-faced Jasmine standing just off from the side of the bed, the young man quietly commented, "I accept no responsibility for the antics you're accusing me of."

Looking to him while shaking her head, the woman stated, "Well, never mind whatever flirtations the lot of you have going," before looking him in the eye, "did you collapse again?"

Blinking for a moment as he remembered what had happened earlier that day, the young man sucked in a breath and gave a nod. As he did so, Asuka looked up to her grandmother and began to spout, "None of us think it's normal," while wildly gesturing her hands as she annunciated each point, "I mean, we remember how it was after each of our corrections and, yes, he certainly did seem extremely exhausted after those. But now his head's hurting a lot! And he was bleeding yesterday-," but was cut off by Jasmine's palm.

The woman locked her eyes onto the young man and sternly asked, "They don't know?"

"Know what?" came Miyabi and Yumi's synchronized question.

Tensing up and feeling the pressure begin to lay down on him, the young man scooted Haruka away from his pillow as he shyly climbed back onto his bed to quietly mumbled, "Nope."

"What're we supposed to know?" called the voice of Ikaruga as she, Murakumo, and Yomi made their way into the room amidst the ruckus.

"Will you tell them or should I?" asked Jasmine, her voice a strange mix of sympathetic and scolding.

Lifting up her hands with palms to the air, Homura raised her voice, "Okay, the vague-game is cool and all but let's not play it right now."

Feeling more and more pressed by the surrounding noises as a bit of pain struck into the front of his head, the young man commented while waving his hand dismissively, "I might have broken something," muttering, "of mine," before leveling his voice back to standard volume, "while correcting Murakumo…"

Murakumo tilted her head curiously and began to ask, "You're… referring to my conformity… I think…?"

But Ikaruga shook her head and pointed a finger at the young man, "Hold on, you mumbled something there." Her eyes narrowed in a dangerous way, "What'd you say?"

Straightening up as the girl came in full force, the boy tried to avert his gaze to the side but only found Asuka and Homura staring at him with evident concern. Turning his head back around, he found Haruka, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi also staring him with more intense eyes. Realizing he had no escape, the young man puffed out his cheeks in resignation and looked to Ikaruga, "I said that I may have broken something of mine."

"What was it?" came the girl's stalwart voice.

Unsure of how Murakumo would react if she found out that he'd taken some kind damage while fixing her head, the young man anxiously shifted his shoulders back and forth. After a moment, Murasaki commented, "Whatever it is, we promise not to be angry with you over it."

"Famous words of deception…" muttered the young man as he recalled an experience with his mother. Still, he knew that there wouldn't be any benefit to skirting the issue to the side for the long-term. If nothing else, it would be better that everyone found out sooner than later, "The tethering process collapsed towards the end and… while Sato made it out okay, since she was the original base connection," and turned his gaze to the ceiling, "I… had my head tangled with like a kitten in a ball of yarn…"

After a few seconds of silence, Homura commented, "I feel like that cute imagery doesn't fit the implications of what you're saying…"

"Indeed, it doesn't," affirmed the young man as he tried to not look anybody in the eye. He sucked in a breath and shamefully admitted, "All in all, it pretty much means that I've got some lingering… problems to deal with because of it…"

Yumi pressed her face close like a protective mother hen, "And what problems would those be?"

Recoiling in the face of their persistence, the young man leaned away from her and mumbled just a bit louder than a whisper, "…painful headaches-, migraines-, whatever the term is, in the middle of high stress situations… and nosebleeds too, though that hasn't happened again so that could have been the correction-," but was cut off as Asuka pulled him into a tight hug.

"YOU PO-O-OR THING!" she cried as her arms tightened around the young man's neck, unintentionally strangling him all the while. Though, painful and excruciating as it was, the boy was happy to find that she wasn't angry with him for keeping his new handicap on the downlow. For a brief moment, he believed the others would feel the same way. Then he looked over and found that everyone was giving him a stare which beheld their mixes of confusion and frustration, invoking a feeling of shame despite the tight embrace he was in.

Grabbing Asuka by the back of her collar, Homura pulled the girl away for a moment and set her down beside the futon again. She then turned her head to the young man and asked, "And… when were you initially planning to tell us that?"

Making a small sound to clear his throat, the boy answered frankly, "Whenever it came up…"

Miyabi extended her hand over grab his cheeks and turned his head over to face her, doing her utmost to seem as though she were trying to scold the young man, "Why didn't you mention it last night?"

"I received a tender hand massage while recovering from a painful headache," responded the young man in a quiet voice.

Miyabi gave a brief nod, trying to come off as satisfied while she was actually doing her utmost to not react to the cute way his cheeks were smooshing together in her grip. Murasaki was not so quick to let off as she peered over her leader's shoulder, staring into the young man's eyes and sending a shiver down his back as she asked, "Why not this morning…?"

He spoke through his smooshed cheeks, "I wan'd 'o kee' bu'y and fo'us on some'ing less s'ressful," he nodded his head over to Ikaruga, "I o'erhear' her men'io'ing 'hat 'e shou' 'isman'le 'he 'ents 'ile 'e wai'ed 'or 'he 'igni'aries' 'ex' mo'e…" After a moment, he shrugged and pulled away from Miyabi's grip, "Thus, I got to work."

Murasaki stared for a moment longer before nodding with a small smile, "Satisfactory."

Expecting the need to explain himself for some other thing, the young man already began to turn Yumi's way with a resigned look. Yet, once he was fully looking her way, she nearly mimicked Asuka and extended her arms to wrap him in an embrace, "It's okay! It's okay! We'll work this through with you!" while Murakumo suddenly zipped behind and grabbed her sister's shoulder to keep her in place.

As Yumi was struggling to break free to hold him, Murakumo just stared through her mask down to the young man. Unable to read her face, the boy sucked in an uneasy breath of air while he wondered what she was thinking. Was she still frustrated with him after everything? Maybe she felt bad since he sustained the handicap while trying to fix her? Perhaps she felt a bit cooled since the young man didn't try to play the blame game with her, not that he had much ground to stand on since the tethering process was his idea and choice. Regardless of whatever he could guess for the moment, it was fruitless since he couldn't read her expression. She stood as tall as she did before and her body language left nothing to be implied.

Though, if he stretched his imagination a bit, the young man thought he saw her mask briefly dip a bit low.

Letting out a sigh from beside him, Homura mumbled to herself, "Try to be a bit more forward about whatever's going on-, who am I kidding, you'd have told us eventually anyway," before she released Asuka to resume her cuddling, which the young man successfully braced himself for by taking in a quick breath. As the brunette proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck again while squeezing the life from him, Homura commented, "It's strange how much of a beating you've been taking these last few weeks…"

The young man choked out the words, "You don't say-," but let out a squeak as Yumi was also released by Murakumo, flanking him and slinking her arms around his head to hold him close while unintentionally blocking his nose and mouth. Around the same time, Miyabi and Murasaki looked to the boy's hands as they began to flail. Both girls reached over anxiously to grab ahold, though their shyness got the better of them and forced a retreat.

Before the young man was about to die of the best kind of asphyxiation, which was still a bit painful, the door to the apartment popped open and Oda came on through. He was going to say something but froze at the apparent sight. Asuka and Yumi were clinging to the young man, whose skin was steadily turning blue, while Miyabi and Murasaki were beet red and trying to muster the courage that they had the night before. Homura was pinching her chin in thought, Haruka was reclined back as though she were victorious in some endeavor, Ikaruga and Yomi were sucking in their cheeks trying to not say anything, and Jasmine had just sat herself against the corner with a look of mild satisfactory and resignation.

There was a quiet couple seconds of pause before Oda pointed over to the young man, who'd since stopped struggling, and cried, "STOP! HE'S GOING TO DIE!"

After thirty seconds of the chaos that ensued, which contained much panic on the girls' part and a few snarky remarks from Jasmine, the young man came to just as someone mentioned CPR. Once everything was settled and Oda was standing at the foot of the young man's futon, the boy murmured, "I saw and felt death… and it was strangely wonderful…"

Under his breath, Oda uttered, "Like succubi, these women would have killed him by pleasure…" and shuttered before getting his head back on track. After clearing his throat, he announced, "We're still waiting on Miki to send us further details regarding the plan," and then gestured to the door, "so I thought I'd make some introductions while we wait." After a few seconds of silence, Oda called, "Onoda, you can come in." Despite his summons, no one came through the door. Having a faint idea of what happened to one of the topmost elite shinobi of the modern era, Oda huffed a breath and raised a finger to everyone else, "A moment," before he made his way to the door and peeked outside. Everyone could hear him as he grumbled, "You're kidding me…"

"I'm not," came a woman's expressionless voice, though there was a slight pitch of joy.

"Don't look at me," came a more serious-sounding woman, "She pulled rank on me."

"Rightfully so."

Oda could be heard sighing before asking, "Would you just come in?"

"Does anyone have an allergy?" came the expressionless voice again.

"Not that I'm aware of-, Please, could you act like you're taking this seriously?" cried Oda, "We're on the eve of an engagement."

"I am taking this seriously."

After a few more seconds of silence, the larger shinobi just uttered, "Please… just come in…"

"Alright."

Oda stepped back into the apartment, straightened his clothes out, and ran a hand over his head before irritably stating, "Ladies and gentleman…" before gesturing to the door, "Shinobi Captain Onoda… Our, somehow, strongest agent after Daidōji… and then there's her second-in-command, the more reasonably-minded Shiori…" and then looked up to the ceiling, "Heavens, I feel as though I've made a mistake…"

Walking in with a slender black cat in her arms was a raven-haired woman with equally dark eyes and no visible emotion. Were it not for the stray feline she was gently caressing, the young man would have been fiercely intimidated. Right behind her walked a red-haired woman with green eyes that reflected a mix of shame and resignation. Repeatedly glancing at her leader and reminding herself of all the ridiculous antics they've gotten into over the years, she could only wonder why she hadn't snapped and murdered her commanding officer yet.

The girls were extremely excited by the sight of them, with Asuka, Homura, Ikaruga, Yomi, and Yumi straightening themselves to offer courteous bows while Jasmine, Miyabi, and Murakumo offered nods of approval. On the other hand, the young man kept in mind his current plight and remarked under his breath, "This has to be a poor first impression… surely, my life is being trusted to competent people…"

Straightening herself while still giving loving pats to the cat in her arms, Onoda stated frankly and without much emotion, "Do you happen to have any fish?" before giving the feline a bounce, "This one has a case of the rumbly-tummy."

The young man made a quiet sound of confusion.

Shiori pinched the bridge of her nose and mumbled under her breath, "God, give me strength," before facing her 'best friend' of many years, "Could you please, I'm begging you here, do something that isn't so… animated? It's bad enough that you singlehandedly delayed our flight in…"

Straining to not let his face show any alarm, the young man blew a long breath out of his nose.

"That dog-o needed a home, not a trip to the pound," came the casual reply before Onoda's head slumped, "…and it's not my fault that I couldn't afford a cage…"

"That's why you don't spend all your cash on a bunch of sausages, you irresponsible dimwit!" cried Shiori, making everyone but the young man jump in surprise to her loud volume.

Rather, the young man's eyes were narrowing as his face tensed up, letting out a squeak of alarm as he realized whose hands his life was being carried in.

Onoda adopted a more serious looking expression, letting her eyes fall low as she puffed her nose and retorted, "The owls weren't going to feed themselves."

"Two things…" grumbled Shiori before raising a finger, "One, yes they would have," then another, "Two…" and bellowed, "YOU DON'T NEED TO FEED OWLS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!"

Sucking in his lips for a brief moment to hold his tongue, the young man fell backwards onto his bed and audibly mumbled, "I'm going to fucking die…"

Still in her corner, Jasmine quietly whispered in return, "Oh~, the amount of times I've thought that with these two…"

Turning to the young man with equally offended looks, Onoda and Shiori briefly gave him a judgmental gaze before simultaneously asking Oda, "Who's he? A shinobi?"

The large man replied, "An ally. He's an infiltrator."

Onoda nodded before stating, "Alright, I'm-a kill him," before drawing a rapier from her side, startling the cat in her other arm before it yowled. At the same time, Shiori pulled a pistol from a holster resting on her back.

As the young man jumped and pushed himself further back against the wall behind his futon, Oda immediately raised his hands to the two, "No! No, no, no! Ally, he's an ally!" and then gestured to the boy, "He's the one who gave us the information on Tsao. He's an informant."

"Oh," replied Onoda as she and Shiori put their weapons away. After a moment, the girl tilted her head, "Right, you mentioned that," before asking curiously, "You never mentioned how he knew Tsao, though. Is he a former teammate?"

Tightening his face as the young man bit his teeth together, Oda slowly replied, "Actually… his brother…"

"I'll kill him," mumbled Shiori as she drew her gun again, only to be tackled by all of the girls in the room. Still standing up and trying to get a proper shot on the boy's head, she kept saying, "Just let me kill him," eventually shouting, "Let me shoot him right in the face!"

Again, Oda proceeded to assure Shiori, "HE'S AN ALLY! FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL ON THIS EARTH, JUST STOP!" while keeping a wary eye on Onoda, who hadn't moved. Then, just as the former was beginning to calm down, the large shinobi felt a stare full of judgement and frustration burning into the side of his head and turned to find the young man staring without visible expression.

"Oda…" he grunted under his breath before quietly stating, "If you wanted to kill me this whole time, you could have been a bit more straightforward about it…" It was plain and obvious that he was approaching the end of his patience.

Clenching his eyes closed, Oda scratched the back of his head and stated, "I know what you're saying-, I'm sorry…" before giving a slow shrug, "Look, I know how this looks but these two and the others are the best of the best. If there were ten people throughout the world that I'd take up against dignitaries or Tsao, they'd be my first choice-, they are my first choice."

"Don't get me wrong," grumbled the young man, keeping his voice low and agitated, "their abilities aren't going to be denied by me. I can tell they're skilled," before pointing at the two women and started to speak in a softer voice, "But if we're going to be getting help from these people," before proceeding to shout, "it'd be better to tell them my relation to Tsao when they're not within two meters of me!"

Oda began to say while shamefully averting his eyes, "Admittedly, I didn't think that one through-," but was cut off by the young man's yells.

"Yeah, you do that! A lot! Like, a whole lot more than someone in your position should be doing!"

Feeling a bit more sting with that particular jab, Oda just lowered his head while waiting for the young man to continue. But, when the room remained silent, the shinobi just mumbled, "I understand that this situation has been progressively more and more frustrating for you…"

Narrowing his eyes for a moment, the young man grumbled, "Yeah, it's frustrating as hell…" before whipping his head back to Oda, "But there's a fact more frustrating than everything else combined buried in all this." Swaying back and forth in thought, the young man started by speaking calmly, "Now, I've been in a ton of near-death situations in the last few weeks. I've gotten my ass kicked, got punched by an angry chihuahua of a shinobi-, that is your father, Miyabi. Sorry."

"No offense taken," replied the woman, keeping her voice quiet to not provoke or agitate the young man's souring mood.

Continuing his rant, the boy continued, "I've gotten threatened, I've had literal bones broken, I almost got shot, I sustained a head crippling injury…"

"You're going through a very tough time-," started Oda before the young man interrupted again.

"But the worst part," he cried, "is the fact that I seem to be making all the right decisions!" He looked to the girls, "I've been trusting in you guys since we settled that matter with Yumi," which prompted the mentioned girl to murmur off to the side.

"Would everyone please quit reminding me of that time…?"

The young man turned to Oda, "I evaded you when you were dangerous, put my trust in you once we made our deal, did my utmost to plan around Sato, I've taken whatever measures necessary to do a correction!" and began to slap a hand against his knee repeatedly, "Yet, despite everything, it seems as though my situation has been steadily worsening!" Huffing long angry breaths by the end of his rant, the young man lifted a hand to his forehead and quietly let out an, "Ow…"

Blinking awkwardly down to the boy, Oda just quietly asked, "Is it… all out of your system?"

"Yup…" mumbled the young man before quietly adding, "Felt good to talk about before the headache kicked in…"

"It's been a rough time for you," came Onoda's expressionless voice.

"If you're still planning to kill me," mumbled the boy before looking up, "could you at least do it by giving me a pair of roller-skates and a blindfold before running me down with a buffalo herd?"

"That was awfully particular," commented the woman while everyone else questioned if they heard him right.

The young man shrugged, "If I'm going to die, I might as well give one final act of defiance… and there's a song my grandfather sang-," but was interrupted by Onoda.

"Regardless, we're not going to kill you." Upon hearing the straightforward comment, the boy visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Yet, just as he began to think he was at the turning point of his struggles, Onoda added, "Well, Shiori might."

"Oh, go blow a donkey," cried the other woman.

Raising his head up to look at Onoda, who had a voice as expressionless as Hikage's, the young man tried to understand. One moment, she was ready to kill him. The next, she was straightforwardly assuring him. Just as he began to dwell on her last comment, the woman stated, "That was a joke."

"I figured," commented the young man, who had officially decided that every shinobi, from the girls to Oda to the new arrivals, were capable of swings in attitude and trust of the like that shouldn't have even been capable for a healthy human being.

Breaking up his train of thought, Haruka stood from her seated position on the floor and mumbled, "I'm going to use the ladies' room while you all… do your whole discussing thing…" and strode away without waiting for a comment. The young man would have made a sarcastic remark, but decided to settle for just being glad that the woman who made him so uncomfortable was finally gone.

"Well," mumbled Oda while clapping his hands together, "We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow… So, we'd better get to strategizing-," but was cut off.

"Does he know about Yōma?" asked Onoda. Recoiling a bit from having been interrupted, Oda blinked his eyes and made a confused sound. Again, the woman asked, "Does he know about Yōma? There's a possibility that one could show up when we're all fighting tomorrow."

While the girls started to exchange knowing glances between one another, Oda sucked in a breath and quietly stated, "To be frank… it's bad enough that some of our more junior shinobi already know. If someone who isn't in our circle knows about Yōma, there could be some… panic," while glancing at the boy.

"Keeping secrets, Oda?" commented the young man before shaking his head, "You know what? Don't answer that," before facing Onoda, "I'm going to take a slight shot in the dark and say that Yōma are those mean-ass creatures you guys go out and fight on occasion?" Suddenly, everyone in the room was looking at the young man. From the girls to Jasmine to Oda and his two subordinates, they were all looking at him as though he'd become some kind of fire-breathing chicken. Unsure of how to respond to their scrutiny, the young man just asked, "What?"

Yomi slowly poked her head toward the boy, "How… do you know about Yōma?"

"_Grandad_-, pa… Grandpa told me," came the reply before the young man scratched at his cheeks, "Plus, I think Tsao spoke of a few encounters…"

Blinking her eyes a few times, Onoda remained in stoic silence for a few minutes before asking, "Why does a big secret tend to not always be so secretive?"

"Hold on, hold on," started Homura as she held up a hand, "Let's test his knowledge to make sure he knows what we're talking about," before pointing a finger to the young man, "How is a Yōma born?"

The boy blinked before answering, "When a mommy Yōma and a daddy Yōma hump each other?"

Asuka, Miyabi, Murasaki let little puffs of steam blow out their nostrils as their faces flushed up, all while Homura muttered, "Wrong…" and cooled down her heated cheeks with a breath. While Yumi was simply averting her eyes to Ikaruga in the background, who gave shrug to the young man's answer, the tanned shinobi then pointed a second finger at the boy, "How big do Yōma tend to be?"

Ignoring everyone's reactions to the previous comment, the next answer came, "I've heard that they can be anywhere in-between that of a dog to a rhinoceros."

Sucking an anxious breath through her teeth as she relived some memories of Dōgen and Orochi, Homura shook her head, "Also wrong. Yōma can be absolutely massive." While taking a glance back, she found that Miyabi had also managed to put on a more serious expression. Finally, Homura extended a third finger and asked, "What is the first, most powerful, and the creator of all other Yōma?"

The young man blew out a breath of air and lifted his hands for a moment, "I don't-, Whoever created the platypus-," before shaking his head and gesturing to Homura, "I think we've established that I don't know much."

"I'd say that it'd be better that way," mumbled Oda before shaking his head, "Provided that everything goes alright tomorrow, we won't need to worry about it."

"Well, considering how big this thing is being hyped up by you guys," commented the young man, "I'd argue that it would be better for me to be in the know, in case an off-chance scenario becomes reality."

Conflicted with sharing one of the greater shinobi secrets, the girls looked between one another, to Jasmine, to Onoda and Shiori, and then to Oda for some kind of approval. The large man had closed his eyes and was ever so slightly lifting up his hand to scratch at his side while he mulled over the topic. Certainly, it would be better to share the information for the sake of the long-term, especially if there would be other encounters with dignitaries in the future. Yet, there was also the fact of how immense the matter was. In the worst-case scenario, the Yōma meant the world's coming end and that kind of information could spark great dread and panic in the young man, two things that would hamper him in the coming battle.

Fortunately, Oda caught a look that Jasmine passed to him, one that said she could offer a reasonable compromise. Thus, after receiving a nod from the larger shinobi, she started by saying, "To give you the essential information…" before clicking her tongue a few times in thoughts. After a few moments, she began again, "To give you the essential information, Yōma are drawn out by shinobi bloodshed." Jasmine paused to peruse all of the information in her head before continuing with, "While we can only theorize where they're drawn out from, we know that they're extremely unpredictable when they come. They can be any size, any shape, any form." After another dramatic pause, which had the young man gesturing for her to continue, she finished by stating, "The only commonality between them is their violent 'births' or arrivals-, there's really no good word for it-, and their tendency to slaughter anything living."

Taking the information in stride, the young man nodded his head while trying to imagine the horrific scene that put everyone on edge. Still struggling to picture it, he asked plainly, "When you say anything living, do you mean humans or…"

"Particularly shinobi, but humans," affirmed Jasmine before she began to circle her fingers around, "dogs, cats, fish, cattle, plants-, if it lives in some way on this Earth, the Yōma have an instinct to kill it."

While the young man began to connect the dots on such a creature that he thought he understood, Oda suddenly gave the back of his foot a light stomp as he interjected, "Regardless, if we manage to avoid getting wounded tomorrow, then we'll be fine and there'll be no need to worry." Seeing that his words, which were intended to calm down everyone, only seemed to increase the uncomfortable atmosphere's intensity, Oda added, "We've got a team of ten of the best shinobi, who're all just a hair short of becoming kaguras." While the young man pondered the new word that he hadn't heard before, the large shinobi continued, "Beyond them, we've got twenty younger shinobi who're all on the road to becoming this generation's best."

When Oda looked to her curiously, Jasmine shook her head and commented, "Don't add Hanzō or I into this roster. We're moving around but still in recovery mode at the moment… and our good doctor has strictly advised against moving around." Feeling a bit guilty for her lack of participation, she also added, "Perhaps you could call the girls' parents-," but was immediately cut off.

"Nope," came Oda's quick reply, "We're not involving them in anything until there's a discussion regarding our new…" before he paused awkwardly and looked to the young man, "relations with our friendly neighborhood infiltrator." As the regarded boy did an awkward shuffle as the parents' confrontation came back to mind, Oda continued, "Plus, I haven't been able to reach Jirō. Not since Miyabi and everyone else went on emergency leave."

"Emergency leave?" questioned the young man before looking at the girls, "What'd you go on emergency leave for?"

Asuka, Miyabi, and Yumi replied simultaneously, "To make sure that Sato didn't beat your head in again…"

Off to the side, Homura did a slight jump when the young man looked to her and simply stated, "Renegades don't go to school so we've just been hanging out… for the same reason."

"Ah," came the boy's reply before awkwardly mumbling, "Well, I owe you all more than one…" After a moment, he looked to Oda and clapped his palms to his knees, "So… thirty shinobi and one infiltrator against forty-eight dignitaries… I'm still not sure if I like those odds."

Seeking to lighten the mood and dreary air, Oda jabbed his thumb into himself and said, "Thirty-one shinobi, sir," and lifted his other arm into the air to give it a flex, "and these babies are worth ten shinobi each! By that math, we've got fifty-one shinobi and one infiltrator against forty-eight!" He looked back and forth, hoping that someone would at least snicker or smile at his display. There was only embarrassed horror when Oda realized that the only smiles were from those who were straining themselves to not cringe at all.

Breaking the silence, the young man commented, "Let's roll back to that comment I made about dying… because I'm going to die and hard."

"Oda's not good at humor," said Onoda frankly, making the large shinobi mumble under his breath about how his daughter would've laughed, before stating, "But my team and I have faced dignitaries before. We've won against worse odds with no casualties. Once we formulate a plan and if everyone follows it or reacts accordingly to new circumstances, we'll be fine." After a moment, she lifted the cat in her arms and said, "I'm going to play with Chomubach, here. Call me once we have enough info to get a plan together," before casually sauntering off with a stone-faced Shiori in tow.

Left by himself with a thoroughly amused Jasmine and a bunch of teenagers, Oda awkwardly glanced down at the young man and said, "I'll be waiting for a text from Miki if you need me…" before he proceeded after Onoda. He wouldn't mention the fact that he would be sending a text to his wife to subtly ask their daughter whether or not she thought her daddy was funny.

Before the larger man was out of the room, Murakumo suddenly approached the end of the young man's futon and proceeded to murmur, "Now that… everything else is out of the way, I'd like to talk to you about something." She paused for a moment before correcting herself, "…Well, somethings actually."

Turning his head from the retreating Oda to the masked shinobi, the young man blinked and tilted his head before saying, "Alright. Let's talk then."

Doing her ultimate to keep her voice level, Murakumo turned to the boy's admirers and asked, "Could I please speak to him with Yomi and Ikaruga?"

Murasaki was about to object to the statement as a feeling of defensiveness overtook her, though she was quickly cut off by the rest of the group. Though it was unknown about whether their action was out of levelheadedness or a desire to see peace between Murakumo and the young man, the other four quickly dragged the whimpering purple-haired shinobi to the door with Jasmine in tow. As the apartment door began to close, Jasmine flashed an encouraging smile to the young man, who was just thankful that the door was replaced when it was. Once everything was settled and he was all alone with the three remaining shinobi, the boy spoke frankly, "Is this regarding our… talk from earlier? Or is this more to do with what winded up happening to me?"

At the moment, the young man urgently wished to see Murakumo's face since he still only had her body language to go off of. With how rigid she was standing, the only thing that he could read from her was the fact that she was evidently uncomfortable. Whether or not she was frustrated or guilty could only be determined by the sound of her voice. To his surprise, it was both. "Originally, it was just the latter and… something regarding Sato…" came Murakumo's voice, coming out heatedly with a few cracks, "but… I suppose I can't ignore what happened to you either."

"I'd actually encourage you to forget about it," replied the young man without showing any of his conflicted feelings, "It was my choice to use the method that I did. I knew the risk and the potential consequences. Just because I did wind up having to pay for it doesn't mean I'm any less responsible."

"Your head was screwed up while trying to save mine," remarked Murakumo in a quiet voice while gesturing to the boy, "How can you expect me to not feel some kind of guilt?"

"Well, guilt is just an irrational thing," retorted the young man before he broke his gaze away, "I'm not going to expect it to just go away because I said so. I just want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened."

There was a small pause before Murakumo finally admitted, "I don't want to owe you anything," which brought the young man's gaze back to her face. After another moment of quiet, she added, "I… don't want this hanging over my head. Not while I'm still trying to sort everything out with your apology…"

"Then don't let it hang over your head," replied the young man, "You owe me nothing," before he closed his eyes and took a heavy breath, "In the end, I'll be free from this infiltrator and shinobi bullshit. I'll be able to live a boring life full of peace and I'd have it no other way." Murakumo was about to interject before he held up a hand to cut her off. After another moment of thought, the young man stated, "It's like I said in the beginning… It's like you said during our argument… I'm a selfish piece of shit who just wants to be done with this kind of stuff."

"All of it?" asked Murakumo.

"All of it," affirmed the young man without much thought.

Murakumo paused for a moment, "What about Yumi?" and quietly pressed on, "What about Asuka, Homura, Miyabi, and Murasaki? What about everyone who would still be in that world you're leaving behind?"

"I think I know what you're getting at," mumbled the young man before shaking his head, "I won't just go and ghost all of you. I imagine that we'll have all bonded well enough that I'll want to keep you all as friends," before raising a finger, "Though, I won't hear any talk about shinobi business. I don't want any further involvement in any… I don't know-, assassinations, Yōma slaying…" Waving his finger around, the young man just shrugged and dropped it into his lap after a moment, "Whatever business you guys will be getting involved in, I don't want hear about. But friendships? Get-togethers? I'm down."

Murakumo's mask bobbed up and down a few times before she asked curiously, "What about with everyone who's confessed to you thus far?"

The young man blinked before narrowing his eyes, "You're asking if I'll take someone as a girlfriend?"

Once he finished his remark, Ikaruga and Yomi couldn't restrain themselves to the back any longer. Without warning, the former flanked around the side of the futon and approached the young man with a stern look on her face, "Please, make a choice. It'd be better if you didn't drag this on any longer than it already has."

At the same time, Yomi appeared on the opposite side and asked, "Do you think you'll be dating both Homura and Asuka? I know it's a weird thing to even suggest but-, Well, I know that you know Homura likes Asuka too, so… I mean, I'm a little out of the loop. Has she confessed to her too?" By the time the blonde was done talking, the other three teenagers were just staring at her in bewilderment.

As if on cue, Haruka popped out of the young man's bathroom and haughtily declared, "I think I can answer both questions at hand!" while raising her arms in an extremely showy way.

"Oh, lords above…" muttered the young man while Yomi gestured for Haruka to continue, much to Murakumo's chagrin.

"To answer I-ka-ru-ga~…" sang Haruka before tapping her forehead, "there's been a lot of stress these last few days and there is likely to be more to come."

The woman gestured to the young man after a moment, which prompted him to say, "Don't come any closer she-devil," as he clapped his hands together in prayer.

Continuing like she hadn't heard anything, Haruka sang, "Since he's such a busybody, it's likely that he hasn't even begun to seriously consider who to pick from the lineup. Especially if his standards for a lover only require both acceptance and some hugs…"

"Knowing how dangerous you are, I shouldn't be surprised you remember that conversation," grumbled the young man.

Flexing her fingers in his direction, Haruka chimed, "I'm still happy to give you that hug, you know…"

"Back off, she-devil."

The woman's face fell neutral for a moment as she stared at the young man and dropped her fingers. After a moment, Haruka commented, "You know, hearing that enough times starts to hurt."

Offering an awkward shrug, the boy retorted, "Sorry but, to be frank, you are a dangerous element," and hugged his elbows, "Specifically to my purity, I feel as though you are an extremely dangerous element…"

With a quick and challenging snort out of her nose, Haruka suddenly smiled and purred, "Your purity is what has you worried?" before looking over to Yomi, "To answer your question, I think he'll certainly be with Homura and Asuka…"

"Oh, I… think I see," came the blonde's quiet voice before she faced off to the side, "though, I wonder how you'd know that…"

"But it doesn't stop there!" declared Haruka before whirling her finger to the young man, completely ignoring Yomi, "Rather, his little harem will grow to five in population not long after our coming battle!" Adopting a more sinister expression, the woman turned her green eyes onto the boy as he leaned back further and further into his futon, "As for his purity…?" before licking her lips, "That will be history…"

Before the young man could even think to offer some kind of rebuttal, Ikaruga raised her hands into the air, "I DON'T THINK SO!" and then wildly waved her hands around Haruka's face, "INAPPROPRIATE! INAPPROPRIATE! INAPPROPRIATE! NO! I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT KIND OF SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR AND I FORBID YOU TO EVEN THEORIZE ABOUT IT!"

As the two women began to aggressively exchange their thoughts on the matter while Yomi looked on in shock from the side, Murakumo slinked around to the other side of the young man's futon and asked, "Are you following whatever the hell is going on here?"

Keeping his eyes narrowed on the two arguing women, the young man mumbled, "The two extremes of the sexual spectrum have decided to end their great and mighty conflict with one final battle…" After a moment, he turned to Murakumo and asked, "Could you explain why you brought Ikaruga and Yomi in here? I don't really feel as though their questions are relevant to what you were saying before… doubly so if you meant to say something about Sato."

The masked girl hung her head as she mumbled, "They said they'd come to offer me some support, assuring me that they'd keep silent." Murakumo then raised her head and added, "Considering how much gossip we've had about you and your… lovers, if that's the word… I should have suspected that they would roll that subject overboard…"

"Good to know you guys talk behind our backs," remarked the young man with a tired smile as he watched Ikaruga list a whole bunch of reasons on why polygamy wasn't an appropriate relationship for a bunch of teenagers. He wondered about whether or not his confessors had spread word about his own views on relationships…

Lowering her head for a moment, Murakumo just shook her head and stated, "Look, what you, my sister, and everyone else does is of no concern of mine… you guys… just do you," before assuring, "If I can just ask something in regards to tomorrow, I'll be out of your hair and will drag the three stooges off with me so that you can get pampered by your lovers again…"

At first, the young man just mumbled, "You keep saying lovers but I don't think that's the right word…" before giving his head a shake and nodding firmly, "Sorry. Go ahead."

Murakumo had to take a moment to keep herself calm, minding her temper and keeping all of the surrounding circumstances in mind. It didn't help that Haruka was chasing around Ikaruga and Yomi, certainly hoping to make a point by doing something extreme. Finally, once the young man began to lean forward with curiosity, Murakumo asked, "What're you planning to do when we're battling tomorrow?"

Straightening up a bit, the boy remained silent in thought before giving a shrug, "I suppose I'll be out there fighting with you guys."

Murakumo immediately shook her head, "No," before gesturing to him, "Between not being much of a fighter and being a pacifist, you won't do us much good out there."

"I can hold my own well enough," stated the young man before shrugging, "Granted, I won't be as good as you guys, but I'm good enough to fight."

"You had your head beaten in by Sato before," cried Murakumo as she tried to restrain her voice.

"Not long before some dickhead softened up my cranium for her," retorted the young man.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Murakumo raised her hands, "Alright, alright," before asking, "but what about your pacifism? What about all that spiel about you not killing someone to achieve your goals?"

"Who said anything about me killing anyone?" asked the young man with an alarmed tone, "There's more to a fight like this than just picking up a pair of swords and going swingity-dingity." He paused for a moment before remarking, "Though, I'm pretty sure I don't qualify as a full-blown pacifist, considering the fact that I'm still taking part in this…"

"Uh-huh," grunted Murakumo, "so what will you be doing while we're all going swingity-dingity with some swords?"

"Flying around, taking information, reporting in…" started the young man before shrugging with some uncertainty, "Probably. Truth be told, I won't know until Oda has a plan together." Before Murakumo could press further, he raised a finger, "But, even if I'm made a frontline fighter, I know enough in the way of defensive techniques to disarm someone."

The masked shinobi sighed as Ikaruga briefly bounced onto the futon, extremely close to where she and the young man were, before leaping out of Haruka's way. As the boy began to mutter about the ruckus on the other side of the room, Murakumo dropped her head with a sigh, "By the sound of it, you're determined to take part…?"

"Yup."

"No way to talk you down?"

"Nope."

"In that case," Murakumo trailed off and turned her head away just as the other three shinobi in the room collapsed together with Haruka on top, cackling victoriously. Finally, just as the young man was getting sucked into the comical antics, the woman beside him asked, "What'll you do if Miki is there?"

The young man made a sound and remained silent for a few seconds as he processed the thought of him and Miki on opposite sides. Then he asked, "How do you mean? Give me some specifics."

Murakumo sighed and stated, "If Miki is in the know of the battleplans, he'll probably be taking part in some way. Unless he successfully feigns sickness, there's no avoiding that." She pressed her head closer and asked, "If you and Miki wind up standing before one another in the heat of battle, what'll you do?"

Exhaling as he fully understood the woman's explanation, the young man closed his eyes and pictured the scenario vividly. He could see it happening before his very eyes, as though he were already facing down Miki with their swords drawn and combat stances adopted. Yet, when he tried to picture Miki's face, he could only see the goofy smile that could ramble on for minutes at a time about any inane subject. With newfound confidence, the young man snorted, "I'd say that it would be a case of live and let live. Maybe a few potshots or swings at one another to put on a convincing show… but I don't distrust Miki."

"What if he came at you with the full intent to attack?" asked Murakumo before raising one of her palms to stop the young man's coming retort, "Just let this be a hypothetical and tell me what you would do."

Letting out a sigh and still not taking the question so seriously, the young man sucked in his lips before stating, "He'll get what he gives." He gestured to his arms, "A cut to my hand; a cut to his," then to his stomach, "A stab to mine and a stab to his," and rested on his neck, "A cut to my throat and-, well, I'll be too dead to do anything about it."

Murakumo lowered her head and nodded before quietly mumbling, "That's… reasonable, I suppose." After a few seconds she asked, "Could you extend that same kind of mercy to Sato then?"

Hearing the girl's name, the young man looked away and uncomfortably shuffled in place. After letting out an exhale, he promptly asked, "What makes you think she'll be on the battlefield? Miki already said that she'll probably be killed."

Murakumo shook her head, "And I'm sure that she'll find a way to get another chance with the dignitaries. Whether by cunning or with Miki's help, I don't think Sato will just lay down and die after everything." She shook her head, "After hearing all that I've heard, there's no way she'd just follow after Miki to her death. There had to be some kind of plan."

"What?" questioned the young man, "Pardon me for being frank, but I don't think we saw the same person." He pointed to Murakumo, "By the sound of it, you saw a girl determined to see a cause through to the end," and then to himself, "while I saw someone who had resigned themselves to whatever comes next."

"Then we'll agree to disagree," stated Murakumo before straightening herself and pulling further away from the young man, "Could you just tell me what you would do if you," as her voice became quieter and quieter, "met Sato in battle."

Sucking in a frustrated breath and rubbing at his forehead, the young man grunted, "Ow…" before turning his focus away from the pain. Instead, he resolved himself to look away from Murakumo and asked at level volume, "What do you want me to do?"

Jerking her head back to him, the masked shinobi made a confused sound, "Huh?"

"You're trying to convince me to do something else instead of just fighting her, right?" mumbled the young man as he waved his hand for her to continue, "Just say what you want to say and I'll listen."

Since he wasn't looking at her when those words came out, Murakumo wasn't sure about whether or not to take the boy seriously. But, knowing an argument would bring a spike of pain to his head, she instead explained her feelings openly, "Give her the same chance that we gave you and help her escape from this mess."

Letting a hot breath of air blow out his nose, the young man mumbled, "Oh boy…" and clenched his eyes closed.

"I know what she did to you," stated Murakumo, "and I know that she doesn't deserve it. I also know that she violated core principles of yours when she tried to kill you and screwed my brain up." As she continued speaking, the wrestling match between Haruka, Ikaruga, and Yomi froze as they realized a serious conversation was taking place. As they picked themselves up, Murakumo continued to practically beg, "But you can't deny that she's like you… She wants to be free from the dignitaries like you want to be free from the infiltrators… Please… Help her…"

The young man remained completely silent as he turned his head to face the girl, unwilling to voice some of the more cruel feelings he had bouncing around in his brain. Yet, while his hate for Sato didn't end, he couldn't help but feel like Murakumo's face was twisting with sorrowful desperation beneath her mask. He let out a sigh and considered the prospect, sucking and blowing his lips out of his mouth repeatedly in thought. He couldn't picture saving Sato, though fighting her was starting to become an uncomfortable image in his head. Regardless of whatever answer he gave Murakumo then and there, he wasn't sure if he would have an honest answer until the time came.

Meanwhile, still cramped up in the abandoned distribution center, Sato had a terrible feeling run through her gut as she prayed for some kind of end to her troubles. Whether she was to be released from the life she never asked for or was to die in the coming battle, it didn't matter too much to her. She just wanted all of the hardship to end.

Having sent all of the essential details from the dignitaries' battle plan to Oda for the coming engagement, Miki glanced at Sato from afar and hoped that everything would turn out alright for her. As far as he was concerned, he'd done his ultimate and had gotten the best possible option to save her life. The plan had her propped out in the open, which left her fate to be completely determined by the shinobi. Whatever happened next, he would be there to see it all go down… he could only hope that things didn't turn too gruesome.


	41. Chapter 41: Bloody Whammny

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 41: Bloody Whammy

**April 25 – "The enemy will make themselves known when the moment is advantageous to them…"**

Over two kilometers away and atop a business center, Tsao grumbled, "They're waiting for something…" as he looked through a mounted telescope, observing all of the shifting shadows throughout numerous areas within the suburbs that were lit by a high noon sun.

Standing beside him, Lajos spoke frankly with broken Japanese, "Waiting for us to come?"

Minding the fact that he told the man keep from speaking Hungarian so that he couldn't be easily identified, Tsao shook his head, "Unless they've got the foresight of a prophet on their side, that'd be impossible." Peeking through and mentally marking the position of each group in waiting, the man continued, "It's certainly an ambush… but for who?"

"Suggesting is what I hate," commented Lajos as he pinched his chin, "but… maybe your brother?"

"There's at least four groups of five down there… and maybe a group of ten…" muttered Tsao as he ran through the locations with his telescope again, "Bringing roughly thirty shinobi for one infiltrator?" and clicked his tongue, "Well, these bastards have done crazier things in the past." Stepping away from the device, he looked to Lajos and gave a look that chilled the smaller man's bones, "Regardless, they'll all be dead soon."

"Yessir."

Hooking up a tubular device onto his back while glancing down to his ammo pouch, Tsao asked, "Everyone's reported in from their positions?"

"Yes, in a way," mumbled Lajos before he held up his phone, "Eleven pings from IPs different. No words but they're all positioned."

Once the booster was hooked and strapped onto him, Tsao let out a frustrated grunt before he said, "They ought to know that makes me uncomfortable." After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand, "We'll work around it. Tell them to slowly close in. I want them ready to jump by the time I find my brother."

"Yessir."

Pulling his firearms from their holsters, he loaded the slugs into his handheld shotguns. After doublechecking the safeties to make sure his thigh wouldn't explode midair, Tsao put them back and then drew his two liuyedaos from their scabbards. Pleased by the clean sheen reflecting his face, he grunted and put them back. He patted at the dagger on his chest, grasped at the grappling devices across his body, and pulled out a black balaclava to cover his face.

Tsao had no idea where his brother fit into everything, but he would act the moment he believed him to be in danger. Above all else, from any mission to his very own comrades, he would sacrifice anything to protect his family. If he had to make the choice, he would be shot and killed before anyone he loved could even be touched. If a hundred thousand soldiers came with the intent to kill, then Tsao would ideally leave a hundred thousand families to receive notice of their deaths. If the world was going to suffer Hell unless one of his beloveds were sacrificed, then Tsao would leave the world to burn in agony. Through and through, he was a family man… and he would always stand by that. Even if it took a river of blood to convince the rest of the world to lay off…

Watching the suburbs from the second-floor fire escape that she was standing on, every part of Ikaruga remained absolutely still. The only exception was her head, which kept zipping back and forth to survey the area in front and above her. While she trusted the eyes of everyone else on her team, she still couldn't shake off the ominous feeling that they were still in danger. Of course, Katsuragi had repeatedly assured her that everything would be fine and even decided to sneak up on her a few times to give a mild scare.

Yet, as time went on, the blonde had begun to lessen her antics until she remained absolutely stationary too, hiding behind a dumpster on the ground. Compared to the more upbeat and showy grins that she usually had, the restrained look on her face as her eyes narrowed onto the streets told more than enough how serious she took the situation. Finally noticing just how silent their friends had become, Hibari turned from the windowsill that she sat upon and whispered over to Yagyū, "Do you think they'll be attacking soon?"

"Who knows?" remarked the girl as she sat in her own window and continued to wonder about the situation. Yagyū eventually shook her head and added, "I'm having a tough time wondering about why we're still going with this."

Hibari tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

Standing herself up a bit and giving a slow blink. Yagyū muttered, "We've gotten so much specific information on the dignitary battleplan… Their positions, tools, and weapons… But why not their time of arrival?"

Remembering the conversation that they all had while making their strategy the other day, Hibari rubbed a finger against the side of her head as she stated, "Didn't Oda say that Miki was excluded from those details?"

"Isn't that a bit strange, though?" asked Yagyū, turning eyes to check on the alley again, "He's gotten so much information for us… yet, time was the one thing he couldn't get?"

"Ah… you think Miki is betraying us," mumbled Hibari, lowering her eyes while her best friend continued to check through the alley.

"If not that, then he's being misled too," stated Yagyū.

"I don't think it's either," came Asuka's voice from above.

The two girls in the windowsills looked up and found the brunette peeking down from the ventilation unit she was kneeling on. Yagyū quickly asked, "Some insight on that would be nice."

"Well…" Asuka started while mentally compiling all of her thoughts. When that process took a bit too long for comfort, she inserted, "…the quickest answer is that I trust him."

"That doesn't reassure me," stated Yagyū.

"I trust him too," said Hibari.

There was no mercy for the girl, "And you trusted Haruka when you first met her. How'd that turn out?"

Lowering her pink-head, the shinobi felt her face fall in a depressed way as she remembered their history, "Not well…" After a second, she popped her head back up optimistically, "Oh, but we became friends in the end! That counts-," but was quickly shushed by everyone present.

"Quiet…!" hissed Ikaruga, praying to everything above that nobody heard her.

Recalling all of the grim jokes that the young man made the other day during their group meeting, Katsuragi turned her head forward and felt her heart sink, "We really are going to die… A serious girlfriend would have been nice at some point…" She then turned her head up to Ikaruga, "Care to make a girl's last wish come true-," but was cut off.

"No."

Tearing up from the sharp responses before, Hibari made a little squeak and mumbled, "I'm sorry…"

Yagyū closed her eyes, "Sorry if I'm sounding harsh," before she opened them and looked up to Asuka, "but I'll need more than someone else's trust to put mine in a rogue element."

"Well, if that won't help…" mumbled Asuka before she spoke up again, "I can only say this: it would have been a lot quicker for Miki to kill or hurt any of us before."

It was Yagyū's turn to tilt her head, "What do you mean?"

Having finally gathered all of her thoughts, the brunette said in a quiet voice, "Unless this has just been the most needlessly elaborate assassination plot in history," before it grew stronger in confidence, "then I don't see why Miki would choose to betray us now." She gestured her hand to the side, "Back then, rather than come out as a dignitary to someone whom he knew was an infiltrator, he could have just pointed a finger and sicced the dignitaries on us." After a moment, she raised her other hand, "We know he's really strong or capable, since he managed to restrain that one big guy-, Takatsukasa, that was his name. He managed to restrain him," before shrugging her shoulders and dropping her arms, "but he made no attempt to attack…" Remembering how the young man was left all alone in the alley with the boy, she finished her sentence, "He didn't even try to attack him. Neither directly nor indirectly when he had both opportunities. Why now?"

Making a low grunt of acknowledgement with her throat, Yagyū gave a small nod up to Asuka and mumbled, "I think I see…" before turning her eyes back out to the streets, "But, still… why not the time…?"

Stirring coffee in a humble café a few blocks down, Kazami Kira continued to look down at his phone for any updates from his strike force, forty-eight young men and women who were personally selected by him for attacking an infiltrator and his collaborating shinobi. Taking his spoon and quietly clinging it against the side of his cup to bring out a soothing feeling of auditory satisfaction, he raised the cup and sipped from it before nodding his head to his son on the opposite of the table, "If it weren't for you, things wouldn't be in motion the way they are now."

Not at all used to the serious praise of his father, Miki let out a high-pitched huff before asking frankly, "Well, I mean-, I just suggested the part about what to do with Sato so… I didn't really do much."

"Either way," hummed Kira, "it will produce the result that we both want."

"A dead infiltrator, dead shinobi, and a dead traitor?" quipped Miki, doing his utmost to make it seem as though he weren't worried at all about what was happening.

Glancing around the coffee shop to make sure he didn't recognize anyone and to make sure that no one cared to listen, Kira leaned forward and whispered, "I'll tell you a secret," and gave a devilish smirk, "The attack is deliberately doomed to fail."

Just as Miki was about to reach down and drink his cocoa, he froze and looked up to his smiling father. He let out a few empty laughs, thinking maybe it was a joke, before his eyes widened, "You're… being serious?"

Kira nodded his head, "Wouldn't you think so? Considering the kind of people I've filled my roster with, you can't think I was intending to go for a win." He raised up a finger, took a sip of his coffee, and said, "Example…" Struggling to recollect the names of those willing to die for him, Kira clicked his fingers, "Example, example-, ah," before his eyes brightened and he gave a smirk, "That Minagawa kid that I've placed in charge of Hazuki. He's inexperienced and is timid when under pressure, according to his parents and some of my own observations. No, he's doomed to die. Soon, probably."

Feeling his heart drop, Miki quietly repeated under his breath, "Doomed…?" and shook his head, "As in, there's no chance for him?"

"Well, maybe a chance," mumbled Kira before waving his hand, "Though, he'd either have to leave everyone behind to save himself, a smart choice but he'd be hunted and killed for deserting the mission, or he could prove himself resourceful and turn the tide against the infiltrator and his shinobi." Taking another sip from his coffee as if there was nothing wrong with what he was saying, the man murmured, "I think we can guess how unlikely that would be… Especially since I've had them waiting without a timetable to attack on, probably getting them even more nervous and anxious for this attack."

Already holding a bit of guilt for the fact that he had already sold out the dignitaries, Miki just lowered his head and uttered, "I think-, I understand, Father."

"Not yet, you don't," replied Kira before he let out a few snickers, "because there's something great to be gained." Showing a bit of teeth with his next smile, he spoke frankly to Miki, "Once the slaughter is over with, even Genpaku's most loyal supporters will turn their backs on him. After all, he's the one who gave the ultimate approval for this mission." Giving a bit of a shrug, Kira added, "Of course, with all the arguing and pressure that everyone was giving him, he didn't have much choice."

Remembering back to how he started the whole debate the other day, Miki's heart fell lower and lower, "I've got it."

Noticing his son's discomfort but too wrapped up in his own ego to give a pause, Kira snickered and waved a finger around, "You know what makes this better is the fact that Genpaku willingly assigned some of the children of his most loyal supporters. Even that one oaf, Chū, will be receiving the news regarding the death of his daughter-, Rena, that's her name." Toasting his coffee into the air for a brief half-second, Kira slammed the rest of it and mumbled, "And let me say, I've always wondered what kind of dramatic scene would come about if Chū swore away from Genpaku."

As he finished talking, Miki was still trailed behind on his previous sentence, "Wait-, even Rena will be taking part in this? She's still-, I mean, I thought she was still in high school…"

"She is still in high school," remarked Kira as he set down his cup, "She, Ishida Miku, Kaneko Asahi, Chiba Touma… All of them are still in high school and taking part in this assault," and proceeded to give a lighthearted clap of his hands, "All on Genpaku's orders… Just because that fool wanted to have relatives of the people he trusted involved." He snapped his fingers to bring Miki's eyes up and said in a low voice, "He's dug his own grave."

Feeling the first major wave of regret for warning the young man, Miki felt his face fall as he realized that forty-eight deaths could very well be partly on his hands. He knew from the beginning that people would die, of course, but he was hoping to minimize it. If the young man and the shinobi gave an effective counter-attack, costing maybe a few lives and some injuries, the dignitaries would quickly retreat to salvage what they could from their loss. Yet, if it was a bunch of inexperienced individuals who'd never had to make a split-second decision with their lives on the line, it was more likely that a rout and panic would set in. If they weren't all slaughtered in the following chaos, the best outcome would be them being imprisoned for the rest of their lives.

Miki cared for the young man as a close friend, wished absolutely no ill on him, and didn't even blame him for what was happening at the moment… In fact, the smaller boy still wouldn't have changed the fact that he'd chosen to warn his friend… Yet, he still felt a great amount of regret for said warning… After all, to save one life, Miki had just sacrificed forty-eight…

Idly standing around by a humble produce stall that was on the same block as the young man's apartment, Homura and her team kept watch for any sign of movement on the roofs opposite of their side of the street. Watching as her leader's fingers danced on the handles of the katanas within her sheathes, Yomi sucked in a breath by the edge of the stall and turned to Hikage, "You're prepared?"

"I think so," came the immediate casual response.

Letting out a small sigh of worry, Yomi extended one finger, "You're transformed and your barrier is up?"

Glancing down to her attire, Hikage shrugged, "Yup."

Another finger came up, "You didn't forget your knife?"

Green hair shook back and forth, "Nope."

Then another finger, "You're not suffering heatstroke?"

Hikage's head tilted to the side, "It's April."

"Answer the question."

"I'm not suffering heatstroke."

After a sigh of relief and a quiet resentment for zamba, Yomi extended another finger, "Any bizarre urges that could hamper our mission in anyway?"

Taking a moment to think, Hikage gave another shrug, "I kind of want to go take a nap."

Deeming the desire normal enough, Yomi felt another wave of relief and was about to put her hand down. But, unfortunately for her, Mirai chose that moment to grab her hand and forcefully extend her thumb while mischievously adding, "Fifth question: did you remember your bra?"

Feeling her eyes widen ever so slightly, Hikage glanced down to her chest for a moment before looking up and saying, "I've made a mistake."

Yomi felt her eyes droop as she pulled her hand away from Mirai, "She's never worn a bra during any of her transformations…" and then looked up to the green-haired girl, "You didn't forget."

"I didn't?" questioned Hikage before looking down again and giving a slight nod, "Oh."

"Well, I'd recommend one next time," snarked Mirai as she turned around to walk away, "It'll keep her udders from bouncing around." Just as the girl was about to walk off from her two comrades, Haruka peered out from behind the curtains of a different stall down the sidewalk. With an evil glint in her eyes and a mischievous smile, she waved for Mirai to come closer. Of course, the girl turned right back around and stood beside Yomi, "Also, anybody want to trade partners? Mine's an undocumented predator."

"Like it or don't," came Homura's much more dire and serious voice, "you two fight best when you're together." Still keeping her eyes trained on the rooftops across the street, she continued, "You're a good balance for one another and… I'd feel more assured if you had one another's backs through this mess."

Mirai didn't hold back her scowl, "Just because your boyfriend's going to be in danger doesn't give you the right to be an edgelord…"

Homura narrowed her eyes away from the roofs and onto the girl, "What're you calling me?"

Crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks as she began to pout, Mirai muttered, "Nothing…" but continued under her breath, "…next thing we know, you'll be dressed in black and twirling a knife while sitting in some dark corner of a tavern…"

Hearing everything and turning to Yomi as she did a final check with Hikage, she couldn't help but seethe through her teeth, "Are any of you even taking this seriously?"

"Of course," came Haruka's voice as she practically teleported behind Mirai, wrapping her arms around the poor girl and pulling her close as she said, "We're just preparing in the way that we do best."

Remembering all past experience, Mirai managed to slink down to the ground and jumped away from her sudden attacker. After zipping around Yomi and Hikage, she peeked her head out and muttered, "In all serious, when it comes to that dickhead-"

In the place where the young man was preparing, his ear twitched and he loudly sneezed with little warning.

"-we'll have his back, get done with all this, and then go home to take a long-term vacation from all this crap."

As Homura began to consider her friend's words, Hikage turned her head to Mirai and asked, "Hasn't it only been a few months since we participated in Peach Beach Splash?"

Mirai raised up her eyes to challenge the girl, "A lady like me demands one vacation per month. Be happy that I haven't gone on strike because of our severe lack of time away."

Letting out an exhale as she finally calmed her nerves, Homura gave a slight smile and nodded her head, "You guys have reassured me… thanks," before looking back up to the rooftops. Even if her heart was a bit more at ease as she began to believe that the day would be business as usual, she still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something was going to go wrong… No, she knew something would go wrong. After all, a proper battle would have things both expected and unexpected. It was just a matter of dealing with them as they came and doing so with enough care and precision to make sure that no one she cared for got killed.

Sitting within his own residence, Hanzō took a breath before looking at his phone, "Oda…" He shook his head, "Are you absolutely sure we can allow him to do this?" Throwing his hand into the air, the old man just said, "There's no doubt in my mind that he'll be in a line of fire… Even if the girls will have the other dignitaries held up, it'll only take one radical to pull a gun and shoot him."

"Murakumo's been insisting for him," came Oda's equally tired voice from the other side of the call, "I've tried to ask him directly but, at best, he just seems unsure about what to do…" He cleared his throat and continued, "If it's any consolidation, I've given him two short katanas to defend himself. He… was adamant that he wouldn't cut anyone down so… Eh, he said that it would make disarming an opponent easier…"

Wiping a fist across his dome, Hanzō looked to Jasmine and they exchanged looks of complete helplessness. Eventually, the former just said, "Look, could you try talking to him one more time? Even-," but had to cut himself down as the lunacy continued to settle in. The thought that the young man was even considering to stick his neck out for Sato was just shy of unbelievable. Once he managed to compose his frustrated mind, Hanzō managed to continue, "Even if Sato's circumstances are as sympathetic as Murakumo says, we can't risk the life of our one infiltrator… That's all we have, mind you… One."

"I understand what you-," started Oda before he was cut off.

"We initially tried to recruit his grandfather," continued Hanzō as he lowered his head against the table with Jasmine offering a few choice pats to his back, "but he can't take the stress anymore… And if there are any other infiltrators who are living by what they preach out there… we don't know about them…" Resting his head against his fist, he could only just murmur, "If we lose him now, the girls will be stuck with their distortions…" Feeling the need to add something else, Hanzō couldn't help but say, "Never mind the guilt that would kill us if he died after everything he's been through in these last few weeks… all this that we've put him through…"

"He won't be on the frontline of all this," came Oda's voice, understanding but firm, "and, at the end of the day, if he wants to offer some kind of mercy to Sato… Make an 'informant' out of her, I think were his words… I'll let him decide for himself." After a pause, Oda added, "He's not a child and we both know that he understands the concept of dying extremely well. He may be young but he's still a grown-ass man. So long as it doesn't interfere with our overall plan, I'll only step in if I don't believe he can do it… and I do believe that he could do it, if he's as sincere as Murakumo says he is."

"Just keep him safe," mumbled Hanzō as he let his phone rest on the table, "For the sake of the everyone around you, keep him safe."

"If it gets heated, I can't make promises…" Oda said with a bit of evident strain, "Battle is unpredictable… but I will do my utmost to keep him safe."

Waiting inside a vacant room within the young man's apartment building, Ryōbi turned to her twin and said in frustrated voice, "So, you're not going to get shot today, right?"

Ryōna shook her head, "Uh-uh."

Putting on a smile to hide her building frustration, "You're not going to approach the dignitaries, grab their guns, and point it at your meat sacks before begging them to pull the trigger," and then proceeded to point to her leg, "And, and, and… You're not going to have them kick you in the side of the leg, tackle you down, and pummel you until you're an inch away from death. Am I clear?"

For a solid couple of seconds, Ryōna paused as she ran through the scenarios in her head before her face flushed with heat. Just as her sister recoiled in a mix of anger and disgust, the blonde murmured, "That last one does sound tempting…" and began to moan, "Oh~!" but was promptly beaned in the side of the head by Ryōbi's fist.

"Once this is over, I'll sell your body on the black market," came the following grumble, "Would that be enough to get you to fight like a sensible person through the rest of today?"

Imagining the different thugs that would be taking advantage of her and treating her extremely aggressively, Ryōna let out a happy squeal before asking, "Will you watch!? Will you watch!?"

"No," uttered Ryōbi as she turned away, "I'd sooner find a dirty stray in a dumpster than give a damn about what happens to you…"

"OH~!" cried Ryōna, "Tell me more!"

Standing by a window and not being able to zone out the usual shenanigans of her comrades, Imu turned around and looked to the twins, "Would you guys shut up already?" before lowering her head into a palm, "I swear, we're going to be lucky if we aren't heard with how loud you two are."

Not willing to lie down against Imu's words, Ryōbi immediately turned around, "Oh, shove it. At least we'll be focused on the mission when the time comes."

The spectacle shinobi casted a dangerous glare against the girl, "You're saying I won't be ready to fight?"

Not at all intimidated, Ryōbi replied with a smirk, "Oh, no… you'll be fine," before sticking a finger to point over Imu's shoulder, "It's those two I'm worried about."

Not even needing to turn around, the girl knew that Miyabi and Murasaki were both staring off into space in the same way they had been since they departed from the young man. Fed up with the attention that the boy had been receiving from the two as of late, Imu loudly said, "You two realize that it was only five words, right!?"

Under her breath, Ryōbi commented, "Who's the loud one now?" while her comrade continued.

"He said five words to you! Make sure to be safe-, that's all he said!" Imu was throwing her hands around in frustration, "He didn't give a heroic speech, he didn't leave some memorable lesson, he didn't swear to meet you both again on another plane-, five words! He said five words!"

Miyabi, having been broken out of her trance the moment Imu went on her rant, raised her palm and said, "Calm yourself and quiet down. I understood you the first time," before letting out a sigh for having been taken away from the memory.

However, despite the high-volume exchange right next to her, Murasaki just continued to stare off into space as she murmured, "Five simple words…" as she began to smile, "Yet, they made me happy…"

Knowing that her frustration and jealousy towards the young man would throw her off for the coming battle, Imu sighed and slapped her face. "I'll deal with it later," she mumbled while readying the bo in her arms, "I'll deal with it… later."

"I know we have time to kill before the dignitaries arrive," commented Ryōbi with frown, "but you guys seem to be in as much heat as Ryōna…"

Taking on a disgusted sneer, Miyabi hissed back, "As much as… Ryōna?" before gesturing to the blonde.

Looking over to her sister and realizing that the girl was shuddering in pleasure for the pain that was sure to come, Ryōbi mumbled, "Okay, not as much as her…"

"Thank you," came Miyabi's quiet reply. She wiped a hand across her face and quickly stated, "Also, I know how Murasaki and I are coming off right now…" After a bit of a pause, she added, "It's not just the… goodbye that's got us thrown off right now," and paused for a moment of silence.

While Imu narrowed her eyes in suspicion, Ryōbi waved her hand and said, "Are you stopping for the sake of suspense or do you not intend to tell us at all unless probed?"

Jumping a bit, Miyabi uttered, "Sorry…" and then continued, "It's mostly been a discussion that Murasaki and I have been having with the rest of his confessors…" Shuffling her shoulders a bit, the girl started, "We've been talking about what to do once all of this is over, when the stress level for everything that's going on isn't as high-," but cut herself off to say, "Everyone knows that our… desires for a relationship aren't the most important matter, between… this battle and… distortion…" Once she began to trail off, Miyabi said, "But… we also don't want this to be in the air for much longer. Not to be dramatic, but the anxiety of not knowing what's going to happen is killing us…"

Having fantasized the exact scenario that the young man was stuck in, Imu couldn't help but inaudibly whisper, "Punch the lucky bastard… that'll get your frustration out…"

Deciding to be a bit more sympathetic for the sake of getting everyone's head in the game, Ryōbi sucked in a breath through her nose, "Well…" before loudly sighing, "…just make sure to get yourself together by the time the fighting starts." Not wanting to be taken for a softie, she made sure to smoothly add, "If either of you shot because you were sitting silently, blanking out, and getting dirty in the head… I'm not mourning either of you… And, if you somehow survive the bullet, I'm never going to let you two live it down."

"Right," mumbled Miyabi, "right," as she blinked a few times. Though Murasaki would take a bit of time to focus, she was quick to understand the surrounding danger. If she wanted to know what the young man would do when it came time to make a choice, she and everyone else had to get through the fight to come. If all went according to plan, it would be a smooth execution with only a few opponents potentially dying. But, if experience held true, plans never really held together for long.

While Onoda and Shiori continued to lay down against the rooftops, the latter quietly made a comment, "I'm not letting you one-up me today."

"This again?" asked Onoda as she blinked a few times.

"I'm serious this time," hissed the redhead.

"Like you weren't back in Hong Kong?" came a different voice that belonged to one of their comrades.

Shiori peeked her eyes to the girl, "This doesn't regard you, Niko," before looking back to Onoda, "I know you're strong-," but was cut off.

"We know you're a competitive gal, Shi-Shi," called one girl, Yuma, before she continued, "but this rivalry you have needs to come to an end."

As the seven other shinobi laughed at their comrade's jab, Shiori flipped them a middle finger before turning back to Onoda, "Just let me prove that I have some strength," before rolling over onto her side.

Still laying on her back, the raven-haired leader simply said, "You don't need to prove anything. You're already here, after all."

"That isn't good enough for me," grunted Shiori, still not meeting the woman's eyes. Though she knew that it was excessively childish behavior, even when excluding the fact that she was clinging to an old rivalry that had existed since their time in Hanzō Academy.

"It is for everyone else though," came Onoda's quick reply.

Turning her head, Shiori started to growl back, "Just…" before sighing and seeing reason. Once she took another breath and her mind was cleared, she said, "If the situation gets dangerous, let me have a chance to prove my worth… I'm tired of getting my ass handed to me."

Taking a moment to consider her confidant's words, Onoda replied, "If fighting in real life could be compared to a video game, you'd be the support kind of character."

Rolling back over to give a small glare, Shiori grumbled, "I don't play video games…" before pausing and adding, "What does that even mean?

"You understand well enough," came Onoda's casual retort, "and I'm sure you know that supports aren't frontline fighters. They buff their comrades, which you do in spirit, and weaken the enemy, which you've done to all of the Yōma we've fought in the past." She finished by saying, "You're not supposed to get the final hit because you're fulfilling a much more important role."

Dropping the frustrated look on her face, Shiori sucked in her lips as she considered what her best friend had said. Finding a bit of peace despite still being dissatisfied with her place in the team, the redhead gave a soft smile and rolled over to face the sky, "Thanks."

Onoda then decided to lay down the final punch, "I'm not sure if it helps, but there's no one I'd rather have in that role but you. As far as any of us are concerned, you're irreplaceable."

Having listened to that straight and oftentimes stoic mouth for over ten years, Shiori still couldn't help but be surprised when something heartfelt came out of it. Her small smile became a bit warmer and the rising tension for the coming battle dissipated as she calmly mumbled, "Thanks… I needed to hear that…"

"Anytime," replied Onoda.

Once the two fell silent as they continued to hide out of sight and wait for the coming enemy, Niko decided it would be wise to lighten the mood, "So, does that fulfill the quota for this month's heart-to-hearts or will Onoda need to calm you down next week?"

If looks could kill, the glare that Shiori gave would have left a bloody mess.

A bit further off from the young man's apartment, Yumi was staring at Murakumo intensely while trying to decipher how she was feeling. Sitting on a bench beneath a bus stop awning, Minori pressed her lips together as she continued to occasionally glance down at the running stopwatch on her phone, "It's been almost fifteen minutes…"

As she said that, Yumi's face was steadily creeping closer as it tried to scrutinize every part of Murakumo's head that wasn't hidden by the mask. From the tense and unmoving jaw, to the sound of an occasional breath out of her nose, and her straightened neck and raised chin, there were multiple features that the leader was trying to decipher. Unable to help herself, Shiki asked, "Hey, Murakumo… You realize that Yumi's-," but was quickly interrupted.

"I'm aware."

"She hasn't answered my question…" mumbled the ice queen without blinking, "and I'm now getting my answer in a different way…"

Murakumo finally looked to her, "The only answer you're getting out of me is the fact that I'm getting frustrated," and then crossed her arms, "Just give it a rest and stop."

Yozakura let out a sigh and turned her tired gaze onto Yumi, "Is this really the time to be pressing for something?" She then gave a shake of her head and said to her two combating sisters, "Look, whatever's going on can wait. We need to watch out and be ready… In case you two have forgotten, we could be the ones that need to send the signal."

"It's a related question," mumbled Yumi as she circled around Murakumo.

"To the signal, not at all," replied the masked shinobi.

Just as Yozakura was about to press for more details, Shiki extended her hand and said, "Hold up, hold up…" and rested her chin on her hand.

The blue-haired girl blinked before asking, "What? Why're you stopping me?"

The blonde replied in a straightforward manner, "I'm curious about what's got them going."

Almost pushing aside Yozakura, who gave an annoyed look, Minori excitedly began to jabber, "I bet it's in relation to her boyfriend."

Shiki gave a devilish grin and said, "I'd bet a bucket of candy that it's in relation to Sato."

Just before Minori was going to take that gamble, Murakumo loudly grumbled, "Yumi's been asking about whether or not I pressured her boytoy into wanting to reach for Sato, that's all."

While Yozakura began to wonder if everyone forgot the young man's name, Minori quickly turned to Shiki and said, "She mentioned him first."

"Perhaps, but she mentioned both of them in the end," came the retort.

"Doesn't matter! She mentioned him first. That's the tiebreaker."

"We didn't shake on that."

Pouting out her cheek and turning her frustrated gaze away, Minori remained silent as Murakumo commented to Yumi, "See, this is why I want to keep this silent."

"If it were as simple as you made it out to be, I'd happily keep quiet," said Yumi before pressing her face closer, "But I was asking if you realized that you're sending him into further danger…"

"Yes," grunted Murakumo, "I pretty much did. I talked to him and pressured him into saving Sato, which I know is dangerous." Raising her hands up to knock her knuckles against her mask, she continued, "And, because I know you're going to ask, yes… I do feel guilty-, a bit guilty over it." Once she let her arms fall, Murakumo then mumbled, "But I want to give Sato a chance too…"

"Will you forgive him, after this?" asked Yumi, her face somewhat harsh but mostly concerned. When Murakumo didn't answer her, she said, "If not, you're not being fair to him at all." As her sister continued to not say anything, Yumi's eyebrow fell in anger and her voice fell lower in pitch, "Even if we forget about everything he's endured beforehand, he's cured your distortion… He took an injury to his head that may or may not be permanent… He apologized for his lack of patience." Getting a bit louder, she spouted, "Now, he's putting his life on the line to save someone who almost killed him… all because you asked him to. Yet, despite all that, you're not going to forgive him?"

"There's nothing to forgive," stated Murakumo, trying to sound strong as her voice came out more as a crack, "He's done nothing wrong." Finally letting her head lower in shame, she continued, "I've been selfish in this matter… Even if we were both wrong to get so heated in the first place, I've been blaming him for something that hasn't been in his control and have been angry over nothing… I know those things and it kills me to think that he could get hurt because I made a request of him." Shaking her head and focusing her gaze completely on Yumi, Murakumo quickly stated, "Once today is done, regardless of whether or not he can actually bring Sato over to us, I'm going to tell him that I forgive him…"

By the end of her declaration, Yumi's face had fallen soft and she was already extending her hand to rest it on Murakumo's shoulder. Once it made contact, the taller girl flinched as her sister's fingers gently clung onto her. Only uttering in a quiet voice, "Please, do that and make up with him," Yumi smiled and gave a firm nod. Realizing that she wasn't being scolded, Murakumo bobbed her head up and down.

At that moment, Minori shushed the two as the sound of metallic grinding filled the air, "I hear something…!"

Then, flying above the five girls, a group of six dignitaries swung overhead from one roof to another, completely unaware of the shinobi's presence. Without faltering, Yumi quickly turned to Shiki, "Send the signal."

In his apartment's bathroom, just as the young man finished fastening his grappling devices onto his wrist, the phone in his pocket began to loudly ring and vibrate in response to an alert. Clenching his eyes closed and sucking in a desperate breath, he uttered to himself, "Oh… boy…" and reached down to confirm the message that he had received. He read aloud, "Incoming… all according to Miki's information…" and mindlessly babbled, "Yup, yup, yup…"

As pain began to roar in his head again, the young man reached onto his counter and pulled up the one device that he didn't think he'd have to utilize again: the watch that he'd used during his first two encounters with the girls. Once attached to his wrist and a specific emotional command was uttered, it would send extremely specific electric shocks into his body that would synchronize with his pulse. Once they reached his brain, his limbic system would obey the device's command and suppress any emotions that weren't affiliated with what he commanded.

Lowering his gaze for a brief moment once he realized that the painkillers Oda gave him weren't doing anything, the young man clicked a button on the watch and clearly whispered, "Focused," and felt a few shocks run through him. Upon blinking a few times, he could feel his stress levels and headache diminish in seconds. Certainly, the device was a marvel of modern biological science with what it could do… yet, without many of his emotions giving a loud voice, the young man still felt a bit cold and lonely. He often wondered if the "Focused" setting on his watch was a good simulation of what it was like to live without empathy or other loud emotions… or, if he was to joke with himself, if it was anything like what Hikage felt.

But, before his mind could stray far from what it needed to focus on, he shook his head and decisively stated his two goals to himself in the mirror, "Repel the dignitaries and make Sato desert."

Watching as the two dignitaries ahead of her fired their grappling wires to zone in on the young man's apartment, Sato began to wonder how most of the world would react. It wasn't as though the forty-eight people on that mission who were using unseen tools were a bunch of masked and hardened mercenary thugs. Rather, they looked like a bunch of average high school and college students whom anyone could find talking about useless things on the street. Sato didn't need to think any further to know that there would be a reaction of shock across almost all media if someone caught wind of them… Which was more and more guaranteed as time went on.

None of the forty-eight people present had masks on nor were they moving around in a quiet manner. Instead, they were flying over the rooftops and were about to bomb the young man's apartment in hopes to kill him quickly and get the whole thing done with before the shinobi could arrive. If the world somehow didn't see what they were about to do, perhaps there were bigger concerns than terrorists swinging through the air.

As the two leading dignitaries fired their wires into a wall and swung just above the suburban streets, they landed in the young man's apartment parking lot. Though Sato noticed that it was much cleaner than the last time she saw it, she heard upon landing behind the two dignitaries, "What a pigsty… Look at all the debris brushed up against the wall…"

Giving an annoyed look to his accomplice, the other quickly said, "Focus. Shinobi could be right on top of us any minute." He reached his hands up to his chest and undid a buckle, letting a cylindrical pipe on his back fall to the ground. His partner jumped in response to the metal ringing the fall produced.

"Criminy-, do not drop those like that!" cried the man as he took a few steps back, "Holy Hell… Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"Quit being a baby," replied the other dignitary as he reached down and picked up the metal pole. He then turned his eyes onto Sato and declared, "Go to his room, pull the pin on the end, run like hell. Understood?"

Remembering the plan that had been laid out for her numerous times that day, Sato's face fell as she replied, "Understood," and reached forward to take the item from his hands. Somewhere on the other side of the street, she could hear excited chatter as the locals came out to investigate the sound of the grappling guns. She hoped that none of their curiosity would bring them close to the apartment building.

Just as she was beginning to fall into trance of guilt and self-pity, Sakae called from the roof above the observing crowd, "Hurry! They've probably noticed us!"

While his orders only spawned confused discussion in the civilians, Sato just turned her head and let out a breath of heavy air. She then quickly scampered to the stairs and made her way up to the second floor, moving to where the apartment that she'd seen the young man enter and exit so many times. She checked to see if there was a window of some sort and, when none were found, kneeled down to see if the pole in her hands could fit beneath the door. Getting impatient and anxious with the delays, Sakae sighed and called over, "Hold up! I'm on my way!" and fired a grappling wire into the side of the apartment. As he swung over, the crowd that was spilling onto the streets let out a surprised yell. Sato was hoping that they would run away, whether out of fear for the strange devices or because they recognized her as the girl who shot up a city street two days before. Interrupting her thoughts, Sakae approached, "What's up?" and gestured to the pole.

Giving a meek shrug and averting her eyes, Sato simply said, "There's no place to put it…"

Giving a look at the apartment himself, the college student gave a few grunts while he thought of a work around and ordered, "C'mon. Let's head to the roof and see if there's a vent of some sort…" He gave a bit of a shiver as he made his way back to the stairs, "Freaky being out here… I wonder if everyone's first time in the field is like this…"

Similar to a simple man being followed by a lost puppy, Sakae and Sato both climbed onto the stairway rails and then leapt away from the building. Then they raised their grappling guns and fired into the side of the building, immediately getting reeled in until they were in reaching distance of the roof. Once the two climbed up, Sakae pointed to cube-ish device that hummed a low noise and said, "I think that's an AC or ventilation unit or… something. Either way, there should be some kind of opening in there. Drop the banger and let's get the hell out of here."

Giving a slight nod, Sato looked down to the device that was being tightly grasped in her hand and wondered how much time it would give her to retreat. She turned her gaze to the other dignitaries who were landing on the surrounding roofs and then quietly asked herself, "…where's…?" but then shook the thought away. Whether the shinobi showed up or not, it was no concern of hers… still…

As Sato approached the vent and contemplated what she was about to do, she wondered if the young man and all the shinobi were still inside and completely unaware of the surrounding danger. If the IED in her arms went down the vent and was close enough to the young man's room, they would certainly die. If they somehow only came out wounded, the dignitaries would just shoot them dead. While Sato wasn't a selfless person by any means, she did feel hesitant to kill people who'd just been defending themselves through all of their encounters. Plus, if she went through with it, the only winners would be the dignitary higherups… The young man and the shinobi would be dead and Sato would probably join them not long after. Even the dignitaries on the front lines had their faces exposed to the world and would likely be pursued by the government, forcing them to uproot their lives to live in hiding or on the run.

Sato asked herself what the point to all of that would be… So, without pulling the pin on the back of the pole, she threw the device against the AC unit and shook her head. From afar, she could see a few dignitaries shooting her confused and disapproving looks. Not wanting the girl to die a pointless death because of some last-minute defiance, Sakae began to approach her, "Sato, what're you doing-," before he was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.

The two vanguard dignitaries who were standing in the parking lot jumped in surprise as a window on the far side of the apartment blew apart. Leaping out of it, Miyabi had her sword drawn and began to rush them with Imu and Murasaki at her back. Just as her two opponents began to reach for their holsters to draw their sidearms, the sound of a rifle echoed into the air. Immediately after, one of the dignitaries crumpled over in agony as his stomach felt as though it had just imploded. Loading another nonlethal round into her rifle, Ryōbi muttered, "It'd be quicker and much easier to just kill them," as she fired another shot into the other man and watched as both dignitaries collapsed onto the concrete.

Just as Sakae was about to give the order for everyone to converge, the girls of Hanzō Academy flooded out of a neighboring alleyway and ascended up to the roofs to confront a group of dignitaries. Just as the college-age terrorists were taking aim with their already drawn weapons, the deep and loud bellow of a man cried, "SECRET NINJA ART: BLINDING BANG!" Then, from nearly a block away, a rock was thrown and whistled through the air until it was above the apartment building before it exploded into blinding flash followed by a deafening bang. Having turned their backs and practiced their ears for the stunning display, the Hanzō shinobi quickly made short work of throwing the dignitaries onto their backs and kicking away their weapons before moving onto another roof.

Going through the plan in his head, the young man uttered in his hiding place, "Two or four… another six added… At worst, forty left…"

Whipping their guns around wildly, the dignitaries began to yell among one another as the confusion and panic began to surface. Then, just as one's eyesight began to clear, Homura and her renegades arrived on top of one of the buildings adjacent to the apartment. Acting according to what they planned, they went through all of the enemies present, yanked the firearms away to toss them aside, grabbed hold onto the most exposed limb, and then threw them onto their backs.

"If Onoda and Yumi's teams are moving," mumbled the young man, "it should be safe…"

As the dignitaries who hadn't yet been attacked finally began to open fire, Sakae and Sato also regained their senses. But, upon looking at the scene that had begun to quickly surround them, the former quickly began to buckle and falter under welling fear. "No… Oh shit-, no, no!" cried Sakae before he reached down to his pistol and drew it. Just as Yumi and Onoda's teams arrived on the scene to further press the attack, he turned to Sato, "Hey! We need to-, Quickly, grab something! We need to fight our way out!"

But, as the sound of a door slamming open beneath them filled the air, Sato decided to call it a day and shook her head, "Just… head off and-, I'm fine here, so… go on…"

Shocked that she could be so calm about the counterattack that was taking place, Sakae began to yell, "What're you going on about!? What, is this some kind of pity party!? You want me to leave you behind!?" Initially, he was going to say something a bit more motivational, like all of the cool lines he'd heard in action movies so many times before. He would've even said something cliché, the same kind of thing that got his fiancé to laugh and mock him for nearly a week sometime ago. Yet, when it came right down to it, Sakae was absolutely petrified by the danger that he and everyone else was in at that moment. He knew that if he didn't leave, he would very likely die. So, rather than encourage Sato to come along with him, he just cried, "Fine, fine! But don't-, just, please… Good luck!" and began to take a running start to leap off the roof.

"You'll be cut off and beaten if you head off into that direction," came the voice of the young man as he climbed onto the roof via his grappling wire, "I'd recommend putting your weapons down and taking the arrest."

Sakae jumped in alarm but didn't dare raise his weapon, for fear that someone would shoot him in quick retaliation before he could get away. Thus, he began to edge his way back while mumbling, "No-, hold… No, I don't…" and began to crumple under his own fear.

On the other hand, Sato was much more focused on the different tone that the young man was speaking in. While he sounded nearly the same and had the same inflections that he usually did, there was something offputtingly cold to his voice and demeanor. Upon taking a closer look at his face, Sato found nothing since his face was almost completely covered by a black scarf to preserve his identity. His brows were leveled and his eyes were relaxed without any visible sharpness. Yet, when the young man turned to face Sato, his presence became significantly more off-putting, especially with the two katana scabbards resting on one side of his hip. Letting out a sigh and figuring that she was at the end of the road, the ex-dignitary simply closed her eyes, nodded, and waited for whatever was about to be dished out to her.

Then the young man ordered, "Open your eyes," and, unwilling to put up a fight any longer, Sato obeyed. Keeping his eyes exclusively narrowed on her with the occasional glance to Sakae, the boy spoke loud and clear, "I'm going to be completely open and honest…" before his upper eyelids drooped a bit, "I don't like you at all nor do I have any sympathy for you."

Sato blinked before nodding her head, adopting a look that said she was expecting a similar line, "I can understand that… considering…"

"Considering the fact that you tried to kill me… twice," finished the young man. After a moment of silence while the sound of fighting filled the air around them, he sent another jab her way, "If I'm going to be brutally honest and even a bit of an asshole… I'd say that you could die and I wouldn't even spare a thought for you."

Still having expected the harsh words that he was dishing out for her, Sato shrugged her shoulders and nodded, "Again… I understand…"

Having hoped that she would have put up some kind of defense so that he could justify the verbal lashing that he wanted to give, the young man let out a disappointed sigh. Then, after making note of the fact that Sakae was still slowly backing up, he said, "And… to be frank, I don't think I should be doing this… I don't really have any desire to do this at all but-," before he waved a hand and pointed it to Sato, "are you willing to leave everything behind?"

Finally giving an expression of surprise, the girl's eyes widened and she tilted her head, "Hold-, what…? What do you mean?"

The young man raised a finger, "Your life as you know it," then another, "all of your family," and then another, "and your status as a dignitary…" Lowering his fingers as Sato adopted a look of comprehension, he continued, "If you can drop these three things in the same way that I'm trying to right now… then you can be free."

Again, Sato began to blink, "What-," but was cut off.

"That's what you said you wanted in that alley, right?" asked the young man in his still cold voice, "When you nearly killed me and called yourself a selfish bitch for it… You said it was all because you wanted to be free?" He paused for a moment and slowly added, "Well, this is your big chance… courtesy of Murakumo."

Feeling her heart fly upon hearing the name that she recognized in a positive light, Sato's expression brightened as she mumbled, "She… So, she…" Remembering the words that she extended to the girl during her correction, the ex-dignitary took a grimly cheerful breath and quietly stated, "It sounds too good to be true…"

The young man was going to say something else but then noticed that Sakae had raised his gun and had it pointed to him. As the infiltrator straightened up and took a step away, he began to run a bunch of lines through his head to try and dissuade any violent action from taking place… Then he saw something that scared him more than the prospect of looking down the barrel of a gun. Even with his watch rewiring his brain to remain absolutely focused on his decided objectives, the young man's eyes widened in shock and his cool expression fell into terror. Then, rather than sue for some kind of peace, the boy simply urged Sakae, "Oi… put the gun down… Please, for your own sake… do it…"

As the fighting between the shinobi and dignitaries continued to take place with minimal bloodshed, Sakae just grunted, "I'm not going to let this all be for nothing…" His eyes were still filled with terror, wondering when he'd see his fiancé next, and if he was going to be killed or go to jail.

Sato, also seeing the same thing that put the young man on edge, jolted her back straight and slowly raised a hand to Sakae, "Listen to what he says!" before raising and lowering her palm, "Sakae… lower your weapon and slowly turn around…" Taking that moment to look the two in the eye and recognize their own terror in response to something unknown to him, Sakae unknowingly kept his weapon trained on the young man as he began to turn around. What he saw sucked the breath out of him.

Kneeling on the edge of the roof with a single firearm with a large barrel was a tall man in a balaclava. While he appeared to be slim and a bit skinny for someone as tall as himself, there was something to his stature and the way he held himself that put the chills into Sakae. Then the college student realized that the gun in the tall man's hand was completely trained on him. Beginning to breath heavily in fear of whatever was going to happen next, Sakae tried to go over his options, yet, his inexperienced instincts only processed two things: there was someone threatening him with death and he, himself, had a firearm that could remedy that.

Like the poor fighter that he was, Sakae quickly tried to turn his gun on the new arrival. In response, the taller man's handheld shotgun discharged loudly and echoed throughout the surrounding area. All of the fighting between the dignitaries and shinobi stopped, the crowd that had been trying to figure out the surrounding events had begun to yell in surprise, and the young man's eyes widened as he watched Sakae's forehead explode into a bloody mess. Sato let out a quick scream and raised her hands to surrender, fearing that she would be next. But, as the young man watched Sakae's body collapse onto the roof, he could only really process one thing… that being the fact that everyone around him was in mortal danger.

**HELL'S CHOIR!**

Standing against a chimney on one roof and ceasing her gunfight with Ryōna and Ryōbi, Ishida Miku blinked her young blue eyes as she watched Sakae fall. All she could feel was complete numbness as she witnessed the first casualty on her mission. Through all of the years her parents had supported her in becoming a dignitary, Miku thought she would be better prepared for some of the bloodier aspects of battle. Yet, there she was… frozen in fear and wondering if she'd be next.

Then, as Ryōbi and Ryōna took cover back into the apartment building, Miku resolved herself to see the battle through. She spent all sixteen years of her life as a leech to her parents and it was time for her to repay that debt. Raising her pistol and reaching for her knife to press the assault on Sakae's killer, Miku was about to yell for all standing dignitaries to join her… Then someone grabbed her by the back of her blue hair. She was going to let out a cry of pain until a man with a distinctly European accent murmured, "Sorry," and proceeded to cut her throat from behind with a dagger. Not long after, she was thrown off the roof.

**DISSENTERS OF DEATH!**

Finally picking himself up and off the ground after taking the nonlethal pellet to his gut, Kaneko Asahi quickly began to realize that the situation was going haywire. Between the gunshot on the apartment's roof and the sight of Ishida Miku's body being shoved off an adjacent building, he knew that he had to get out of there and fast.

Initially, he knelt down to pick up his still recovering partner before deciding against the gesture. As much as Saito was his best friend, Asahi still had a home and a family to provide for. If he were gone, who would keep his sister in check while his parents worked day and night? No matter what, in his mind, he had to be the one to get away at any cost. So, he fired his grappling gun and began to swing his way into the street and tried to make a break for it.

Then the sound of a different grappling wire's metallic grinding filled the air and, just as Asahi turned his head to take a glance, he was promptly shot in the chest by a woman with a balaclava over her head. He went limp and then fell onto a parked car in the streets below.

**THE ONE AND ALL!**

Flying through the streets at nearly twenty kilometers an hour, three more new arrivals continued to use their boosters to zip forward while using their grappling wires to occasionally swing and maintain altitude. Feeling all too festive for the occasion, the one at the center of the trio let out a high-spirited laugh and ripped off the mask that covered his face. He then let himself fall until he was nearly a meter above the ground and then swung back up to safety. Once he and his comrades closed the distance between themselves and the apartment, the maddened man happily yelled, "WHOOAAAH-HA-HA-HAAAAAAGHHH!" and drew his two pistols as he was flung into the air.

After another dignitary was shot by a hidden attacker, Chiba Touma reached down to grab the body of his fallen comrade. He yelled over to a close friend of his, Rena, just as she was about to retreat, "Help me out here! Kaz is bleeding out!" Unfortunately, amidst her panic, the girl did not hear him and continued to leap away in an attempt to save her life, though she would be shot dead not too long after. Left by himself without anyone to help, Touma tried to assure his already dead friend, "It's okay, Kaz…! I've got you…!"

Then he heard the practically deranged cheer, "ALLEY-OOP, FUCKER!" In response to the frighteningly cheery voice, Touma jumped away from his dead comrade and began to run away but was tackled from behind by the weight of the laughing man. They rolled together for a moment before the madman caught himself and slowed his own body before reaching the roof's ledge. As Touma did the same and stopped just shy of the drop, he heard an uppity sneer, "Oh-ho~, we've got a fighter!" As he rolled over to try and anticipate his attacker's next move, the dignitary felt a steel-toe boot slam into his gut, "Nope!" before he was nudged off the roof, "Later, bubsy!" and fell to his death.

**THE MAD, DEVOTED…**

Watching as the carnage continued to unfold all around him, the young man watched with horrified eyes and quickly turned his gaze over to where all of his friends were supposed to be. Fortunately, he found that nearly all of them were ducking into cover. The Hanzō shinobi were taking cover behind a few tilted roofs and their respective vents and chimneys, though that didn't stop Asuka from trying to wave the young man over to apparent safety. Miyabi and Homura's teams had joined together on another roof with two massive billboards built on the corner, providing perfect cover against the new arrivals' ranged attacks.

Catching the young man's eye the most was Yumi and the rest of the Gessen Academy Elite as they retreated toward Onoda and her other nine unparalleled shinobi, all of whom remained absolutely cool and calm beneath the environment's suddenly higher pressure. Leaping over a few roofs behind them, Oda was finally catching up from his previous position.

A low voice cut off the young man's train of thought, "I'm glad your safe." The boy turned and faced the man who shot Sakae. Despite the fact that his face was well-hidden behind a balaclava, it only took one look into his eyes for the young man to recognize his oldest brother.

"TSAO!" boomed Oda after he looked at the surrounding handywork, with nearly twenty-eight dignitaries either killed or being killed. While he couldn't see the infamous infiltrator by any means, the shinobi knew the ruthless tactics that the man was privy to.

…**AND DEADLIEST!**

Turning the eyes that were all too similar to the young man's, Tsao took a single look at Oda as he continued to surge forward and mumbled under his breath, "Pest…"

**Despite all of the effort and suffering… there is no escape from those would spill a river of blood to keep him close…**


	42. Chapter 42: Blood Brothers

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 42: Blood Brothers (Battle Through the Streets Part I)

Vaguely remembering Oda from a few experiences in the past, Tsao quietly remarked to himself, "Ah… no wonder…" Even when the gorilla-ish shinobi pried a large piece of rubble and pitched it straight for the infiltrator's head, the tall man simply ducked and remarked under his breath, "You hate me… and rightfully so…" before turning to his youngest brother. Taking heavy breaths and unable to remove his eyes from Tsao, the young man remained completely motionless while Sato stood a short distance from him with her hands still up. The older of the three looked to the girl and mumbled, "You were on the news… Hazuki Sato?"

Feeling her throat tighten up as the menacing figure took a few steps to her, the ex-dignitary nodded her head and tried to speak. Yet, her voice came out only as a croak, "Yes…"

Having heard a fair portion of their previous conversation, Tsao nodded his head and began to try and put the pieces of the surrounding situation together. He knew that the young man and Sato were at some kind of peace, but it also couldn't have always been that way since the former's words insinuated that they fought in the past. Tsao also didn't recognize the name Murakumo from anywhere, though making contacts and utilizing them is part of what infiltrators were meant to do so he didn't really question that aspect.

Then a flash of metal caught the infiltrator's eyes and he ducked onto his stomach as three bullets whizzed by where his head once was. A voice, belonging to Shiori, cursed aloud before she called, "We can surround the bastard!"

A cooler and much more calm voice belonging to Onoda raised its volume, "Repel the infiltrators around us and advance on Tsao!"

Knowing that his comrades had sought cover after their surprise attack, getting out of sight and creeping towards more favorable angles just as he taught them, Tsao tried to place the shinobi in the surrounding situation. Then, just as Oda pitched another bit of concrete that flew too low and collided onto the side of the roof, the infiltrator put a few thoughts together. As the small bits of rubble flew over his head, the man's eyes narrowed with apparent realization.

Throwing himself up from the ground, Tsao said to his youngest brother, "I'll handle this… don't worry anymore," and made a dash to the opposite side of the roof. As a few more bullets and stone projectiles zipped just by his head and body, the speed at which the man could run only intensified onto a level above an Olympic athlete. Diving off the roof and firing a grappling wire to swing into the dark alley below, Tsao evaded the danger and rolled upon making contact with the ground. He paused to think for a moment before giving himself a resolute nod. Then he began to march towards the alley's exit, where shinobi were certainly going to be waiting for him.

**Stride for stride, kick open the doors…**

Then the sound of grinding metal filled the opposite end of the alley, though Tsao didn't need to turn around to know that it was his comrades. After two thumps to the ground, he could hear Lajos ask, "What's situation, boss?" as his and a woman's footsteps synchronized with the leader they adored.

"Mostly unclear," grumbled Tsao, "though, I have a faint idea."

**All hands up, time's launching off course.**

The woman, Tatenda, asked in a quiet but urgent voice, "Is your brother in danger?"

As they came closer and closer to the dark alley's end, Tsao mumbled, "I'm not sure, but he's joined up with that girl on the news."

Lajos let out a small grunt of concern before quickly asking, "Just for clarify. You mean the-, that one girl who fought shinobi?"

"That one," said Tsao as he lowered his head dangerously, "which means we're going to make this easy for them." He crossed his arms to the scabbards on his hips and proceeded to draw his liuyedaos, "Spread the word: I'll rout and scatter the shinobi. Have everyone shoot to kill right after."

Then the three began to step out of the alley into the light.

**Guns take aim, controlled chaos' worst!**

Still matching their march step-by-step, the three infiltrators found that five of Onoda's shinobi were waiting for them on the roof opposite of their exit. Without uttering a word to one another, Lajos and Tatenda fired the grappling wires from their wrists and swung out into the streets before utilizing their boosters to fly down opposite ways.

**At the head of their formation…**

As air began to rapidly condense into his own device, Tsao watched as the five shinobi took aim with their variety of arms and unleashed. Once the bullets, shurikens, and other such weapons came flooding his way, the man shifted his thumb against a wireless device attached to both grips of his liuyedaos and let all of the air within his booster explode out all at once.

**Leaving elites compared to whelps,**

As the projectiles flew just underneath his body, Tsao was propelled into the air just above the building and considered going after the five shinobi who just attacked him. But, when he had a better plan that promised more bodies, he just fired another wire to the opposite edge of the roof that the shinobi were standing upon and allowed himself to be reeled in. Even as Oda let out another enraged roar and hurled two more stones his way, both of which would have struck Tsao's torso if he hadn't evaded, the man kept his cool and moved to get out of sight. When Shiori, who was on a roof further back with Onoda, felt emboldened by the thought of the man trying to escape, she took a few more shots. With his rapidly observing eyes, Tsao had caught a glimpse of the girl taking aim and let his booster loose again to dart straight down into another alley below.

**The top dog, wolf who needs no pack!**

By the time the five shinobi who tried to ambush him moved to the other side of the roof, Tsao had already gotten away with only a few echoes from his grappling wires. Shortly after, there was only a bit of silence as the civilians through the surrounding area were yelling out in shock to the surrounding scene.

Oda, feeling as though he understood Tsao's tactics well enough, called out into the air, "Everyone, group up! Do not let any of the infiltrators catch you alone!" As everyone heeded his order and began to match up, he boomed, "Cover every angle and do not let yourself get surprised!"

**The field's a board…**

Climbing up onto the roof where the young man and Sato remained both still and silent, Miyabi quickly approached the two with Imu right behind her and ordered, "C'mon! We're too out in the open!" Sato, with a bit of a stutter to her step, let out a shaky breath and moved to the shinobi without question. However, with his eyes staring at the body of Sakae, the young man couldn't bring himself to say or do anything. Not wanting the boy to be distracted during their battle, Miyabi approached and wrenched her hand onto his shoulder, "It's time to go."

Picturing the graphic picture of Sakae's bloody and broken-open head onto all of his friends, the young man could only give a quietly horrified murmur, "…right…"

**Pawns can be read,**

From between all of the corners that he zipped past, Tsao was counting all of his remaining opponents. Most of the dignitaries had either retreated or found a hiding spot, so their combat strength was completely gone at that point. Though, to account for any rogue elements that would feel bold enough to attack, Tsao decided to count five of the twenty remaining. Then there were the shinobi, who only sustained minor cuts and bruises through the beginning of their battle, bringing up the total number of enemies to thirty-six.

Knowing that he still had the element of surprise on his side and the fact that there was no way his enemies knew the infiltrators' numbers, Tsao knew that victory would be guaranteed if he played his cards right.

**Rooks led astray,**

Watching as Miyabi guided the young man and Sato to the relative safety of the apartment parking lot where the rest of the Hebijo shinobi stood on guard, Asuka took a heavy breath full of unease. When a serious-faced Katsuragi moved up from behind her and stood on the edge of the roof, the brunette couldn't help but ask, "We're… fighting him, huh? The big shinobi-killer?"

"…Try not to be too scared…" mumbled Katsuragi as she silently betrayed her own order. Then, upon sighting Onoda's shinobi in their prior groups of five, the blonde put on a hopeful smile and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm glad they're here…"

"No kidding," commented Asuka with a forced smile, "I mean… from all I've heard, they're just a step short of being full-on Kagura."

**Knights to their deaths,**

Zipping through the alleys and peeking out from the spaces between buildings, Tsao spotted the older shinobi. Considering the fact that they were acting as the frontline fighters, he deduced that they were the more powerful of the lot. If he managed to group all ten of them together, maybe even with Oda, he could take them all out at once. The key was to use the element of surprise and, if at all possible, some kind of psychological warfare against them… though the latter would require an opportunity to be given…

**Bishops deceived,**

Meeting up together, Yumi and Homura's teams had their weapons drawn. Though their enemies had disappeared to somewhere for the moment, there was no telling when the infiltrators would come back in force. Then the latter of the two leaders spotted Asuka and Katsuragi mindlessly assuring themselves and called, "Oi! Get into position! You're in danger over there!"

While the two girls jumped in surprise and edged their way back to the rest of the groups, Yumi turned to Homura and said, "Thanks for that. I was getting a bit worried myself…" before turning her wary eyes to the surrounding buildings. The thought that, like a wolf stalking wounded prey, Tsao was prowling around somewhere was enough to throw everyone's nerves to the wind. In fact, if Yumi looked closely, it seemed as though a small chill had just run its way through Miyabi as she continued to escort Sato and the young man to safety.

Taking notice of the fact that the usually cool-faced girl beside her was steadily adopting a worried frown, Homura quickly stated, "We're going to be fine."

Yumi didn't hesitate to look over to her friend and give a nod, though her voice did crack when she said, "Let's just stay grouped together…" before edging back to their comrades.

**Queens are outmatched…**

Suddenly, there was a loud burst of air from Tsao's booster that alerted Niko, one of the advanced team's shinobi. Looking to towards the side of a building where the sound originated from, she called before anyone else, "In the alley! Still close to the ground!"

Then, giving a softer whoosh, another sound from an adjacent alleyway made everyone turn their heads. Once a third noise gave a more feint pop from the next corner of the building, Yuma quickly called, "He's circling us! Brace yourselves!"

Remaining calm and collected as the sound of Tsao's grappling wires began to fill the air, Onoda looked at her surroundings to decide which angle would be Tsao's best approach. Thinking quick and fast, she faced one side of the building that provided a short, albeit formidable, chimney and air conditioning unit for cover. While it was still a bit of a wild guess, it was the only logical answer she could deduce on short notice. She called to her team in her unpanicked voice, "Form a line facing the east side. Shiori, Niko, you two get behind the rest of us and get ready to cover us." She then turned to everyone else, "No more than a meter between one another. Don't give Tsao an opportunity for a hit and run."

Taking their position behind the rest of the group, Shiori and Niko readied their guns, a high-powered pistol and a vintage American submachine gun respectfully, and gave curt nods to one another. Whatever happened, they fully believed that they would be ready.

**King's all alone…**

As Oda kept averting his eyes back and forth between the advanced team and the twenty younger girls, he knew that something terrible was in the air. The rest of the infiltrators had disappeared without a trace after their hit and run while Tsao was apparently taunting them. He tried to raise his head to get a look at the ground where the man was swinging but a few inconvenient signs and awnings kept blocking his view once he heard the sounds.

Then it dawned on Oda: Tsao was a careful and pragmatic sneak who rarely made his position known to his enemies. Certainly, he was an expert in the art of guerilla warfare and could disappear on a whim… Why would he alert everyone that he was circling them?

The sound of a loud rush of air filled the alley that the advanced team faced and it was significantly closer than it was before. Onoda whispered to her subordinates, "He's gaining altitude… Brace. He's coming up." Then a grinding wire was shot by the nearest corner quickly after, even closer than the last sound. At first, the shinobi thought that Tsao was going to come up from that direction.

More than anything else at that moment, Oda wished that he could telepathically show everyone what he saw as Tsao swung around the building to the side opposite of where they were facing and fired another wire to the farthest corner. As quick and clear as he could, Oda cried out into the air, "BEHIND! BEHIND!"

**Checkmate.**

Just as the advanced team began to shuffle and flip their formation around to place Shiori and Niko at the rear, Tsao was flung into the air by one of his wires and a lesser gust from his booster. While one of his hands continued to wield a liuyedao with ease, the other was grasping something against his chest.

Reacting the quickest to his sudden presence, Shiori whipped her pistol and took aim at him. Hoping to leave nothing more than a bloody mess, she cried, "SECRET NINJA-," but wasn't allowed to finish. Armed with a dagger that he drew from a slim scabbard on his chest, Tsao shot his arm forward and propelled it straight for the girl. Less than a moment later, he fired another wire to swing back into the alley below. Shortly afterward, the reddened dagger clanged onto the ground beside Onoda's feet. Then Shiori collapsed with a hand grasping at her neck.

**Drawn out from their holes by his whim,**

**The rats face eternal death,**

Onoda was the first to the redhaired girl's side, urgently rolling her over before recoiling in horror. Looking back at her with frightened green eyes, Shiori was suffocating and choking while blood dribbled down her neck from the slash in her throat. At first, Onoda began to quietly plead with wide eyes, "No… Hey-, Shiori…?" before her face went cold and despondent. Her best friend stopped struggling soon after and was dead.

**Even with powers acing screens,**

**Final actions render them too short!**

Though Onoda's face didn't reflect emotion, the swift way she stood up and picked up her rapier spoke well enough of the rage she was feeling inside. She and the rest of the shinobi waited for another noise to indicate if Tsao would be coming back up, though nothing came. Taking heavy breaths as sorrow and frustration welled up in her, Onoda gave a growl that none of her subordinates had ever heard before loudly booming in a voice unbefitting of her usually cool demeanor, "DAMN YOU TO A THOUSAND HELLS!"

**All talk for feats achieved,**

**Their blind sight fails to find "Me",**

**The drive of all ends which he's dreamed-,**

**Shame then, since winning means to foresee!**

Letting a huff of air out of his nose as he swung through a few alleys away from the ears of any shinobi, Tsao remarked to himself, "And thus, that's your downfall…" before he went through all of the positions that his enemies were in once he left. In the back of his mind, he wasn't at all surprised by the sudden rage that enveloped the once-calm leader, since that was the intention of his tactic. A group of ten shinobi who were tactically laid out and expecting him would have been a considerable challenge… but a bunch of emotional girls that had just lost their friend would be an easier match. With their focus corrupted, Tsao knew that he'd already won the fight as he turned through a few more alleys and began to make his way back.

**The wolf ends life-, innocent life…**

**By any means, any or all…**

**For those bonded, his family…**

Watching as Asuka, Homura, and Yumi's groups of shinobi were shaken by the shock of an elite veteran being killed, Oda quaked with rage. Yet, he did his utmost to cool himself down since he was familiar with the game that Tsao was playing. It brought him back to the time when the infiltrator killed a child, likely hoping to get a rise out of his actual opponents at the time. If Oda didn't calm down, then he would just fall into a blunder that he was already acquainted with.

Just as the large shinobi began to move to reinforce Onoda's group, he spotted Tsao zipping out from one alley further along the streets. Watching the man's slower approach, Oda knew that something dangerous was coming and promptly called out, "HE'S COMING FROM THE STREETS!" Yet, just as he began to clench down onto the building that he stood upon to pull up a piece of rubble to hurl, the veteran already knew that he wouldn't make it in time.

**Born by the elements,**

As Tsao let out another burst of condensed air from his booster, Onoda held up her rapier in one hand while flattening out her other hand. Remembering all of her training in swordsmanship and in close-quarter fighting, she took the lead of her entire group and began to utter beneath her breath, "Secret ninja art…" and watched as Tsao's body flung up the side of the building. As he fired another wire, from a device attached to his leg that time, into the chimney off to the side, Onoda began to finish, "PHOENIX'S VOLCANIC-," but was cut off. Once Tsao's wire whirled him around the chimney, he let it reel in and used his booster to launch his spiraling body straight at the woman. With both of his liuyedaos, he swung both of his arms forward, flew just above Onoda's rapier, and sliced both of his blades through her arm and side.

**Trained fire in his eye!**

As her dismembered leader fell to the ground to ground with a shaky breath of air, Niko trained her submachine onto Tsao as he flew at her and was about to unload all of her ammo into him. Yet, with near-superhuman speed, the infiltrator let one of his liuyedaos fly out of his hand and toward the girl's head. Though the shinobi fortunately managed to duck, one of her comrades, Mai, caught the blade in her stomach and fell backwards. Just as Niko began to recover, Tsao drew out one of his handheld shotguns and whipped her in the side of the head with it. With his other liuyedao, he dug into her back, twisted, and pulled it out as the remaining six shinobi converged on him with all of their weapons.

**Eliminating risks,**

**Slight or unbeatable,**

One shinobi, Zuiho, was about to slam her hammer down before Tsao promptly shot her in the face. Yuma, stricken by the fear of half her team being wiped out and the fact that a silent legend was her opponent, hesitated for a brief moment as she began to yell, "SECRET NINJA ART: EAST SUN-," but was cut short when Tsao fired his shotgun into her knee. While Yuma collapsed to the ground and dropped her greatsword, another comrade of hers, Tachiko, moved to cover her friend by swinging both of her nunchucks. Yet, while holstering his empty shotgun, Tsao raised his one liuyedao and sliced one of the girl's wrists to make her drop one of the weapons. In the next second, he dodged around one of her other attacks, stabbed his sword into the inside of her elbow, and swung it into her neck from there. Once she fell back, he whipped his sword around and dug it into Yuma's chest.

**Targeting their weakness,**

**More oft slashing their throats!**

As the final three shinobi closed the distance between themselves and Tsao, the man retrieved up his liuyedao from the fallen shinobi's corpse and slashed upward to raise his blade into a defensive position. While one shinobi, Chiami, was repelled by the block, the other two, Fuika and Jimmaku, continued to hurl their respective weapons at him. Dodging his shoulder just under the dagger of the former, Tsao drew his other shotgun and used it to block the latter's axe. Locked in by the two as Chiami began to swing her pickaxe, Tsao dodged backward and quickly took aim to shoot Jimmaku in the gut before she could pursue him. Carried by her previous momentum, Chiami kept charging forward as Tsao turned his gun toward her thigh and fired again. The girl, missing a gruesome portion of her leg, tripped forward and the infiltrator stabbed his slim blade forward into her neck. Enraged by the deaths of all her surrounding comrades, Fuika barely managed to remain levelheaded as she realized that Tsao had fired two shots from his first gun and another two from the other. Figuring he was out of ammo, she rushed forward with her dagger but was surprised when the man swung his arm back, hurled his unloaded gun, and beaned her in the face with it. As she quickly recovered from the blow, Tsao dived toward Shiori's body and retrieved his dagger from before. Once Fuika began to go the offensive and dived to him, he threw the knife straight into her chest. In under twenty seconds, the entire advanced team was defeated.

**IT'S ALL NECESSARY EVIL!**

Clicking his fingers against his handle to let out a burst of air from the booster on his back, Tsao quickly zipped to Mai's corpse to retrieve his other liuyedao and took flight just as Oda arrived on the scene with an animalistic yell. But, knowing that the large shinobi would be a greater challenge, the infiltrator continued to fly off before his rapidly intensifying eyes found new targets a few buildings down. Just as Tsao fired a wired from the device on his wrist, Oda desperately cried out into the direction of the younger shinobi, "HE'S COMING FOR YOU NEXT! GROUP TOGETHER!"

Letting out equal noises of shock and surprise as they still processed the advanced team's massacre, Homura and Yumi's group watched in horror as the infiltrator began to fly directly at them. When his booster ran out of air, his grappling wires maintained the momentum as both of his liuyedaos were positioned to strike. Then, with barely enough time to ready their own weapons, the man's booster let out another burst and shot him forward to close the distance.

**From guns to knives-, iron or stone,**

**His steeled resolve-, unmoved cruelty,**

**And mental shield relent to none!**

Just as Tsao's feet barely landed onto the roof she shared with her friends, Homura raised three of her blades in one hand into a defensive position while reeling back her other arm to stab. Yet, despite how narrow and slim the man's blade was, all three of the blades protecting the tanned shinobi were slammed out of her grip upon making contact with Tsao's first swipe. Just as he moved to slash his other sword for her throat, Yumi sliced both of her fans to try and counter his strike. Maneuvering his momentum with ease, Tsao diverted his blade to instead cut into the ice queen's elbow.

**He's no god,**

Before the sword could go any deeper into her arm, Hikage, Murakumo, and Shiki went on the immediate attack against Tsao and drove him back. Yet, even as his feet rapidly retreated, the intense eyes that were a direct mirror of the young man's didn't dare break contact with any of the girls as the infiltrator steered his blades for them. When Hikage stabbed her knife forward and Murakumo flanked him with her spear, Tsao raised one blade to parry the former while locking his other sword with the latter. As Shiki made a downward strike with her scythe, the tall man used all of his strength to quickly push up Murakumo's spear and used it to block the attack before promptly closing the distance between he and the girl in the red haori to elbow her right in the face, shattering her mask when he did so.

**Nor titan,**

Showing no sign of slowing down as Hikage went for another strike, Tsao decided to take a different approach and released both of his liuyedaos into the open air. As the blades began to fall down to the roof, he crossed one of his wrists over the other as Hikage went for a stab, lined his elbow right along the sharp end of her knife, and took hold of her forearm. Before the girl could realize what was happening, Tsao transferred the arm into his other hand and socked her right in jaw before moving to flip her onto her back. Before the maneuver could be finished, Minori, Shiki, and Yomi were already moving in on him. Thus, the man released his hold on Hikage's arm and caught one of his blades just before it would have clanged against the ground.

**A raging beast,**

Watching in horror from the apartment's parking lot as Tsao locked his blade with Shiki's scythe and Yomi's broadsword as he took hold of Minori's bucket with his other hand, Miyabi looked on in silent horror before silently advancing. As the rest of her team followed right after her, the young man continued to watch as he began to believe that his friends were going to die. Yet, just as he spotted Asuka's team running along the roofs to provide support and relief, his focused mind finally began to try and concoct some kind of strategy… Yet, when it came to even trying to brainstorm an idea that would throw Tsao off, the young man could not think up anything.

**A masked legend-,**

**None of those mentioned!**

Just as the relentless infiltrator kicked Minori in the side of the knee and managed to overpower both Shiki and Yomi, Miyabi let out a cry to distract him from delivering a killing blow. Though his attention was diverted, the man grabbed his second liuyedao from the ground and sliced it into the open air to keep Miyabi back for the sake of buying just one more second. Once the white-haired girl was forced to back off, he moved his blade to try and stab into Minori's head but was blocked by Yagyū's umbrella and Haruka's puppet. Though he managed to stab through both items, no one was hurt and Tsao was forced to divert his attention onto the coming reinforcements.

**He's only a man!**

Just as Ikaruga, Imu, and Miyabi simultaneously went in to strike him from three different angles, the infiltrator dived backwards toward Murakumo, who was still recovering from the powerful blow to her head. Grabbing just underneath her shoulder, Tsao pulled her off the ground and hurled her straight for Imu, who was forced to disengage and catch the girl. As Ikaruga and Miyabi still continued with their strike, with Asuka and Murasaki circling to the infiltrator's rear, Tsao raised both of his blades and simultaneously parried both girls. Their swords clanged a few more times but Tsao quickly gained the advantage. Then, just as he began to angle his liuyedaos for the girls' stomachs, he heard Asuka cry out, "SECRET NINJA ART: DUAL-," and immediately went onto an even more intense offensive. Shoving both of his other attackers back and using both of his blades to block Murasaki's shuriken, the man threw one of his liuyedao into the air, drew his other unloaded shotgun, and pitched it straight for Asuka's throat. Upon contact, the girl's words were cut off and only a few coughs came out as Tsao leaped up, caught his discarded liuyedao, and began to go for a killing strike against the brunette.

**ONE DRIVEN BY A SINGLE GOAL!**

Then, upon hearing the sound of a grappling wire, the infiltrator instead opted to kick the smaller shinobi in the face so that he could angle his weapons into a defensive position. Just as he raised one weapon up to do so, the young man came flying from over the side of the roof with a cold look in his eyes. While Tsao processed his brother's sudden arrival, the boy swung one of his katana and the taller man was forced to parry, though the opposing blade still did manage to slice his cheek and ripped a large portion of his balaclava. Not wanting to engage and risk hurting his dear brother, Tsao clicked his fingers against his sword handle and his booster shot him off of the roof while the girls around him let out a mix of confused gasps upon seeing his face.

Letting out a confused grunt as he tried to think about why his brother was fighting alongside the girls, a loud cry interrupted the infiltrator's thoughts, "YOU MURDERING BASTARD!" and heard a faint whistle in the air. Moving his blades quickly, Tsao barely managed to block a tantō that Oda threw at him.

Tsao scolded himself, "…idiot… don't get distracted…" and turned while still flying through the air to face the large shinobi.

As Tsao began to close the distance between himself and Oda, the latter bent down to pull a piece of rubble from the building he was standing on and cried, "SECRET NINJA ART: POMPEI'S SECOND COMING!" and hurled the small boulder straight for Tsao. Just before the rock made contact, it began to glow a fiery orange and its once solid surface began to bubble.

Cursing the fact that he didn't have any available means to cut off the ninja art, Tsao decided to tackle the threat head-on. Even if it was a bit riskier, he couldn't let the prospect of eliminating a threat like Oda go to waste. So, clicking his fingers against his swords' handles again, another burst of air blew out from Tsao's booster. He flew just over the flying orange rock as it began to explode. When he closed the distance between himself and his opponent, the only thing Oda could see was the two swords coming right for him as Tsao flew out from a ball of fire.

**Pull it back, from legend to scum…**

Meanwhile, just after striking a katana at his older brother, the young man's momentum hurled him past the edge of the roof and he was forced to fire a grappling wire to swing to safety. After landing onto a different roof, he screamed over to his friends, "GET OUT OF THERE BEFORE TSAO OR HIS LACKIES MAKE ANOTHER RUN!" and waved his arms wildly, "GO! GO!"

While a few of the shinobi gave quick and curt nods, most of them were still dealing with the shivers running down their spines as they realized how strong Tsao was and how close to death they were. Still, as they moved to collect everyone who was injured in the engagement, they were all just thankful to have made it without a single death… which, considering what happened to the advanced team, was a miracle in and of itself… though, they were all left with a completely different question after they saw a portion of Tsao's face.

Little did they know, they were being stalked from afar by a different set of eyes that mirrored the young man and Tsao's.

**Come liar, whom even swans shun.**

Snorting at the sight of watching his oldest brother on the retreat while relishing the sound of his younger brother's panicked pleas, the unmasked infiltrator, Haruo, watched the battle unfold on the roof of a nearby building. Still hiding and waiting for some kind of signal from Tsao, the two dignitaries who were close to him were mumbling amongst themselves. "What was it that put Tsao on the retreat back there?" said a woman with a distinctly Russian accent, "Even with that kid's interference, he was going to kill a few of those bitches."

"Marta, he knows what he's doing," replied the German next to her, a sturdy man named Henry, "Whatever the reason, wait for Tsao to rout them." He peered out from his small corner of roof to eye the recovering shinobi, "The moment those brats turn to run, we'll all be pouncing them."

Bored by the thought of waiting for another second, Haruo mumbled incoherently before brainstorming a few ideas in his head that he deemed to be entertaining. One idea suggested that he go out and lead some kind of charge, though he knew that a fight against the shinobi meant certain death for him and a harsh scolding for disobeying Tsao's orders. Another idea would have been a bit more lighthearted, something involving going out and scratching his name onto a group of civilian cars that were left abandoned in the streets after the fighting broke out… but that wasn't nearly as entertaining as his last idea.

**Led by will, his patience is out!**

Haruo pointed a finger at his younger brother, whose face was still mostly covered by his scarf, "That one's probably a lingering dignitary."

Marta tilted her head in confusion and began to repeat under her breath, "Lingering dignitary-," but cut herself off, "He was assisting the shinobi. Why the hell would a dignitary do that?"

"Who knows?" shrugged Haruo before he stood straight and readied his weapons, "Either way, he attacked Tsao… It even looked like he managed to nick him on the cheek." He gave a challenging grin, "He's a threat either way, so let's get him while we wait for the shinobi," and clicked the grips of his two broomhandle pistols to let his booster carry him off.

Incited by Haruo's words to defend the one man they were absolutely loyal to, Tsao, the two other infiltrators let out tired groans and followed after him, figuring that an attack on a single dignitary didn't count against Tsao's orders. Even if Haruo was certainly a madman who refused to wear a mask and wanted to draw the law's attention on himself for whatever sickening reason he had in his head, they didn't see much reason to doubt him in that moment. After all, they did see someone attack their superior. If that didn't spell the word 'enemy' to them, nothing else did.

**It's all a wild game!**

Tightening the scarf around his face as he watched the rest of the shinobi leap off the roof in the opposite direction as him, the young man was about to make a hasty retreat before the sound of three grappling wires echoing into the air caught his attention. He turned just in time to find two dignitaries zipping through the air with their guns drawn while another quickly descended into an alleyway out of sight. Remembering the zealous nature of Tsao's followers and the fact that he'd attacked him earlier, the young man dove off the roof just as a few bullets pelted the area where he just stood.

**He's the bred winner born for want-,**

Just as the young man fired another wire and began to swing out into the streets, the two infiltrators' boosters let all of their air explode out to fly right above him. Thinking quick, the boy reeled in his wire before it made contact and continued to let himself fall. Gambling it all on his aim, the young man extended his other wrist and fired another wire for a street light. Though the target was slim and difficult to hit under pressure, the young man's aim remained true and he was swung just above the ground.

**-while enemies claw for survival just to die!**

Anticipating the infiltrators' line of fire, the young man let his feet fall and waited for his wire to disconnect from the street light. Once he made contact with the ground, he rolled did his utmost to slow down and heard the bullets let loose from above. Fortunately, expecting him to maintain his momentum to flee away as quick as he could, the infiltrators missed their shots and the flew just a few meters ahead of him. But, having killed all of his momentum, the young man began to try and brainstorm any idea that wouldn't leave him as a sitting duck.

**Watching on top, mocking with a sincere grin-**

Landing on a roof near the end of the block, Haruo watched in disconnected amusement as he watched his brother fire another wire to try and escape. Practically clapping his hands once he saw that the young man was doing his utmost to keep his body low to use the surrounding cars for cover, the infiltrator began to plan out what part he had to play in the big scene to come. Certainly, with some quick thinking and luck, the youngest brother would be able to evade his two pursuers, though Haruo wondered where he would go in order to do so.

**-offering a hand, striking their gut-,**

Spotting a narrow alleyway across from his side of the street, Haruo let out a humored snort as he envisioned the young man's tactic. The boy would evade the bullets to come, spot the tight space where escape seemed feasible, and would likely hope for the best. Indulging himself just a bit more than he already was, Haruo dared to call himself a quick-witted masterpiece of a man. Even in the harsh world of the modern age, he always knew how to read the movements of others and how to have fun with them.

**-that one's chaotic force leaves all manner of Hell-,**

Just as he heard the ding of a bullet hit the car that he was zipping beside for cover, the young man let himself get pulled close to one side of the street by one of his wires. Not even thinking about where the third infiltrator had gone, he flew beneath awnings and used his made calculated shots with his grappling devices to shift his direction back and forth. Amidst all of that was a continuous rain of small arms fire, each barely missing the young man as his calculated focus on being unpredictable narrowly saved his life time and again. But, by the time he'd reach the next intersection, other infiltrators were certainly going to join in. If more than two guns were firing at him, the young man wouldn't have any hope to survive.

**BUT DON'T LEAVE OUT THE FUN!**

Then, giving the impression that his luck was beginning to turn for the better, he spotted a small alleyway a short way ahead. Instinctually knowing the advantage of sudden turns into dark areas, the young man prayed to everything watching over him that the infiltrators weren't anticipating his next move. Though the alley would be a good choice if they didn't expect him to go there, it would be a deathtrap if even one of them considered it since it was such a narrow space. Beyond speeding up for slowing down, there would be almost nothing the young man could do if anyone opened fire from above. But, not seeing much other choice, he decided to go for it.

**No who or what bind his choices-,**

Firing his grappling wire into the wall a few meters beside the alley, the young man let himself get reeled in before swinging past and getting flung into his apparent bastion of safety. Just as he'd hoped for, the two infiltrators who were so closely trailing behind him had stuttered in their movements upon his sudden disappearance. By the time they'd catch up, the young man would already be on the other side of the alley. Then, bellowing louder than the whistling wind in the boy's ears, Tsao's loud voice boomed, "ALL OF YOU DISENGAGE! THAT'S MY BROTHER YOU'RE SHOOTING AT!"

The young man was about to let out a breath of relief before he heard a much more chilling voice cry out, "SORRY! DIDN'T HEAR THAT!" Recognizing the voice of the most dreadful sociopath that he knew, the boy arced his head around in the middle of his flight and saw the face that practically reflected his own in every possible way.

**He acts and lives for the next big moment's pleasure!**

Eagerly readying the two pistols in his hand, Haruo gave a gentle click to their grips and let his booster carry him into the air above the young man. While he didn't have the intention to kill his brother, he certainly wanted to watch the boy dance. So, deliberately not leading his aim on the young man, Haruo began to madly pull the triggers.

**To shoot, both ways, or smoke-, also both,**

Thinking quick as the bullets began to explode into the ground just behind him, the young man fired another wire ahead into the alley to try and speed himself up. Yet, when he began to rapidly approach some dumpsters and debris that was leaned up against the surrounding buildings, he was forced to simultaneously fire his other device upward to pull him up. As a few bullets hit the walls and the dumpsters that he flew just over, the young man disconnected both of his wires and let himself fall to the ground.

**-is to be free for the dreams of his own dimensions!**

Just as he rolled his body along the ground, the young man fired aimed his grappling device for a fire escape at the end of the alley before the space diverged into two different paths. Getting pulled up while Haruo swung just above him and reloaded his ammo clips, the boy flew above and past the fire escape with a spiral of his body and began to let himself fall again. When he came to the alley's splitting passages, he picked a random direction and fired a wire to swing himself around the corner.

**The fault's to heaven for creating such a maddened creature-,**

Unwilling to hide the grin on his face as the young man swung around like a puppet on a string, Haruo remembered the euphoria when he'd learned that the boy was embarking against the shinobi in the first place. There was just something immensely satisfying and spiritually uplifting when someone else covered for the infiltrator's mistakes. Then in the fact that it was the young man, who was on the verge of leaving the organization, paying for those mistakes and that just made it all the more better.

**-one which feels joy while tasting whims on a crimson river-,**

Still trailing over the young man and continuing to fire all of the bullets he had to spare, Haruo wondered about all of the times he'd hated his own little brother. Letting out a maddened laugh, the man couldn't believe himself to have once been such a fool, though he believed that no one could rightly blame him for his feelings. Still, to view the young man as just another action figure to play with on the field of battle was a liberating thing. Gone was the anger and in came the peace shortly after.

**-and drinks to party where he brings all manner of tragedy!**

Just as Haruo considered letting the young man off since he was starting to run low on ammo, a new thought occurred to the sadist: what kind of expression would be on the boy's face if he was actually shot? Being the impulsive and admittedly self-serving person that he was, the older brother decided that he wanted to find out. There was no real reason for it at all other than he just wanted to. Haruo didn't know why he got such an impulse but he would be damned if he didn't act on it.

**The more he wants, the more he'll take-,**

As the smile on his face continued to creep up in size, Haruo began to lead his next shot. Just as the two brothers rapidly approached the alley's exit, he yelled down to the young man, "SHOW ME WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE WHEN YOU BLEED, BITCH!"

**IT'S ALL FOR HIMSELF!**

Just as the trigger was pulled, a tall and unrelenting body slammed straight into Haruo and crashed them both onto a neighboring roof and sent the bullet off into the air. As the young man swung out of the alley and made his way toward the shinobi while brimming with panic, the middle brother looked up into the infuriated eyes of Tsao. A deep growl was heard, "I know you're not deaf…" before a hand gripped Haruo's neck, "That was our brother who you were shooting at…"

While intimidated, the slightly shorter man did not fear for his life as he muttered, "Sorry, sorry-, ow… Sorry." To give himself up, Haruo dropped his weapons and raised his hands, "Seriously, I'm sorry… I must not have heard you… Stress of the battle, adrenaline-, something like that kicked in and I didn't hear you." He turned his falsely apologetic eyes to Tsao, who did not even slightly buy into it…

Yet, when considering the fact that the person he was holding down was one of his younger brothers, the tall man couldn't bring himself to dole out anything more than a frustrated, "Keep your ears open lest you, yourself, want to bleed." Before Haruo could even ponder the emptiness of the threat, Tsao nodded his head, "C'mon. We're moving."

**Strutting off, shielding the damage…**

The middle brother quirked his head, "Are we killing the rest of the shinobi?"

"I've already sent word to everyone else and called off the attack," stated Tsao as he continued to make for the edge of the roof, "I'm afraid that there may have been a misunderstanding of some sort."

"What…?" mumbled Haruo before shaking his head, "That's one hell of a misunderstanding, considering the fact that we've got about thirty to forty dead people lying around."

Giving a disinterested shrug, Tsao mumbled, "Yeah, well they were dignitaries and shinobi anyway…" He turned around to say aloud, "If it wasn't today, it'd be a different day. Let's get out of here and I'll talk to our brother once everything's calmed down."

**Faster pace, they're not looking back.**

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Haruo grumbled, "Well, I'm getting drunk tonight." He retrieved his guns and began to follow after his older brother before a new thought popped into his head, "So, you took care of that big fucker from earlier? The gorilla?"

Without blinking, Tsao just said, "He's handled," before firing his grappling wire and heading off to where the rest of his team waited.

**All guns down, controlled chaos gone…**

Struggling to take in another strained breath, the dismembered Onoda laid on the ground as she continued to stare at the bodies of her deceased comrades. All of the girls whom she befriended over the course of years, people whom she fought with and loved like sisters, were sprawled out in large crimson pools that covered the roof. Taking another painful breath as she looked at her stump of an arm and pawed at the deep wound in her side, Onoda raised her one hand and began to tear up. All of the emotions and all of the pain began to well up and, soon after, she let out a pained sob. As far as she was concerned, Onoda was a failure for everything that'd happened. Despite the fact that she and her team were specially selected to take on Tsao and his infiltrators, everyone was wiped out in less than half a minute… and the beast's lackies didn't even show up.

Pondering what would happen when she inevitably died, Onoda began to wonder about what mark she'd left on the world. She started to wonder if all the Yōma she killed made a difference but then began to wonder about how she was as a person. Aside from her role as a shinobi and offering a helpful hand to some animals in need, what had Onoda done that was meaningful as a person? She hadn't spoken to her parents or relatives in years, due entirely to her own stubbornness, and she was always more than happy to put her own wants above others… Would she just be reincarnated and repeat her selfish choices, not remembering any lessons from her final reflections…? Or would that selfishness be forgiven if she was going to be judged by whatever deity awaited her on the other side?

Onoda closed her eyes and, as her wounds continued to bleed unabated, began to pray for some kind of peace… or, if not that, to see Shiori and all her other friends once more before whatever happened next… Not long after, Onoda died and joined the corpses that surrounded her.

The moment would have been peaceful from then on, with the shinobi, dignitaries, and infiltrators all retreating from the area… Yet, as a red pool of shinobi blood continued to spread across a flat roof, a new kind of chaos was summoned. Without any warning, the crimson began to glow with a faint light for a moment before darkening into complete blackness. Somewhere in the cosmos, an ancient evil ordered its vanguard, "Go… now is your time… and mine will be soon after…" The black pond of blood suddenly began to sizzle. Inside each of the heated bubbles that began to rise from it, faint orange glows began to flicker and meander. Then, as the power from the far end of the universe struck down with everything that it could muster, the top of the building exploded into a massive glow that outshined the sun.

From where they were, all of the retreating shinobi turned their heads as they stood atop a roof a few blocks away. Though they'd never seen such a violent reaction before, each of them knew which sort of monster that was coming. The first one to cry out, "YŌMA!" was Miyabi as she and everyone else drew their weapons again. Though they were not united with the young man and hadn't seen where he'd gone, the girls collectively knew that they couldn't let the beast go. Beyond the fact that the general public was going to be exposed to the Yōma, the damage that would be caused by one with such a violent reaction certainly would be immeasurable. At first, they thought they'd be prepared as they leaped back over the roofs and made their way closer and closer to the coming beast. But, as it began to take shape, they knew that they were all wrong.

Crashing down onto the streets as it fell from the blinding light, a creature as tall as eighteen meters quickly began to pick itself up and stood above the suburban buildings all around it. With the head of a lion, the body of a human with reptilian skin, and four canine-ish limbs with claws at the end, the giant creature let out frustrated yowl that sounded like deeply-pitched wildcat. Then, as it swung around its alligator-like tail and slammed it into a neighboring building, bringing out a round of screams as the hiding civilians were confronted by the beast, the shinobi all knew that they were facing a demon of the likes that they'd never faced before.

**Just as misery follows death after a battle, the vanguard of the old creature was born from a pool of blood… though, it signaled not only misery… but a coming of eternal suffering for all who dared to exist without the ancient's permission.**

**How unfortunate for those who knew nothing of the world hidden underground, where shinobi, infiltrators, and dignitaries fought for the sake of the deceased. The innocent who looked upon the beast and all the others who followed after it cried out in horror and knew that an untamable Hell was on its way… And they would not be hidden in the dark nor in the twilight.**

**Those beasts born of the old would rise shamelessly for all to see… Damn whatever consequences there may be.**


	43. Chapter 43: Red Yōma

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 43: Red Yōma (Battle Through the Streets Part II)

Just under a minute before the public cried in the face of a coming Hell, Sato was still hiding underneath the stairs outside the young man's apartment. Since the very moment that Tsao showed up and the Hebijo shinobi moved to defend their comrades, the girl feared that she would be the next victim of the surrounding battle and hid herself away in hopes to not be seen. Unfortunately, since she was mostly out of sight, the shinobi left her behind after the young man intervened between them and the violent infiltrator. Of course, considering the fact that she would have done the same thing, Sato didn't blame them. Yet, when she realized she had no viable defense if Tsao came around again, the girl grappled back onto the roof, retrieved the unused dignitary explosive from earlier, and then retreated back under the stairs. Other than blowing herself and any potential attacker up, she knew that there wasn't much of a defense to be had with it but, at the same time, there was something oddly comforting about holding a device that could level a small building.

All of the ease that Sato felt with it immediately went away when she heard the sound of a grappling wire grinding in the wind. Seeking to ward off whoever was coming, she slinked her finger into the pin and was prepared to pull it out. Then the young man swung out from one of the nearby alleys and a slight wave of relief overcame her. Once Sato clambered out from under the stairs and was in sunlight, the boy yelled over to her, "Where'd everyone go!?" as he landed and rolled onto the ground.

No longer paying much attention to the device in her hand, the girl pointed down the street, "They began to run along the buildings after that one… guy, if you can call him that, flew off."

Grunting in acknowledgement before taking a moment to think, the young man pinched his chin and asked, "They left you behind?"

Sato nodded, "I was hiding at the time so…" and then shrugged, "They must've just thought that I… ran away…?"

"You didn't think to go after them?" asked the boy, his eyelids drooping with harsh judgment.

Shamefully dropping her gaze to the ground, Sato murmured, "By the time my head cleared and that idea came, they were already gone… and I didn't want to fly around on the streets while those infiltrators were still around…"

Grunting again, the young man took a breath and began to go over the current situation. Yet, when he started to think about what had just transpired with the infiltrators and the fact that Haruo had been shooting at him just a bit before, his head started to roar in pain. Between the three people gunning for him and all of the near misses that he had with death, the weight just too much for even a focused mind to handle. But, mostly thanks to the device on his wrist, he didn't come close to fainting like before. Instead, after thanking every deity above for the fact that Haruo backed off for whatever reason, he just said to Sato, "Right then…" as he waved his arm, "let's see if we can't catch up-," before he was cut off by what sounded like a loud explosion.

On instinct alone, both teenagers dived to the ground and covered their heads as a bright glow outshined all manner of light. Seconds later, a massive shockwave winded through the streets and screamed over the buildings, hurling all manner of debris and rubble into the air. A few rocks smashed into the windows of the apartment, causing Sato to scream, "WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" while she clutched onto her explosive for dear life.

Then, in the form of a shadow that could be sighted over the buildings, the two teens sighted a figure that crawled up from the ground. A deep and loud yowl was heard, freezing the young man and Sato in place. Afterwards, as the light finally began to die down, the sound of a building being reduced to rubble echoed through the air and a round of screams could be heard. Finally, once the glow and its resulting wind had dissipated, the massive head of a lion peered over the buildings and into the surrounding area.

What came next froze the young man, Sato, and everyone else who had working ears. Upon opening its mouth, the creature spoke in deep yet, surprisingly, modest voice, "So… this is the land of mankind…?" It raised one of its claws to the sky and remarked, "It is, without a doubt, colorful… but a bit bright," before letting its arm fall to rest on a nearby roof, "Beyond all that… what else is there that could be so desirable?"

Petrified by the sight and sound of the creature, the young man barely remembered his conversation the other day and realized that he was looking upon a Yōma. He doubted himself for a moment, as Tsao always spoke of the beasts as though they were some dangerous wild animals that could be found in the woods, but then one of Homura's words got stuck in his head: massive. True to what she said, the creature before the young man was absolutely massive… and it absolutely terrified him, freezing the boy down to the bone and bringing on a roaring headache that surpassed all of the one's from earlier.

"SECRET NINJA ART!" came a war cry that broke the young man from his frightened trance, "DIVINE JUDGMENT!"

Just as he looked up to the roof on the opposing side of the street, he could see Miyabi crossing her arms over her chest as a red and black vortex of light shined over her. In the next moment, with a seven branched sword flying through the air by the whim of her finger tips, the woman flew out of the dissipating darkness while black and white feathery wings sprouted from her back. While the young man processed her form, which gave him the impression of a fallen angel, she threw her arm forward, the sword zipped through the air, and lurched into the Yōma's neck. A second later, as the branched sword spiraled its way back, a massive spurt of red blood came from the creature's throat and it made a few hacking noises as its clawed hands covered the wound.

Spotting the young man and Sato on the ground, Imu appeared just under the silently hovering Miyabi and called down, "Oi! Are you two alright!?"

While the boy was still frozen in fear from what he'd just witnessed, the ex-dignitary simply gave a quiet nod of her head. After remembering that he could speak, the boy eventually called up to Imu, "I'm pretty sure I might've shat myself…! But I'm breathing," before giving a thumbs up to Miyabi, "Good throw-, telepathy-, no, telekinesis. Good telekinesis-, whatever you did with your sword! Good job!"

Though he couldn't see it from how far he was, the white-haired shinobi gave a soft and appreciative look to the young man before something else took her focus. At first, upon taking the blow to its windpipe, the Yōma had began to suffocate and choke on its own blood. Then, as a few red bolts of electric energy passed over the wound, the creature was healed and free to unclog its throat. Upon sighting its lack of injury, Miyabi screamed, "EVERYONE! ONTO THE GROUND!" as the creature dug one of its claws into a nearby building. Just as all twenty of the shinobi leaped from the roof, the Yōma ripped out metal and stone debris and proceeded to pitch it straight for where they were all standing a moment before. The resulting rubble proceeded to crash through the roofs and walls of the surrounding area, bringing on another cry of surprised screams from all around.

Taking cover in the apartment's parking lot, with only a few buildings between them and the creature, they could hear it call in its modest voice, "Ah… the enemy of my kind…" Clearing its throat of some lingering blood, the beast called, "If you reveal the one you call Kagura to me, then I will be happy to see your lives spared for the time being."

At that moment, the sirens of the city's emergency services could be heard. Though the police were told to hold off on any calls, courtesy of a few administrative orders from Oda for the sake of their counter-attack against the dignitaries, the influx of civilians calling for help had forced them to act. Unsurprisingly, between the gunfire and the sound of the Yōma's arrival, the armored convoy of SAT vans were the first ones to arrive on the scene. Hurling in from beyond the far side of the street that the shinobi were adjacent to, the tactical police units came in with blaring sirens. Stopping on the intersection opposite of the creature, the SAT officers were already shouting to one another about the massive Yōma before them and were preparing to engage. Under a tired breath as her new wings disappeared into the air, Miyabi remarked, "Not good…" before turning to call upon the other shinobi, "We need ideas! Once the police start to shoot up the Yōma, we won't be able to approach without risking getting hit!"

As if on cue, the sound of that SAT unit's firearms proceeded to echo from down the street. The young man, Sato, and even a few of the girls covered their ears from the repeated sharp sounds of bullets being drained into the Yōma as the officers shouted in a variety of different tones. Many of the them were shouting in terrified confusion as they mindlessly sprayed their weapons while others, much more surprisingly, kept level heads and urged the others to focus. In response to the hail of bullets pelting against it, the creature let out a few noises from its nostrils, reminding everyone of a tiger's chuff, before it proceeded to stomp its way closer.

Realizing that they were running low on time, a cool and composed voice called out from the shinobi, "Sato, that's an explosive that you're holding, right?"

The girl jumped upon hearing her name and turned to the voice that she recognized to be Murakumo's, though her face fell when she saw the girl wearing a paper bag with two eyeholes. But, after another earthshaking step from the Yōma, she put her other thoughts aside and nodded her head, "Yeah-, yes! This is an explosive…"

Immediately clicking onto what her sister was about to suggest, Shiki's eyes brightened as she said, "Murky, I like where you're going with this!"

Briefly getting over his overwhelming fear for a moment, the young man looked to the two and asked, "Just to clarify for those who are a bit slow right now… me… you're going to use the banger on the lion-lizard bastard?"

"Isn't that obvious at this point?" asked Mirai, who gave an annoyed look from behind Homura, "Or were you hoping that we'd all gather and blow ourselves to smithereens in a group suicide?"

"No, no, I figured as much," grumbled the young man at an unintentionally low volume before holding his forehead, "It's just-," before suddenly clapping his cheeks to calm himself. Once he was soothed enough to speak properly, he stated, "That just means we'll need to get close to the regenerating lizard…" before something clicked in his head, "Which regenerates, by the way, so I'm not exactly sure how any plan we form is going to help."

"Well, actually," came Katsuragi's voice as she playfully fiddled with her fingers, "we've dealt with these kinds of Yōma in the past." She confidently raised a finger, "In these kinds of situations, we typically just cut or slice them up until there's nothing left to regenerate," before shrugging to the banger, "Granted, we've never tried an explosive before. But that makes it all the more cool."

The young man blinked before asking in a low voice, "Have you ever tackled a regenerating Yōma that's probably about twenty meters tall?"

Katsuragi froze for a moment before confidently putting her hands on her hips with a sheepish smile, "No~… but we're going to."

Feeling his eyes lower as sweat trickled down the back of his neck, the young man mumbled, "Good to know that you're so calm about the situation…"

As Asuka tilted her head in a mix of confusion and worry, Ikaruga said from beside her, "Are you alright?"

"Well," started the young man as he fiddled with his scarf, "there's a creature taller than all of the surrounding buildings that seems pretty intent to kill the hell out of us… so… nope. Not even slightly."

"Sorry to say it," said Yumi in a level voice as she gave a nod of respect, "but you'll need to get over that pretty quick." Upon turning to everyone else, she quickly ordered, "At this point, we should all know what to do: slow the creature down, keep its attention, and stick the banger into it." Upon looking to the young man and Sato, she asked, "We'll trust you two with the latter."

While both of the frightened teens gave comically slow nods, Ryōbi asked frankly, "Not to leech off the skepticism of dickhead over there-"

Under his breath, the young man grumbled, "Is this seriously the time to be called a dickhead…?"

"-but will the explosive actually be enough to kill that thing?" Ryōbi gave an unsure shrug, "From the way Miki described it to us, a banger is mostly meant for closed-in spaces."

"Well, it's either that," chimed Yagyū, "or we settle on just trying to slice the thing up."

Without any warning beyond the slowly coming stomps, a clawed fist smashed through one side of the apartment building. While everyone covered their heads to protect against some of the rubble and debris, the hunched over Yōma peered its head over the roof and let out another chuff. At that point in time, everyone knew to stick with the plan at hand.

**SCREE-EE-EE-EE-EE-ee-ee-eeeaaaam!**

Raising her sword with a second wind of energy, Miyabi screeched out into the open air, "SPREAD OUT AND BRING THAT BASTARD TO HIS KNEES!" before turning to Sato and the young man, who were petrified at the creature's sudden arrival, "WHEN YOU TWO SEE AN OPPORTUNITY, TAKE IT!" As she began to ran away, Miyabi added, "JUST DON'T GO BLOWING EVERYONE UP!"

Immediately after, everyone in the parking lot darted into different directions as the Yōma let out another loud yowl as it swiped its clawed fist down into the ground, tearing apart the asphalt. As the SAT unit's bullets continued to rip into its head and chest, all of which healed quickly with small flashes of red light, it boomed out into the open air, "If you intend to resist, then I don't care for any other option." Its colorless eyes began to glow bright with a yellowish hue, "First, you'll all be cut down," as it spread out its fingers and stood straight on its hindlegs, "then I'll complete my hunt…"

"**OPERATOR, IT'S RIGHT OUTSIDE!"**

As the combatants of the beast either ran over the opposite ends of the apartment's roof or, in the case of the young man and Sato, held up their hands as they ran out to the SAT officers on the street, the Yōma began to shove its legs through the apartment building. As the two teens on the ground ran past the police unit, the swords on the boy's hip and the pole-like explosive completely unquestioned while the beast held their attention, the Yōma bent over and got onto all fours. After letting out another chuff, it proceeded to charge the SAT convoy head-on.

"…**run…"**

Just as all the officers realized what was about to happen and began to turn away to run, the creature launched itself with its head stretched forward. With a simultaneous outward swipe of both its arms, the entire SAT unit was slammed and immediately killed by the resulting force. As their mangled corpses and armored vans were flung into the air above, the young man and Sato fired their grappling wires to split up down different intersections of the street. Keeping its eyes on the latter of the two, the creature thought to itself, "These ears of mine heard it all… these shinobi and their accomplices will fail."

"**EVACUATE!"**

"**Dad! The news is broadcasting emergency alerts for the entire area! You need to leave, right now!"**

Getting back onto its hindlegs, the Yōma began to run straight after Sato. As it rounded the street corner to pursue, it began to sprint with ungodly speed. Just as the shinobi who were on the roofs behind it were about to engage, it was out of their range in just a few seconds time. As Ryōbi and Ryōna fired a few shots after the creature, the former yelled out, "Really!? Are you kidding me!?" as she gestured her rifle at it, "I thought the law of physics said that big-ass things can't run at big-ass speeds!"

Darting right past the girl, Imu called back, "You're free to tell that to the Yōma when we catch it!"

"If we catch it…" mumbled Ryōbi before she shook her head and proceeded to give chase. From afar, additional SAT sirens and even a few helicopters could be heard in the distance.

"**MAKE WAY!"**

"**Contact has yet to be reestablished with Team One! Whatever happened, expect for it to be big!"**

As panic-stricken as she was, Sato thought that she was keeping her cool well enough for short while. Then, once the sound of the Yōma's stomps began to intensify, she turned around and realized just in time that it was right on her heels. Letting her body descend and firing a wire to swing around another corner, the girl narrowly avoided a sharp swipe of the creature's claws. But, before she could think that any ground had been gained, the Yōma skidded onto the side of its knees and propelled itself forward to maintain its close distance behind the girl.

Then, just as Sato was about to brace for her death when the creature raised its claw again, a massive bit of rubble slammed into the front of its face. Not expecting the sudden attack, the creature's legs tripped and it fell face first into the street. As Sato began to gain some ground, she spotted a massive figure standing atop one of the buildings. Without needing to guess who it was, she breathed a sigh of relief and offered silent thanks to Oda for his timely arrival.

"**MAKE A WAY!"**

"**The only statement received is that a major majority of the city's SAT teams have been dispatched. Local officials are already putting out evacuation orders to the following areas…"**

Clutching a deep wound in his chest while his other hand ripped another piece of concrete from the building he stood upon, the gorilla-ish shinobi took a few more heavy breaths as he mumbled, "Damn you, Tsao…" before he reeled his arm back and screamed, "FOR BRINGING THIS DEMON UPON US!" Without another word, he launched the projectile and watched as it cracked straight into the Yōma's skull.

Figuring that the creature would need time to heal before it could move again, Oda forcefully sucked in another breath and proceeded to dart across the roofs to the beast. Ignoring his steadily rising heartbeat and the internal bleeding that Tsao left in him, the man waited until he was close enough and launched himself from the roof to scream, "ULTIMATE SECRET NINJA ART: EDICT OF DAMNATION!" With a bright flash, Oda's body rocketed down to the beast and slammed one mighty fist into its skull. Ignoring the disgusting sound of the Yōma's innards being crushed, the man's spiraled his body around to deliver another ten devastating punches over the course of two seconds, leaving a mere bit of bloody pulp in his wake. To top off the technique that he'd been mastering for years, Oda leaped away from the beast, clutched the ground, and hurled up a great portion of the asphalt into the air. Then, with a click of finality from the shinobi's fingers, the rubble broke apart into ten glowing pieces that proceeded to launch straight into the rest of the Yōma's body before exploding violently.

After all that, the Yōma just stood straight back up. Even with its bloodily flattened head and multiple holes in its body, the creature proceeded to march forward before anyone could even process the fact that there had been a split-second opportunity to turn around and plant the banger in it.

"**MAKE AWAY!"**

"**Mom… there's all these explosions outside and… I'm scared…"**

As the creature's head began to form again within the bright light of a few red bolts, Oda began to turn around to retreat but, as his wound screamed in agony, he instead fell to his knees. Once the jaw of the massive beast was restored, it spoke in a dastardly voice, "And so… you have failed, mighty shinobi."

Just as it was about to raise up its fist to end the giant man, a high-pitched voice belonging to a different shinobi cried out, "SECRET NINJA ART: MINORI'S SNACK PARTY!" and group of large candies proceeded to bean the creature in the chest and face, throwing it onto its back while its alligator-ish tail cracked under the weight of the whole body. As Oda turned to face his newly arrived reinforcements, Minori leaped down from the roof she was standing on with a panicked cry, "You're bleeding! You're bleeding!"

Raising up a hand to try and calm the girl, Oda winced slightly as he called to her, "It's all surface level," before facing the Yōma as it picked itself up, "Besides, I'm not sure how well you'll fare with this kind of creature…"

Just as Minori was about to retort, Homura landed on the street beside them and called out Oda's lie, "That kind of bleeding doesn't look very surface level to me." The man was going to argue but she continued without any room for it, "If you want to be a meat shield, do that when it might offer us some help," as she faced the creature, "Just let Minori get you out of here so that we can kill this thing."

"It regenerates," mumbled Oda, "Beyond slowing it down, I don't think there's much you'll be able to do."

Unwilling to let the man dawdle any more than he already was, Minori pulled on his arm and pleaded, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! We need to get you out of here!"

Seeing the creature on fully on its feet and knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything further to help, Oda finally relented and softly ordered, "Come back safe." Upon turning around with Minori's guidance and seeing all of the shinobi, standing in the streets and on the surrounding roofs, he yelled, "All of you make sure to come back safe!" Once he saw the young man and Sato in the back, both shaking with fright as the latter clung onto the banger, Oda quietly repeated again, "…come back safe…"

"**THE BEAST HAS COME!"**

"**I don't know what it-, Look back to the news! They're about to get some footage of it!"**

Looking at all of the shinobi gathered before it, the Yōma narrowed its eyes in frustration. Even as a few news and police helicopter circled the surrounding area, the only thing the creature could really lament was the fact that it was experiencing such a slowdown. It had an objective and, if not properly fulfilled, it knew that only a fate equivalent to Hell would await. No matter what, the Yōma couldn't fail its master's orders. No matter what, it had to deliver the message to the ancient shinobi known as Kagura.

"**IT WON'T BACK DOWN!"**

"**There's already a bunch of uploads online! This isn't a prank…! Mom, I swear! It's right outside!"**

Just as the Yōma was about to lower itself onto its fours to charge the shinobi, hoping to take a few out with an, admittedly, reckless strike, a new sound caught its ear. In addition to the kind of grinding metal that it heard during Sato's retreat, there was also a mix of whistling wind. Turning its head to investigate the sound, the Yōma found a group of men and women flanking around it through the air. Confused and a bit intrigued by the devices on their backs, the being quietly commented to itself, "I've seen many things… shinobi leaping from the ground to the roof, warriors swinging around by ropes or alike tools… But never have I seen man fly…"

On the ground, the young man was still doing his utmost to not crumble beneath his internal fear. After offering a silent thanks to the device on his wrist, he spotted a few infiltrators grappling through the air and flying to the creature's rear. His first instinct was to get everyone to cover but, realizing what must have spurred the group back onto the battlefield, a new plan came to the young man. He turned to Sato and everyone else around him, "When that thing is down, take the opportunity!" before firing his grappling device to swing himself up into the air. A few of the shinobi called after him in a mix of confusion and concern but, knowing who would come to his aid, the young man felt as though he could finally stomach a fight with the Yōma.

"**NEITHER WILL WE!"**

"**Dad… It's right down the block… I don't know what will happen but I'm sorry for everything… Whatever happens… I'd like to… see you again, sometime…"**

Hearing another metallic grinding, the beast turned to find the young man surging right toward it. Feeling insulted by the lowly human who didn't even have a flying-device on his back, the Yōma roared, "Don't pester me you little whelp!" and reeled back its arm to offer a quick strike. Then, just as the creature's claws swung forward to cut the young man out of the air, another gust of wind caught its attention. Its confused eyes turned to where its clawed fist was moving.

Flying out from an alley and blowing in from the end of the creature's arm, Tsao dangerously uttered, "Not a hair…" as he flew forth. No longer even relying on using his grappling wires, the infiltrator let his booster do all of the work while he readied his two liuyedaos.

In response to its next challenger, the Yōma let out a frustrated yowl as it tried to slow down its already swinging claws while reaching out with its other arm.

"**In shadow or light, we were born to fight…"**

"**THAT MAN FROM BEFORE-, THE ONE WHO WAS SWINGING AROUND! HE'S FIGHTING IT!"**

Using his booster to swing around the beast's wrist and then its forearm, Tsao left numerous cuts along the joints between his target's bones as he traversed up its arm. After delivering another slice to the inside of its elbow, another burst of air came from his booster as he launched himself forward to the side of the Yōma's lion head. Through all of that, the creature only had enough time to blink.

Slicing into the side and back of the creature's neck, which was fairly well protected by its thick mane of hair, Tsao flew around onto its other shoulder and spiraled around its other arm. Just as the Yōma began to process the pain and began to let out a howl, the infiltrator stabbed into its other elbow, sliced into its forearm, and let his booster carry him through the open air toward the beast's eyes. As he delivered the excruciating cut that would render the creature blind, the only thing that all of the spectating shinobi could think to themselves was, "Is he… actually human…!?"

Once the creature let out another surprised cry as Tsao flew just by the side of its head, the man then used his booster to fly into the air above the creature. After observing the creature's wild movement and figuring out its general bone structure, he let all of the condensed air out from his booster and went on for an all-out onslaught. Tsao spiraled around the creature's neck and torso before descending down toward the back of one leg with several cuts along the way. After cutting the area behind one knee, he flew down to the heel, sliced it, zipped over to the heel of the other foot, and sliced that too. After another second of spiraling up the creature's leg and slicing behind the other knee, Tsao was already back up along the creature's spine and delivered one final slice.

Within fifteen seconds of Tsao's arrival, all of the Yōma's limbs were effectively disabled. Once the spine was cut, its upper body bent backward awkwardly and the beast collapsed to the ground as it tried to regenerate its wounds. Carried off to the side by his booster, Tsao landed with a slight crash onto a nearby roof. He groaned a bit in pain and looked down to his find that he'd twisted his angle on the landing. Quietly lamenting the fact that he didn't use his wires to protect against such a consequence, Tsao calling into the air, "ALL OF YOU, ATTACK! GO! GO!" as he tried to pick himself up.

As the other infiltrators proceeded to fire their guns into the creature and occasionally dived in to deliver an occasional slice with their blades, ripping off bits of skin where they thought important muscles were buried, Yumi broke herself from her awe-inspired trance and looked around to see where the young man had gone. Much to her relief, he'd retreated onto a neighboring roof while his brother went on a rampage. Realizing that they had a great opportunity ahead of them to ensure the explosive's effectivenss, she called out, "EVERYONE! WHITTLE IT DOWN UNTIL IT'S JUST A PILE OF FLESH!"

"**Those are the words we've lived by, whether we're shinobi or some kind of new age warrior…"**

"**IT'S DOWN! THE CREATURE IS DOWN! ALL SAT UNITS, CONVERGE AND OPEN FIRE!"**

Upon hearing Yumi's call to arms, multiple yells echoed into the air while the young man watched with wide eyes from afar.

From Ikaruga, "SECRET NINJA ART: HIEN HŌSEN - MODE ONE!"

From Yozakura "SECRET NINJA ART: TEN THOUSAND PALM FISTS OF PARADISE HELL!"

From Ryōna, "SECRET NINJA ART: BEAUTIFUL BLUE GUNSLINGER!"

From Yomi, "SECRET NINJA ART: NIFLHEIM!"

From Mirai, "SECRET NINJA ART: VALKYRIE!"

While everyone else either charged in or unleashed an unholy barrage against the creature to rip it into pieces, Ikaruga zipped to the Yōma's head to give one great slice with her blade, Hien. Once the creature's skull was effectively split into two halves and she sheathed her blade, another whirlwind of slices proceeded to dice the rest of the head into bloody pulp. Rocketing just above her, the pistons in Yozakura's gauntlets shot backwards to ready her own show of force. Then, once the pistons fired forward and unleashed a fireball of great size, the rest of the creature's back was obliterated in one grand explosion.

Flying in from the opposite side of the creature's body, Ryōna spun through the air while upside down with a laugh of glee. She fired her two handguns into the creatures exposed insides, freezing some parts and burning others, and while shooting the parts of the street right next to it. Once she landed next to the retreating Ikaruga with a flashy pose, ice blew up from the ground and into the Yōma to effectively slice it in half.

Backed up by Mirai near the creature's legs, Yomi produced a crossbow and cannon from her bracers and proceeded to fire into the creatures' remaining flesh on one side. Not one to be outdone, the smaller renegade lifted her dress a bit to reveal a massive machine gun. With a sadistic smile, she proceeded to fire purple balls of dark energy into the Yōma's groin area. As a result of their attacks, along with all of the less showy attacks from all of the other shinobi, the beast was reduced to a bloody pile that was as small as it would get.

"**But how does any of that have meaning!?"**

"**You should see this! The thing is just… ripping itself apart!? I don't know but it's getting all blasted and cut open!"**

Completely in awe from the sheer magnitude of the power from each shinobi, Sato hesitated to move with the banger in her hands. But, when Homura called back to her while delivering another slice, "ONCE YOU SEE AN OPPORTUNITY, TAKE IT!" the girl knew that it was almost her time to atone for all the trouble she'd made for them.

But, just as Sato was about to fire her grappling gun to swing herself into aerial position to await such an opportunity, a man called from behind her, "Hey there, Suzy." Just as the girl turned around while questioning whether the voice was addressed to her or not, a fist slammed her in the side of the jaw and knocked her to the ground with the banger clanging alongside. While she tried to recover, Haruo kneeled down and retrieved the explosive before asking cheerfully, "This'll make the creature go boom, right?" Without waiting for the girl to answer, he stuck a thumb to himself, "I've got dibs on that, sugar-tits," and proceeded to fly off with his booster, "Later~!"

"**There are self-centered people who'll actively uproot everything we've worked for!"**

"**I really don't know what's happening outside… The kids and I are hiding in the basement, so we should be safe… but…"**

Showily flipping himself through the air with the banger in one hand, Haruo let out a laugh as he considered all of the options that were bestowed unto him. Of course, no matter what, he was going to use it on the creature… but would that be cool enough by itself? In his mind's eye, one didn't often get an explosive of great magnitude and any such devices had to be spent with care. Thus, after glancing around between the shinobi, the young man, and even his own supposed comrades, Haruo gave an innocent smile and swung himself overhead. Over the course of the next few seconds, he waited for the perfect opportunity. Then, just as Hibari and Murasaki unleashed their secret ninja arts and got close to the creature while a few infiltrators moved in for another run, Haruo knew that he had a perfect chance to cause some havoc.

Just like when he was gunning for his own brother minutes before, the man didn't really have a particular reason to do such a thing. He'd often drank with his fellow infiltrators and many of the shinobi girls were lookers that he wouldn't mind a night with… But, for the sake of fulfilling a random whim, he pulled the pin out from the banger and launched it downward with all of his strength before flying off to safety.

Having recovered from the punch in a nick of time, Sato immediately screamed upon sighting the falling torpedo, "EVERYONE! CLEAR OUT!" and cried again until her voice broke, "GET OUT OF THERE!"

Time slowed for nearly everyone for a few seconds. The infiltrators who were close immediately began to back off once they spotted the descending banger, rapidly ticking away like a clock of death. With the exception of Lajos, all of them were easily able to get a safe distance away. Unfortunately, many of the shinobi were still in the heat of battle and were trying to process Sato's warning. By the time they were able to successfully combat their muscle memory and cut off their fighting to get away, the spear had already landed and dug itself into what remained of the Yōma's flesh.

Having been standing on a roof for most of the fighting, still petrified by the sheer size and magnitude of the beast, the young man looked up into the sky to find Haruo tossing down a guiltless smile and wink. Then, catching a new set of eyes looking over to him, the boy found Tsao also staring at him. A silent acknowledgement was exchanged between the two, confirming that everything that was about to happen would all be caused by Haruo… just as the young man's mess had begun in the first place.

Then the banger stopped its ticking and promptly exploded.

"**When the time comes, those people and the monsters who follow after them will destroy us."**

"**All SAT units, continue to engage the creature. I repeat-"**

The Yōma, itself, couldn't let out any roar or scream since it was just a mass of minced flesh by that point. Yet, even with its brain being practically nonexistent, it could still feel and understand the scorching burns that erupted from atop and within it.

Most of the infiltrators were already out of the way, though Lajos had still been unable to retreat due to how close he'd already been to the beast. As a result, the resulting shockwave destabilized the next wire he shot and reeled him into the wall just beneath the ledge where the rest of his comrades awaited. Before he could even try to get a grip, Lajos was already falling back to the ground two stories below. Completely forgetting about his other grappling device, his body ripped through an awning and painfully crashed onto a few metal tables beneath, leaving the man to groan painfully.

The shinobi, on the other hand, took the brunt of the explosion. Most of them, including Yumi and Miyabi, were far enough away that they weren't singed by the resulting heat or struck by any of the shrapnel. Still, when the force hit them, their bodies were still thrown onto their backs, either slamming their heads into the ground and losing consciousness or landing awkwardly and being too pained to move. Murasaki and Hibari weren't as lucky. Since they both in the middle of their ninja arts, they had the least amount of time to get away and were the closest to the explosion. Small bits of metal and bone from the Yōma dug into the back of Hibari's shoulder while her body was tossed like a ragdoll through the air, crashing against the corner of an alleyway. Murasaki, while fortunate enough to avoid all of the debris, had caught a few burns along her arms and legs while she was also propelled through the air. Though she tried to spin her body around to regain control of her landing, she ultimately landed on the corner of the curb with her upper back taking most of the damage.

Only being thrown back by half a meter and keeping his balance all the while, the young man watched in horror and managed to divert his focus from the Yōma. Without giving another look to Tsao or Haruo, he fired the grappling devices on his wrist and descended to the ground to check on his friends. On landing, he first moved between the most visibly injured. He pulled up everyone who could still move properly and called out the names of whoever was too injured to move. In the end, only Murakumo, Katsuragi, Ryōna, Ryōbi, Mirai, and Hikage were the ones without any serious injury. While a few, like Yumi and Asuka, tried to stand themselves up to survey the surrounding situation, their movements were slow and came with a pained limp.

Then, just as the young man slid beside Murasaki and checked her over, he heard a heart-stopping rumble. Turning his head as the red bolts began to fly all along the Yōma's bloody bits, he watched as the creature's flesh and bone proceeded to mend itself back together. Thinking quickly as the SAT teams down the street began to shoot again at the steadily rising beast, the young man pulled up Murasaki, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, and pulled her into an alley while repeatedly yelling out, "Everyone get off the street!"

By the time he rested the purple-haired shinobi against the wall, taking a half-second to lament the visible burns along her exposed arms and legs, the creature was already clambering around onto its fours. Then, as he ran out of the alleyway to retrieve Hibari, the creature was already back on its feet and began to slowly lumber its way to the SAT officers, who were on the verge of retreat. Doing his utmost to focus on something else, the young man pulled the pink-haired girl into the alley and began to breathe heavily as fear started to overtake him again.

Then, once he tilted his eyes outside of the alley for half of a second, the boy spotted Sato on the ground, trying to desperately overcome her quaking legs so she could stand up to run away. Yet, at the sight of the Yōma rising up from the pile of mulch that it once was, the girl couldn't help but feel hopeless. Seeing the sight of her and remembering how he'd been frozen in fear on the roof over the course of the entire fight, the young man felt a brief sense of empathy with the girl and sprinted out to retrieve her. Under his breath, as he gripped Sato's arms and proceeded to drag her towards the alley, the boy just kept repeating, "You suck, you suck, you suck, you suck…" Once her jumbled thoughts processed his words, Sato questioned whether he was talking to her or himself.

Once everyone was settled in the alley and after checking to make sure that everyone else had retreated to a safe distance, the young man proceeded to have a panic attack. First, he felt complete frustration and helplessness as he heard the gunfire in the street come to a sudden end. Then, after the Yōma let out a roar and hurled an armored SAT van into a building nearby, the boy just collapsed against the wall and began to go over his depressing place in the current situation, all while Sato and the semi-conscious Hibari looked to him for some kind of answer.

More than anything, the young man just wanted to walk away at that moment. In his mind, he had no place in the fight against the Yōma. He wasn't a shinobi with secretly awesome powers, he didn't have any kind of superior fighting skills outside of one-to-one combat, and even that was debatable. Above all else, he also never felt any real obligation to the situation to begin with. The only reason he was there was because cruel circumstance led him to that situation across every step of the way. From Jasmine and Hanzō forcefully recruiting him, to Oda's sudden arrival, and beyond Sato's initial attack… the young man was just being jerked around from one place to another.

It was then that a new and terrible thought occurred to the boy: there was nothing at that point that could stop him from running away. Jasmine and Hanzō were nowhere in sight and would need to recover before they could give chase, Oda was injured and being guided away by Minori, neither of them being the wiser, and, without a doubt in the young man's head, the girls wouldn't do anything to stop him from leaving. After everything, they'd probably just gaze after him sadly and silently as he left…

**Past the day of days,**

**They're still looking back…**

The young man began to take a step down to the opposite end of the alley, honestly contemplating the thought of leaving, before a different feeling attacked at his heart. He turned around and, ignoring Sato, looked at Hibari and Murasaki with a soft eye. After envisioning the thought of leaving them at the mercy of the Yōma, shame wracked the boy's mind as he thought about what would come to them. Would the beast drag them out to be killed or would the buildings collapse before then? The young man didn't know and the sinking feeling in his chest told him that he never wanted to find out.

**There's no looking away,**

**That right's been set aside…**

But, when he tried to resolve himself to stay, the boy wondered about what he was supposed to do. At that point, most of the shinobi were already out of commission and getting them out of the area would have been impossible without taking second trips, which there was no time for. In the end, the only real idea the young man could consider was stepping out of the alley and challenging the Yōma directly… which, considering the lack of effectiveness from all of the girl's ninja arts, would certainly mean death in the end.

**Cursed by their surviving guilt,**

**They'll never feel a night's rest…**

Still mulling over all of his dreadful options, the young man heard the sound of someone grunting and turned to the alley's entrance to find Lajos dragging himself in with an exhausted heave. Once in the alley, he turned to the young man and said, "Long time, no see…" before spotting the shinobi sharing the alley. After a second, the infiltrator tiredly raised his hands into the air, though his arms wouldn't lift from the ground, before quietly saying, "Please… mercy, mercy… I'm bad but not wanting death…"

**Who would choose that life?**

**Who would take that guilt?**

Ignoring the infiltrator's pleas, the young man stood himself up with a heavy breath and wordlessly approached the man to pull him into the alley. Blocking out the words of gratitude, the boy just kept thinking about whatever it was that he was supposed to do. Was he meant to just go out and die, buying his friends some odd amount of time to escape, or should he have just been leaving by that point?

**Some have lived; some have died…**

**What more could they have done?**

But, knowing that he would be living with an insurmountable guilt if he left by that point, the young man was already resolved into his next decision. With tired eyes, he pointed to Lajos and ordered, "Your harness and booster… I need to borrow them…"

The infiltrator quirked his head in confusion, "You want harness and booster? Why?"

"I don't really know," said the young man, knowing that any second thoughts would likely result in him backing down, "I'm just taking this second by second at the moment…"

**Would loved ones be alive,**

**If all'd gone into dark?**

Obedient to the brother of the man he worshipped, Lajos rolled himself over and began to help with the process of unbuckling the booster from his back. In a mix of impatience and frustration, the young man soon took over the rest of the process before heaving the device away from Lajos. After looking down to the booster and spinning it around to slip into the harness, he then ordered, "I'll need the controls."

Wordlessly, Lajos reached over to his swords and promptly unlocked the wireless devices which allowed control over the booster. Without another word, the young man took both. He flipped the flat and hand-sized devices around for a bit before drawing his two katanas from his hip. Once attached to the grip of his swords, he began to quietly go over the controls with himself, "Button by thumb… boost. Ball by palm… steering." Toward the end, his voice raised in volume and frustration, "And a bunch of bullshit that requires more grappling devices than I have…" Forgoing the wireless sync since he already knew the devices were working, the young man turned to Lajos and mumbled an empty, "Thanks."

**Now the freedom's a lie,**

**And life is lived alone…**

Watching as the boy took a few heavy breaths to ready himself, Hibari began to raise her head and spoke for the first time, "What're you planning to do?"

"Dunno," came the quiet reply. Once the harness was completely secure and the young man fiddled his fingers along the controls of his booster, he began to march out towards the exit of the alleyway, doing his utmost to not think about the earthshaking stomps that the Yōma was taking back toward them.

Leaping from where she sat and biting down all of the pain that screamed in her shoulder, Hibari cried, "You're not seriously…" before her voice broke off. In the end, she simply said, "I don't want to sound mean… but you're no fighter… not one like us…"

"Yup," affirmed the young man, his voice filled with a bit more life. While he wouldn't admit it at the moment, seeing the girl's concern instilled a bit of confidence into him… which was strange, since her words were trying to do the exact opposite of that.

While the two were talking, Murasaki's hand steadily raised up and grasped the young man's wrist. After giving it a brief clench, the girl quietly stated, "You're not strong…"

Carried by a bit of confidence and even a bit of foolish spite, the young man let a huff out of his nose before nodding his head, "And you're not wrong."

"Please, don't go out there," said the purple-haired girl. Kneeling back down beside her, Hibari also gripped the young man's wrist nodded her head.

Even Sato, who'd been watching silently all the while, piped up, "If you go out there, you're probably going to die." Before the young man could give a half-hearted reply, she continued, "Why are you so resolved?"

Pulling himself away from Hibari and Murasaki, the boy didn't know how to put his feelings to words. His lips danced around for a moment, as though he were about say something, before another yowl and a few cries caught his attention. Then the young man just shrugged his shoulders and began to make his way to the exit of the alley, even while three distraught looks burned into the back of his head.

There wasn't a real way to put how he felt into words. Above all else, the young man still wanted to run away and let the Yōma be someone else's problem. Yet, when he considered what would happen to the girls, he knew taking that option was impossible. After all, as far as he was concerned, the girls were his friends… true friends. With that status came their joining into his dream of freedom, where they all spent time together with no other care for the rest of the cruel world… With newfound determination filling his mind, the young man mumbled the newly found words under his breath with a sad smile, "If any of you die… there's no living that dream…"

By that point, he'd stepped out of the alleyway.

**Who could live a life like that,**

**One brimming with regret,**

**All to not die that day!?**

**If so, they'd take his place,**

**Haunting on him each face,**

**Either way, life is paid!**

**So, facing a nightmare,**

**Or paying death a fare,**

**Will not turn him away!**

**Who's more worthy a dream,**

**Every starlight beam,**

**Than those who'd be his rays!**

"**Though fear has me slowed,**

**As the selfish sort…"**

"**I'll never let go,**

**The hands clasped with mine,**

**Who paid a wretch heed…"**

"**Anchored hesitance,**

**Release this caged bird,**

**That he may repay,**

**Those maiden shadows…"**

"**And should death take me,**

**I'll go where I go,**

**Regretting failure,**

**But not my effort,**

**As it's all for them…"**

"**They're part of my dream…"**


	44. Chapter 44: Dragon and Swan

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 44: Dragon and Swan (Battle Through the Streets Part III)

Against her will, Yumi was pulled down the street to an alleyway where some of the other shinobi found cover. Though she tried to anchor down her feet and resist with what little strength she had left, Murakumo and Asuka's grips remained unbending on her arms and waist. For the third time, Yumi declared after a tired growl, "There's no way all of us can escape…!"

As the Yōma continued to stomp closer to them from the far end of the block, Murakumo grunted with another heave to pull the stubborn girl along, "At most, you'd buy us five seconds! We're better off retreating together!"

From the other side of the Gessen shinobi, Asuka nodded her head before giving another pull, "Besides, we won't leave you behind to die! So quit resisting and come on!"

Spotting a SAT vehicle that'd been thrown into the top of a building nearby and thinking of the destruction that would await them all, Yumi gave a determined shake of her head and tried to pull away again, "And how could I stand to let any of you chance it!" Even without her fans, the girl raised her fist to the coming beast in defiance and said, "I know I can slow it down! I'm strong and can cripple it long enough for all of you to get away!"

"Quit being stubborn!" cried Murakumo in a cracking voice, not even noticing the fact that the paper bag covering her head was torn up and revealing most of her face, "We need to take the chance! Just run away!"

"Not if it means any of you are at risk of getting killed, I said!"

Not terribly amused nor disturbed by the sight of the quarrelling shinobi, the Yōma wondered how such an irrational species had endured for so long. While it might have just been a fluke, the beast couldn't help but wonder if all humans got so distracted by their emotions in battle. Perhaps, just as its creator said, they were all just lucky to have made it as far as they had. With minds so soft and vulnerable, the Yōma couldn't believe there was any strength to be found in mankind. As it stepped closer to the three shinobi while buried in its thoughts, the beast spotted the young man walking out from an alleyway with his swords drawn. Immediately dismissing the unremarkable non-shinobi, even if he did have the intriguing flight device on his back, the Yōma instead began to stretch out its clawed hand for the girls on the street.

Then, surpassing the fear inside him while not giving much thought to his action, the young man sheathed one katana with a clenched jaw, grabbed a hand-sized bit of rubble from the ground, and pitched it straight for the beast with a broken yell. When it bounced off the creature's scaly chest without any further reaction, the boy huffed a few deep breaths and reached down to the ground to retrieve another rock. Just as some of the other shinobi finally began to take notice of him, with a wounded Miyabi calling out, "Oi! What're-, get out of there!" from the alley she was taking cover in, the young man lobbed another rock at the creature with an even louder bellow.

**SUM-MON-ING-! That which he came upon!**

Stopping its clawed hand just before the other shinobi while Murakumo released Yumi and readied her spear, the Yōma finally turned its head to the young man and the glow in its colorless eyes seemed to narrow ever so slightly. Just as the three girls in the street turned around to find the boy behind them, he was already picking up another rock while he continued to yell into the air. Though his next pitch was wild, sloppy, and fairly undignified, the clump of rubble still struck the creature's nose, making it snort with brief confusion.

**MALICIOUSNESS! That which has been renewed!**

Just as the young man finally stopped his aimless yelling, the Yōma kneeled down onto its fours and tilted its head to ponder what he was doing. Standing not too far to the side of it, Yumi began to yell out, "Hey-, HEY! GET OFF THE STREET!" as she continued to resist against Asuka, "GET OFF-," before finally turning to them with a pleading gaze, "Please! We need to move him! Now!"

Meanwhile, as the gaze of the Yōma continued to burn into him, all of the bravado that the young man summoned in his yells had fizzled out. With a shaky hand, he reached over to his hip and drew his other katana again. If he hadn't been wearing his scarf, the girls would have seen his flared nostrils and quivering jaw.

**That trembling heart was born from viciousness-,**

**THE SAME HE SCORNED!**

Asuka pleaded with Yumi, "Please! Just go back to the alley and then we can get him out of here!" and received only continued struggles in return.

As the Yōma began to toe its way over the three, Murakumo quickly added, "We'll get him! Just go already!" Not wanting to leave anyone to face the beast without being there, Yumi continued to struggle against them and tried to make a push toward the young man without success. Seeing that she wouldn't leave without the boy's safety, Murakumo then turned and shouted to the alley, "WILL SOMEONE GET HIM OUT OF THERE!?"

**One peaceful wish is stricken turbulence-,**

**THERE'S NO TURNING!**

Letting out an uneasy breath as the creature got closer to him, the young man tried to remain as firm as possible in the resolve that he made for himself back in the alley. Even if the Yōma's eyes were more curious than anything else, the boy was still on the verge of passing out in terror. When his increasing stress-headache weighed in on that fear, he also had to keep himself from curling up into a ball to cry.

As that happened, Tsao finally managed to catch a glimpse of the young man from between the massive Yōma's legs. On instinct, he moved to stand himself up to go retrieve his youngest brother. But, upon putting weight on his injured ankle, the man cursed loudly but remained standing. Knowing that he'd be too slow to get there in time, Tsao called out to his fellow infiltrators, "SOMEONE! GO AND GET HIM OUT OF THERE!"

**ARISE, damned infuriated dragon-,**

Once it was within easy reach of the young man, the Yōma froze and lowered its lion-ish head down to the boy to observe him up close. It sniffed loudly and, when nothing special was found, just watched him for a moment. It was more than obvious that the young man was terrified and, strangely, even a bit pained… But that raised a different question… Why would the small human dare to provoke the Yōma?

**HE'LL HOLD, a swan cannot return fire!**

As the beast shook its head, it considered the prospect a bit longer before just getting annoyed. The humans with the flying devices, the same which the young man had at that moment, gave fight without hesitance. They were, without question, a bit afraid but they didn't freeze in the middle of the street. Then there were the shinobi, who were practically born to fight and kill Yōma without an ounce of fear… So, what was the young man doing there? Where did he fit in?

**Why does he fight?**

Venting a small chuff from its throat and nostrils, the Yōma tried to figure out the puzzle. When it made no progress, it snarled its teeth and seethed loudly to the young man, "Why're are you here!?"

**WHY DOES HE FIGHT!?**

With the Yōma speaking to him directly, the boy began to step back while trying to slow the jittering of his jaw. Though he didn't know if he was supposed to actually answer the beast, he couldn't hold onto his resolve to remain steeled anymore. He tried to find strength in his friends, who were still calling out to him… He tried to find strength in his earlier frustration… All of it was to no avail. Soon enough, he began to question why he was there in the first place.

**NOT FOR BLOOD! NOT FOR FRIENDS! NOT FOR GOOD! NOT FOR NONE!**

Practically calling himself an idiot for not running away when he had the chance, the young man pressed his lips together underneath the scarf as frightened tears began to run down from his eyes. Yet, for every five steps that he took backward, the Yōma eased itself forward and reclosed the distance with one. Thus, knowing that he was going to be without an escape, the boy tried to formulate a plan. When nothing came to him, he just began to restate his goal in his head…

**Duel: Raeohachūn – Meek Vanguard of the Ancient Yōma**

"You're here for… You're here for… You're here for… You're here for…"

**FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!**

No longer really caring for the unremarkable human before it, the Yōma shifted its body weight back and forth before lowering its abdomen closer to the ground while angling its clawed hands into swiping position. As its limbs moved, large boulders of rubble moved along the ground and dust was kicked into the air.

**CHARGE, BLOODBORN DRAGON! RECLAIM THE BIRTHRIGHT!**

Letting out a few mute whimpers as the creature menacingly lowered its head, the young man's resolve completely crumbled. Even as Miyabi and Imu finally pushed their injured bodies from the alley they were hiding in to try and make their way to him, he knew that all of the girls were too far away to save him at that point. In one split-second, he could have been eviscerated and effectively killed.

**NO! THAT BOY'S JUST A MERE CRIMSON-DRENCHED SWAN!**

Glancing over his oldest brother's shoulder as the infiltrators finally began to move in to save the young man, Haruo snorted out of his nose, "Shit…" and turned away without further thought, "I wouldn't want to be him…"

"THAT'S YOUR BROTHER!" bellowed Tsao as he tried to straighten his stance and bit through the roaring pain coming from his ankle, "GET IN THERE!"

"You're not in there yet, either," remarked Haruo without a glance.

Not willing to argue while his mind continued to scream out for his youngest brother, Tsao couldn't bring himself to reply. Rather, he dropped off from the side of the roof and began to swing his way to the young man.

**LEAD THE FIGHT! STAY THY HAND!**

Yumi heaved forward, nearly escaping the grip of Asuka and Murakumo, but was pulled back. Yet, before she could yell, it was her sister that cried out to the young man, "GET OUT OF THERE ALREADY! RUN!" When the boy remained in place, Murakumo's voice broke and she called out again, "PLEASE! RUN AWAY! RUN, DAMN YOU!"

**TALONS KILL! VOID HIS OWN!**

Peeking out from the alley a short way behind the young man, Sato peered out and tried to summon the strength to call him back. Yet, as the massive creature before them all edged its way closer, her voice came out only as a croak, "Come back already…" When Sato tried again, her voice was completely mute. Beside her, Hibari and Murasaki were clenching their jaws and eyes closed and waiting for the worst of news to come.

**USE THY WINGS! USE THY WINGS!**

Letting out a quiet cry and closing his eyes for a moment, the young man never found any true resolve. Ultimately, he could only think to himself, "I want to live… I want to live…" before he reached his hands up. With his two katanas still shakily gripped in his hands, the boy pulled at the ends of his scarf and opened his glistening eyes.

**Fly!**

Resting his fingers over the controls of his booster, the young man took in a breath and watched for even the slightest movement more from the Yōma.

**FLY!**

Twitching its clawed fingers as it prepared to end the small human before it, the Yōma couldn't help but find a bit of pleasure in the act that it knew to be wicked.

**FLY!**

For all the show that the young man made when he insultingly chucked a rock at the beast, he was quick to back down… and, even if he fell into that kind of cowardice when placed before its master, the Yōma couldn't help but take pleasure in ending weaklings like him.

**FLY!**

With a low groan, the beast swung its claws forward to finally end the young man, whom so many people were calling to retreat.

**BEL-LOW!**

Clicking his hands against the booster's controls the moment the Yōma began to move, a large burst of condensed air from his booster blew the young man upwards. Gyrating the ball by his thumb, his angle of ascent turned straight for the creature's oncoming hand. With the little bit of space in-between its fingers, he flew through and fired a grappling wire into the side of the beast and swung along its side.

**FLY – Beyond the forked road!**

**FLY – Past the tyrant's rule!**

**FLY – Above the lion's reach!**

Whipping its head around as the young man flew past it, the Yōma's glowing eyes brightened with rage for having been defied by the simple human that was quivering before it not a second before. As the boy swung by towards its rear, the creature launched its body sideways in an attempt to crush him between the neighboring building and itself. But, relying on the speed of his booster, the young man was quickly out of harms way and, with the shot of another wire, evaded the Yōma's swinging tail. Taking his actions as further insults, the creature was only more enraged.

**SURVIVE!**

As the Yōma turned its massive body around to pursue the young man, grinding its tail against the surrounding buildings in the process, the shinobi and infiltrators who were initially about to save the boy let loose all of their attacks. While his subordinates let out a barrage of bullets that ripped apart small bits of skin and muscle, Tsao let his booster throw him forward to one of the beast's forelegs. Yet, when he tried to come around for another run, his injured ankle spiked in pain and he was forced to make another crash-landing. Meanwhile, just as Imu and Miyabi were about to deliver hefty blows to the back of the Yōma's hindlegs, the creature let out another yowl and took off after the young man.

Carried and supported by his muscle memory alone, the boy let another burst of air from his booster and zipped down the street to build up to the quickest possible speed. Even as the wind stung against his eyes, he didn't dare to slow himself as the creature's intensifying stomps quickly caught up to him. Hoping to lose the creature by taking a sudden and sharp turn at an intersection, he fired a wire and whirled himself into the air above a different street. But, sliding onto the side of its knees like it did with Sato, the creature followed right behind. Even as the young man began to go over forty kilometers an hour, the creature matched his speed and kept its clawed fingers raised to kill.

Everyone else, having been left behind, suffered from a brief stutter before giving chase without a single word being spoken. While the injured remained behind, everyone who was able either took off over the rooftops or gave chase with their grappling equipment. Taking it all in as she continued to peek out from the alleyway she hid in, Sato was visibly taken aback. Feeling guilt over her inaction, she stared down to her own grappling wires and combated her own fear while the young man continued to swing away for his life.

**Bloodborne Dragon, Crimson-Drenched Swan,**

**Heed the internal beast's blind rage!**

As the Yōma swung its clawed hand, the young man steered his booster to lower himself out of reach toward the ground and briefly felt his feet grind against the asphalt before rising back into the air. He swung onto another street and, with a ferocious yowl, the creature ran straight into and through the building resting on the street corner. Even though most of its scaly skin on its back legs was ripped away by the crash, the Yōma still continued to power itself forward after its prey.

**Should he falter, mind's eye covered,**

**Red stained wings will be made certain!**

Once its legs were healed with a bit of bloody light, the beast hunched itself over as it ran before springing into the air. Hearing the ground beneath the Yōma crumble, the young man used his booster to spiral himself around to glance at the beast. Catching its descent without a second to spare, the boy fired another wire and swung his body into an alley way as the creature flopped headfirst into the street. While making his way through the tight and narrow space, a loud and annoyed chuff echoed into the air.

**Should come holler, ringing lively,**

**Then sure is the flightless bird's death!**

As the alley behind him began to explode with dust and debris filling the air, the sound of a metal and brick crunching echoed all around the young man. Turning his head up quick enough, he spotted the Yōma running over the top of the buildings as it stared back down at him. Once the boy exited the alley, he fired his grappling wire upward and swung straight up toward the beast. With a mix of high speed and immense luck, he zipped right up the Yōma's torso as its claws swung toward him. In the end, after a close call when the creature tried to snap him into its mouth, the young man was flying into the air with the creature right under him.

**Should not he look inside,**

**Effort naught once again!**

**Unbroken cage unveiled,**

**Past is present future…!**

As the young man began to descend toward the expecting creature, practically sneering with anticipation, there was a brief realization that he had no idea what he was doing. All of the swinging around and evasions up to that point were mostly instinctual split-second decisions that just so happened to result in brief moments of safety. But, of course, that would only last for so long. The young man could run but, with how furious the creature seemed to be with him for whatever reason, there was no hiding. One way or another he had to go on the attack…

**Ungodly flames, through cracked bedrock,**

**Best maddened seas of man's chaos!**

Unfortunately, when he whirled the blades back and braced to strike the aggressing creature, he forced himself to evade as the creature's opened mouth steered toward him while reaching out its arm. With a burst of air from his booster, he shot straight down and over the Yōma's arm and swung back down onto the streets. Upon leveling his flying body with the street just underneath him, the boy fired another wire and swung into the air as another couple of SAT vans pulled up into the intersection just ahead. Yet, once the officers spotted the Yōma's hunched form as it kneeled over and charged on its fours, the entire police unit fled away. While the young man flew past, the beast zipped through the intersection, caught one of the armored SAT vans in its claws, crushed it and everyone inside, and hurled the remaining bloody scrap after the young man.

**Left haywire, those sulfur burns,**

**Their inflictor will scorch within!**

Letting his body fall as the metal zipped just by his head, leaving not even a centimeter of space in-between, the young man descended back toward the ground while trying to think of some kind of means to attack. But, before even a proper thought could be formed, the Yōma was already diving overhead to crush the boy beneath its body. At the cost of his arm sockets and back, the young man fired both of the wires on his wrists backward and immediately came to a sudden slow. Once the immense pain of his limbs nearly getting torn out kicked in, the boy let out a pained cry and rolled into the street with a hard crash. Even still, as the Yōma's body decimated the streets ahead, he knew that laying down for long was not an option. So, after giving one of his arms an agonizing pop, the boy raised his blades and fired a wire to pull himself into the air again.

**Come the falter, loss of spirit,**

**What remains past the inferno!?**

Quickly picking its body up, the Yōma let out another frustrated yowl and whirled both of its arms around to crash into the young man's ascending form. When the boy dodged with another burst of air and flew away from the beast, it yowled and dived after him with its jaw opening wide like an anaconda. Needing to wait for the booster a half second more to condense enough air for another burst, the young man had no time. Thus, still without much thought, he fired a wire to the creature's gaping mouth. Once it connected into one of the Yōma's upper canines, the boy let himself get pulled back straight toward it. Sensing that the young man was about to fly over it, the creature snapped its jaw shut and raised up one of its clawed hands to catch him out of the air.

**The hate bred inside him,**

**Will grow relentlessly!**

**Unless there's focused dark,**

**Who will break fire's light…!?**

Getting pulled down with his wire as the Yōma closed its mouth and lunged its head downward, the young man continued to allow himself to be reeled in and swung past the side of and around its head. Thinking quickly and coherently for a brief moment, he fired his other wire into the side of the creature's jaw and swung himself back upward. With a burst of air, the boy flew higher and higher out of reach. Upon looking down to the expectant creature, raising both of its clawed hands with a malicious gleam in its eye, the young man scoured his mind for something to use as an attack. Any wounds that he inflicted with his swords would be quickly healed and there was nothing in the present environment that could be used against it. Even all of his friends and the infiltrators weren't even close to catching up to him…

Still, unwilling to back down to the monstrous beast before him, the young man wouldn't allow himself to quit fighting. That was the promise that he made for himself and he, as the selfish piece of shit that he considered himself to be, had to live up to the future that he desired. Thus, envisioning such a future with the shinobi he'd befriended, the young man clicked the controls of his booster and swooped straight down to the awaiting Yōma.

**BLOODBORNE DRAGON,**

**SCREECH OUT YOUR FLAMES!**

Just as the beast extended its hands forward to catch and crush the boy, he waited until the very moment his booster was readied again to unleashed it and swirl himself around its forearm. As he passed its elbow, the young man delivered firm slice to the joint before firing a wire into the creature's neck. Having been attacked for the first time by him, the Yōma briefly blinked in confusion.

**Loose the maw that threatens all death!**

Swinging by and around the creature's neck, the young man tried to cut into the side of its throat but found that his blade was slowed by its thick and lion mane. Thus, just as it reached up and tried to swipe him away, he zipped back around towards the rear of its head, let loose his booster again, and fired another wire as he flew atop its skull to pull himself toward the front of the creature's face. With another slice to its snout, the young man descended past Yōma's scaly chest.

**Bless thy controlled contempt,**

**As contempt controls heart!**

Delivering yet another cut to its stomach, which began to rapidly heal along with the rest of the wounds he'd just inflicted, the boy fired a wire into a nearby building to swing away. Once enough distance was gained and the creature kicked one of its hindlegs forward, the young man fired his other wire to pull himself back. Giving another couple of meaningless cuts along the way, he made his way toward the back of the creature's knee.

**Crimson-Drenched Swan,**

**See the end path!**

With a growl from his throat, the young man sliced his katana into the back of the Yōma's leg and listened to its frustrated roar. Upon firing his wire and boosting over to the other knee, there was a part of him that was abandoning the fear that he once had. Where at the beginning of the fight he was crying and shaking with the mighty beast looming over him, his teeth were then grinding together as his eyes steadily sharpened with every wound he dealt. By the time he sliced the back of the other leg, the young man recognized the feelings within to be steadily rising frustration and resentment.

**SCATTER THE FLAMES OF MIRRORED RAGE!**

Having had the joints in its legs cut out, the Yōma couldn't balance its weight or heal its wounds in time as it collapsed backward. While its tail grinded against and into the street, the young man let out a low growl as he zipped into the air above the creature. Then, taking in the sight of its undefended spine, he waited until the moment the air condensed into his booster to let it all out. Like a missile, he darted straight down with both of his katanas reeled back. Though he was still very afraid, his anger acted as the spear tip that drove him forward. Thus, as his booster angled him to fly parallel with the Yōma's back, his animalistic growl turned into an all-out war cry as his blades dug in and cut out small bits of spine.

**PREVAIL PAST THE BOUND FATE,**

**LEST FATE FEAST UPON HATE!**

After finishing his slice, the young man fired his wire for the back of the beast's head but, once the wire flew into its thick mane, it failed to latch onto anything solid and quickly reeled back in. Thus, stuck spiraling around on the creature's back while trying to catch himself on his feet, he tripped and fell down the side of the creature. In a small act of desperation during his tumble, he fired a wire at random and hoped for the best. Just as he was about to slam into the ground, his wire caught a building and he began to swing his way to safety, albeit with his feet skidding along the ground again.

**SELFISH DRAGON!**

**SHORT-LIVING SWAN!**

Once he was flung back into the air, the young man looked back to find the Yōma reaching after him while trying to stand onto its already healed legs and back. He utilized his booster to fly just over its grasping claws and boomed with all of the welling resentment and bitterness that he felt for the world, "DOWN!" Firing both of his wires and the remembering of Tsao's earlier technique, the young man zoomed toward the creature's forearm and began to inflict his hateful lacerations.

At first, the young man's motions were wild and amateurish. At times, as he was swinging around and digging his blades into the creature's shoulder, he would almost lose his grips on his katanas. Other times, he'd fire a wire and miss while his eyes shined furiously red with their swelling veins before launching his other wire. Yet, as the seconds carried on and he delivered more cuts along the creatures back, legs, side, arms, neck, and head, the young man was getting bolder and more aggressive. Though his attacks were continuously untamed and losing their discipline, he let out a yell with every strike. For the few people who heard the yells, mostly civilians hiding in their residences nearby, it was plain and obvious that he was an enraged who would no longer willingly back down…

**THOSE RED AND WHITE CREATURES,**

**EITHER OF BEAST OR BIRD,**

**GUIDE THE PATH OF MANKIND!**

Though, of all the observers nearby, there was only one who could tell that the pain he inflicting was directed at the world. Blinking her black eyes with only some slight interest, Kagura mumbled under her breath, "Why's he fighting that thing? He's not a shinobi," as she stood upon a nearby roof with her friend and retainer.

"**Who would test winter's snow,**

**Other than wayward son…"**

Looking up to the one whom she'd served faithfully for years, Naraku replied in her quiet voice, "Truthfully… I'm not positive, Lady Kagura, but he may be either an infiltrator or a dignitary…"

"Oh?" Kagura lifted one of her brows and took her eyes way from the young man, who continued to spiral around and attack the Yōma, "I'm not very familiar with those titles." She pinched her chin before asking frankly, "I imagine they're relevant to fighting Yōma in some way?"

"No, ma'am," said Naraku as she met the woman's eyes, "While their focus goes to something caused by Yōma, they haven't deliberately fought them in the past." Sharpening her pink eyes to scrutinize the potential threat she saw in the young man, the girl then added, "In fact, both groups have recently been the center of incidents that ended with multiple shinobi deaths… I imagine one of those incidents must be what brought about this particular Yōma."

Kagura twiddled the fingers on one of her hands before asking frankly, "By that logic, I should kill him then?"

"**He's come to save himself?**

**Is he… for one…? For all…?"**

"Perhaps," Naraku shrugged before letting out a sigh, "though… we should probably ask a few questions to confirm whether or not he's an infiltrator or dignitary. Plus, if he's of no harm, he could prove useful."

While Kagura's straight expression didn't match the description of curiosity, her voice had a small lilt that reflected her confusion, "How so?"

Giving a small clearing of her throat, Naraku gestured down to the fight below, "I'll be happy to explain later, though we should probably finish the Yōma first." She then pointed to a few roofs further down the block, "Especially since other shinobi are arriving…"

"**Who can tell?"**

With a small grunt from her throat, Kagura mumbled, "Ah… your thoughts reflect my own," before turning her gaze back to the still flying young man, "Now, if only he would just get out of the way."

**DRAGONS CONTROL BLUE SKIES-**

**When he hollers, flee for cover!**

Zipping around with all of the speed that he accumulated from his booster, the young man let out another frustrated yell as he sliced through the front of the Yōma's neck and flew off before its claws could nab him out of the air. Upon turning around, the wound he'd just inflicted was already halfway healed. Sucking in another breath to let out a growl, he went back in with a another burst of air throwing him toward the beast.

**-WITH HIS FRIENDS FROM THE DARK!**

**When he hollers, flee for cover!**

Arriving just on the scene a few roofs down, Katsuragi let out a small whistle as the young man continued to give battle, "Jeez… He's holding out… and giving some back right on top…" Upon hearing his repeated grunts and yells, she mumbled, "Freaky, considering how long its been," before turning over to the other five uninjured shinobi who could accompany her, "Alright… we need a plan."

**BUT THE SWAN STILL FLIES PAST-**

**When he leads flock, the knife to wing!**

Continuing to hash out as much damage as he could possibly give to the Yōma, the young man didn't notice his friends' arrival. Rather, after delivering another slice to the beast's stomach and rounding to its back, he used his booster to spiral himself around and dice away its supporting bone structure. Developing a new plan in the back of his head, he zipped back over the Yōma's shoulder and flew off in front of it.

**FOR HIS FRIENDS FROM THE DARK!**

**When he leads flock, the knife to wing!**

With Hikage standing right beside her with a blank face, albeit with an uncharacteristic hint of concern on her pursed lips, Mirai raised her gunbrella and nearly fired before letting it flop back down to her hip as she muttered, "Well, I won't be of much use until he gets out of the way…" She gave a brief shake of her head, "With how fast he's moving, he could be in my line of fire in a second."

Standing not too far behind her, Ryōbi and Ryōna had equal expressions of discontent as the former mumbled, "I hate to say it… but same here." The two twins fumbled with their firearms for a moment before she added, "If we want to take a shot that'll be of some use, we need him to break off."

Meanwhile, as everyone around her continued to talk and chatter for the sake of trying to find some kind of plan, Murakumo didn't break her eyes off the young man as he swung around a building with his still building momentum. Then, as the Yōma reached out to him again, he let out another grand burst of air and zipped right to it. Around the same time, some of the infiltrators began to round the corner of the street.

**THE EYES THAT CRY IN WINTER SNOW,**

**WILL BE STAINED RED IN THEIR WAITING!**

**Bring forth the Hell that he has brought…**

As he darted straight toward the waiting palm of the Yōma, the young man's fiery eyes practically glowed as he whirled his blades forward. He flew between the metal-bending claws of the beast and cut through the base of a finger. While his body continued to fly just above the rest of the forearm, he looked into the colorless eyes of the creature and let out a furious yell as he reeled his blades back again. Just as he passed by the side of its head, he whipped both katanas around and sliced out a portion of the Yōma's eye and ear.

**THE HEART STAYS UNSURRENDERING,**

**UNLEASHING THAT CONFINED FURY!**

**Weed out the Hell that they have fought…**

After firing a wire and swinging himself over the Yōma's shoulder, the young man zipped straight down. With another burst of air, he flew off toward the side of the creature's leg as he launched another wire toward its spine. As his body swung back toward the back of the Yōma's foot, he spiraled his body around and cut into it with all of the force he could muster. Then, as his momentum continued the spin, he flew past and sliced the other leg as well. A moment later, the creature let out a groan as it whipped out its arms to cling onto the neighboring buildings to hold itself up.

**From there, they will rise from the depths!**

Still unaware of the people surrounding from multiple angles, the young man continued to swing around the Yōma. Yet, however many times he tried to carve out bits of the beast, it just kept healing. Even as he launched himself back through the air and cut out a bit from the back of its head, the Yōma's legs were already healed and it was regaining its balance. Thus, still stuck in a continuous cycle of unending frustration in the face of all his effort, the young man cursed with every word that he could think of within his head before firing another wire to go on another all-out attack.

**BLOODBORNE DRAGON,**

**BEFORE THY EYES!**

As the wire connected into the top of the Yōma's shoulder, it let out an equally frustrated roar and swung one of its claws for the oncoming human. Though, even when the young man used his booster to spiral around its hand, the beast's focus remained on the fact that it was being continuously defied by a lowly insect. It could understand being held off and, if his weakness was found, defeated by shinobi. In the Yōma's eyes, those kinds of humans were either equals or semi-equals. Then there were the other men and women from earlier, who were flying around with fascinating devices… But, as far as it was concerned, even as the young man used one of those devices, the boy was just a measly leech fighting against the inevitable.

**Abandon dreams of gifted peace!**

"Ryōbi, you'll need to take the chance," called Katsuragi as she prepared to leap into the fray.

Looking to the young man as he continued to fly around and cut out pieces of the creature, the girl quickly retorted, "I don't know where he'll be flying! One shot, he'll be dead, and our distortion situation'll be screwed!"

Practically stomping her foot, Katsuragi turned around and cried, "Shoot the head when he's low, shoot the legs when he's high, and hold off if he's anywhere in-between! IT'S NOT THAT HARD!"

Needing only a second to find an example to prove her point, Ryōbi gestured one of her hands to the young man as he jetted up from the Yōma's feet and up to its head within a second's time, "HE COULD JUMP INTO THE LINE OF FIRE! DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL HIM!?"

"BETTER TO RISK IT THAN LET HIM GET KILLED WHILE FIGHTING THAT THING BY HIMSELF!" screeched back Katsuragi.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Murakumo leaped from the roof with her sword and cleaver in hand while grumbling, "Damn you all, I'll handle it…!" from beneath her tattered paper bag. Not far behind her, Hikage wordlessly followed. Around the same time, Tsao silently joined up with his fellow infiltrators and prepared to go on the offensive. Not far behind them, a grappling gun could be heard grinding nearby.

**Cruel contempt's wrathful core,**

**Same core of righteousness!**

After cutting out the side of the Yōma's jaw and flying over its oncoming hand, the young man let out another grunt as he fired a wire and swung back downward along its back. Delivering another cut that was too shallow to hit the spine, he swung between the creature's legs and shot another wire for a nearby building to gain a bit of distance. His intention was to go on another offensive but, just he began to reel in, the Yōma sought out its chance and whipped its claws forward to cut the metal wire mid-swing. Not expecting the sudden change in tactics, the boy made a surprised sound with his throat as he began to fall.

**Crimson-Drenched Swan,**

**Spread all red wings!**

Though the young man tried to fire a wire to catch himself, the anchor just barely whizzed by the top corner of a building. In the panic that followed, he used his booster to level himself with the street, not thinking about just how fast he would be going. While his wire continued to reel in and he sped just over the asphalt with an empty booster, the young man was left with no means to remain in the air. At first, he was skidded atop his feet with a spiraling tumble. Then, with a nasty crack in his ankle, the boy tripped and fell. His face slammed into the concrete and he rolled along the ground while all of the resulting force proceeded to beat and maim his body. By the time he came to a stop, his clothes were torn with multiple bloody gashes and bruises along the entirety of his body. When he tried to lift his bleeding head, which was still covered by a barely intact scarf, the resulting pain and exhaustion forced him to rest it back down along the ground.

**EMBRACE AND PROTECT PEACETIME'S WARMTH!**

With a clear line of fire, Mirai, Ryōbi, Ryōna, and all of the infiltrator's proceeded to lay down fire on the Yōma, all while Murakumo and Hikage began to rip at the bottom of its legs. However, even as skin and muscle all around tits body and head was ripped to shreds, its focus remained on the young man. As a sadistic glow lit its eye, the Yōma fell onto its fours and proceeded to stomp its way toward the boy, prepared to repay all of the insults that it had been dealt over the course of their engagement. Even the goal which it was sent to accomplish, the one that would lead to excruciating pain if failed, was in the back of its head. But, just as the Yōma began to reach its way forward, a grappling wire stung into its back and Sato swung right beneath it.

**OVERCOME ALL THE WORST-,**

As her heart continued to rapidly beat against the inside of her chest, the spectacled girl flew beneath the line of fire from both the shinobi and infiltrators as they unleashed their weapons against the beast, and flew straight past the charging Murakumo and Hikage for the young man. She zipped past the underside of the Yōma, landed on the ground with a roll, and sprinted to the boy while jabbering a bunch of stuttered words in panic. Once she was close enough, Sato slid to his side and lowered her arms to try and haul him up. Yet, in her panic, she neglected to think of how to get them both out of there while both of her hands were occupied in hefting him up. Thus, just as she tried to reach for her grappling gun while maintaining a grip on the young man, the Yōma lurched at them both with the full intent to kill.

**FOR WORST BESTED IS HOPE!**

"I've had enough with this waiting…" came a low and ruthless voice followed by an indiscernible mumble

In flash of red light, a blurred shadow of a woman zeroed in straight toward the Yōma's extended claws. Like a bolt of lightning, the malicious glow struck against the beast and, for just a second, nothing happened. Then the Yōma stared into the open air with evident confusion. Finally, without any further warning, all of the veins within its arm glowed a bloody red through the scales. A half-second later, the blood within the Yōma solidified into thousands of small but extremely sharp swords. Just as it began to let out a pained groan, the creature's arm exploded into thousands of diced pieces.

Keeping ahold of its composure, the Yōma quietly asked aloud, "…Kagura…?"

The red-glowing shadow then zipped back in from seemingly nowhere and extended more bolts. One connected with the Yōma's leg, which was immediately slashed into little bloody bits resembling sushi, while the other slammed straight into its head. Before it could say another word, the force ripped the creature's skull from the base of its neck and sent it flying toward the streets and crashed with a crimson cloud of dust.

Still conscious within its body, the Yōma thought to itself, "Wait… I didn't even get a chance to-," but was cut off.

While the shadow came to a stop onto the ground, briefly giving everyone a quick glance of the black-eyed woman, the red light quickly zipped up along the entirety of the Yōma's back. There were a few long seconds of quiet before the entire body exploded into several large chunks that splattered the surrounding area, coating everyone nearby in a gruesome sea of crimson. Then, as a few of the mangled organs within the Yōma began to spill out, the shadow seized forward crashed straight through the heart and came out the other side with a black thumb-sized stone in her hand. While everyone in the surrounding area fell completely silent, Kagura landed onto the street without a drop of blood on her.

Still standing along the edge of the roof, frozen in a combative position, Katsuragi repeatedly blinked in the face of all that had just happened. The Yōma that they were fighting for the better part of a half-hour was absolutely decimated within seconds by the new arrival. She lifted her hands and clutched them in the air with growing confusion before her eyes found Kagura standing below, sending both a wave of relief and of terror. While it answered her question as to what had just occurred, Katsuragi and none of the other girls had seen a live example of what the woman could do to a Yōma.

Seeing the quiet as an opportunity, Sato finally grabbed her grappling gun while maintaining a firm grip on the barely conscious young man and flew up toward the roof where four of the shinobi were standing. As Murakumo and Hikage followed right behind, the spectacled girl cried, "Let's go, let's go! The infiltrators are still around!"

Quickly taking the young man into her arms and heaving him over her shoulders, Katsuragi gave a firm nod and immediately turned around to regroup with the rest of their friends. As the other shinobi and the ex-dignitary followed behind her, Tsao caught sight of them and felt an immediate temptation to pursue. But, seeing that they were carrying the young man away from danger, he decided to turn his head back to the butchered Yōma. Yet, where once the black-eyed woman was standing nonchalantly, there remained only the grizzly innards of the creature and nothing more. Snorting in frustration due to the fruitlessness of his efforts, Tsao waved his arms and gestured to his comrades, "C'mon. We're heading back to the safehouse," and proceeded to fly off while ignoring both the pain in his ankle and the oncoming sirens and helicopters.

Meanwhile, having disappeared off into an alleyway where Naraku was waiting, Kagura was looking down to the stone intensely. Though she and her longtime best friend continued to exchange whispers of concern and frustration with one another, the stone kept repeating telepathically to them: "My message to you is this… Today, I will die… and that is mercy compared to what will befall you. My master, the ancient Yoma you know as Shin… He's coming… The world will come under his design, all mankind will be wiped out, and there won't a be a single shinobi, not even you, Kagura, who can do anything about it."

Feeling frustrated by the creature's arrogant and contemptable message, the black-eyed woman crushed the small stone in her hand and threw what dust that remained to the ground. Still, even with the Yōma dead, its message echoed…

"**He's coming…"**

"**He's coming…"**

"**He's coming…"**


	45. Chapter 45: Solace and Peace

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 45: Solace and Peace

"None of them survived?" echoed a voice rifled with shock over Oda's phone.

"None of them, Kiriya…" came the large man's reply as he sat back against an alley wall, Minori right beside him and pressing a bloody cloth against his wound, "In fact, Shiori was the first one down… followed by Onoda, herself…" After a moment of clenching his eyes closed in a mix of sorrow and shame, Oda looked down to the pigtailed girl beside him, "Even I took a serious hit…"

There was a brief moment of silence and the sound of a quiet breath being taken on the other end of the line before Kiriya asked, "…How bad…?"

"Ultimately, I had to call an ambulance," mumbled Oda, "Though I managed to keep Tsao back for a bit, he managed to get me with his dagger after giving a few… really hard punches…" Remembering how disgraceful it was to be beaten down by a man who was barely a third his size, Oda unknowingly lifted his hand to his covered wound, "I swear… however short our fight was, it was getting punched by a grizzly bear…"

"He's a strong opponent, Oda," said Kiriya in a gentler tone, "No one will blame you for losing to him."

"Sure, but I'll be blamed, rightly so, for leading ten women to their deaths… for allowing nearly thirty dignitaries to be slaughtered when we meant to capture them…" After another moment, Oda hung his head even lower, "…and I'll be blamed for however many civilians died because of that Yōma…"

Again, there was a brief silence on the other line. Then, hoping to block out the bad side of things for even the briefest of moments, Kiriya then asked, "Would it make you feel better if I told you that everything on our end went accordingly?"

Oda raised his head just a tad, "Yeah… it would…" and shuffled his shoulders, "What's the report on the warehouse raid?"

Kiriya immediately began to answer, "It's all going like you predicted last night. Shortly after the counter-attack, the dignitaries all began to swarm toward the distribution center. By the time Rin and the rest of our team arrived, they were already burning a bunch of documents and trying to carry out what material they could."

"Material?" echoed Oda.

"Machines and tools, old parts and scrap… that kind of thing…" After brief shuffling on the other end, Kiriya continued, "Most were pretty willing to hand themselves over… From what I can guess, a whole lot of them are hoping to make some kind of deal with prosecutors or however that works… As for everyone else… they were dealt with. No dead or wounded for the shinobi."

"Ah… well, at least one thing went right today," mumbled Oda as he dropped his hand from his wound, throwing a tired smile down to Minori, "On the upside of things, all the chaos that the Yōma was causing seems to have stopped. At least, I'm hearing more sirens and less buildings being crushed while people scream in terror…" Sucking in a tired breath, the large man shook his head, "The rest of the government will be asking questions."

"Do you have a plan in place of that?" asked Kiriya in grim tone.

"Had one since I started this job," replied Oda with a sad smile, "Half-truths and diversions… If nothing else, the boy's name won't be coming up on the prime minister's desk."

"Right," came Kiriya's low but worried voice, "Well… patch up your wounds and… I suppose… enjoy your stay at the hospital?"

"Sure, sure-," Oda started to reply and gave his knee an amused slap, "If they ever get here. I mean, I've been waiting for a while but…" before his face fell back into grimness, "What with the… current situation likely causing a surge of emergency calls… I'm pretty sure I'll need to wait a while yet…" Just as Kiriya began to say something, the larger shinobi cut him off, "Don't be too worried. I mean… it's serious, yes, but I don't believe any of the bleeding is from an essential organ…"

"Where'd you get stabbed?" said Kiriya with lingering worry.

Not at all affected by the man's tone, Oda just mumbled, "Close to my stomach-, Look, I'll make it." Ruffling the back of his head, he stated, "You must have heard about my mission with that one Yōma on Mount Fuji? Three days, serious wounds, shouldn't have survived but did anyway? I'm good."

"Get yourself checked out as soon as possible."

Just as the sound of multiple footsteps skittered near the mouth of the alley, Oda nodded his head, "Will do," and looked to where the sudden arrivals would be coming from before ending the call. To his relief, a multitude of the academy shinobi, most of them drenched in the drying blood of the Yōma, began to flood into the alley. Though, at first, his focus went to the fact that they were still alive with only some cuts and bruises, their worried looks immediately set off the alarm bells within Oda. Pulling himself away from Minori and holding the cloth to his wound for himself, he quickly asked, "Hey, is everyone alright?"

There wasn't anything that rang grim about the girls' expressions so, presumably, no one died. Yet, as the girls who were leading the way, Hikage and Ikaruga, stepped aside and allowed for Katsuragi to step through, Oda saw the young man slung over the blonde's shoulder. Before he could question the boy's safety, Katsuragi immediately stated, "We checked him over and… he seems fine, albeit he's got a twisted ankle and is only semi-conscious, but… You know… A twenty-second opinion would be nice…"

Reminding himself that there were twenty shinobi, Oda quickly asked, "Who was the twenty-first-," before cutting himself off, "Oh, you mean to say said for himself that he's fine?"

"He hasn't really talked yet," came a different voice, belonging to Sato as she maneuvered her way through the middle of the crowd and presented herself to the larger shinobi while holding her own hands and lowering her head.

Narrowing his eyes on the ex-dignitary briefly, Oda made a small sound, "Ah… I see," and clenched his jaw for a brief moment. But, observing the lack of hostile looks that were being thrown her way, he decided to hold off on scrutinizing Sato. Rather, he instead approached Katsuragi and gestured to the ground, "Put him down for a moment. I'll give a look."

The blonde immediately obeyed and began to hunch herself over to gently set the young man down. When a few hands, belonging to Asuka, Murasaki, and Yumi respectively, reached out to try and offer some kind of help, Katsuragi quietly assured, "I've got him, I've got him," and set the boy against the ground to let Oda do his work.

The large man was quickly relieved and let out a relaxed sigh. However bad the boy's luck was to get involved in the mess to begin with, miraculous fortune seemed to have shined on him when he needed it most. There was a multitude of cuts and bruises along the young man's body, which all appeared to have been freshly rinsed over. Oda quickly asked, "How'd you clean him up?"

Stepping out from behind Yumi, Murakumo answered first, "A drinking fountain," before her statement was echoed by a few others.

"I see," mumbled Oda as he looked around for any sign of serious bleeding, which was difficult since the young man was covered dried Yōma blood as well. There was still a gash across his forehead, to which Oda quickly began to tear off a piece of his shirt. But, remembering just how dirtied their clothes were after the battle, he decided against the potential risk of infection and just decided to comment, "We'll need to bandage that head wound as soon as possible… that and all the others, though there already seems to be some scabbing…" Oda then ran his hand around the boy's head and felt for any irregularities, "No cracks…" before turning back to the girls, "Besides the cut, did he take any head injuries?"

"He fell while swinging around on his grappling… wire-thingy…" stated Ryōna from the back, her voice quieter than usual and her face evidently much more serious with worry, "I'm pretty sure he landed headfirst and rolled around a bit…"

"Ah… in that case, a doctor would be best…" mumbled Oda before pressing his teeth together. Considering the surge of calls and the fact that an ambulance hadn't even arrived for him yet, local hospitals were very likely going to be flooded to capacity… Although, he did have other ideas. Quickly, he patted at his pocket, "I can call someone to meet you guys at the-," before he cut himself off, "Wait, do you know where the Subanzen Street Safehouse is?"

Katsuragi tilted her head and echoed, "Safehouse?"

"It's where we placed him last night, since his apartment was too dangerous-, I'll take your answer as a no," said Oda before he reached down to his phone, "I'll text you the address, you guys can take him there, and I'll have a doctor I know, Takemi, stop by."

"Do so," came a loud but low-toned voice from above. Just as Oda was about to look up with eyes narrowed in a mix of shock and fury, the sound of a grappling wire echoed through the alley and a figure, Tsao, swung down from the second-floor roof. Once he landed onto the ground with a tumble, courtesy of his injured ankle, and turned to face the girls, nearly everyone already had their weapons drawn. Without hesitation, Tsao reached down to his blade and said, "Let's not get messy."

Without a second thought, Oda slammed his hand into the wall and pulled out a messy clump of crushed bricks. But just as he pulled his body back to hurl them forward, the pain in his wound suddenly spiked and a groan forced its way from his throat. In the split-second that Oda clenched his eyes closed and regained his composure, Tsao had already gotten to less than a meter away with one of his swords drawn and hovered it over his opponent's throat. Yet, even with the weapon in killing range, the shinobi just growled, "I'll kill you…"

Though the girls were following Oda's lead and were about to charge, Tsao immediately stated, "If any of you take a step closer, this oaf dies and I send the rest of you along with him. Clear?"

Even if they outnumbered him, the cold edge to his voice along with its lack of doubt put a stutter to the girls' steps. On the other hand, Oda would never give in to the murderer before him. Dropping the debris in his hand, he swung one of his large fists over while reeling back the other for a follow-up blow. Without a bit of falter, Tsao dropped his blade, glided his body to the side of Oda's oncoming strike, and raised his forearm to brush it aside. Before the next fist could come, the infiltrator rested all of his weight onto his injured leg, blew out all of his pain with a single huff from his nose, and promptly kicked the inside of Oda's forwardmost knee. After a sickening pop, the large man let out a grunt and began to fall forward with the momentum of his second punch. Before the fist could be delivered, Tsao slipped his body back a moment and waited for Oda to fall a bit more forward. Once his head was low enough, the infiltrator threw his injured leg forward and kneed the shinobi straight in the nose. To top it all off, just as Oda began to register the pain of the two blows he took, one of Tsao's hands gripped the front of the shinobi's head, pushed it back, and punched his throat with the other. Once the larger man fell onto his back while coughing, the fight was already over.

Over the course of three seconds, despite them both being injured, Tsao had completely obliterated Oda in hand-to-hand combat. Even with all of their determination and urges to fight against the shinobi killer, the girls couldn't bring themselves to attack in their surprised state. After all, if Oda proved that he didn't stand a chance while injured, what were they odds that they did? So, instead of pondering an attack, the girls just kept their eyes trained on the one other thing about Tsao that had left them shocked during their initial encounter. Though his fighting prowess was completely terrifying, there was one unignorable fact that had been unveiled the moment the young man sliced his oldest brother's cheek.

When the balaclava that covered him was torn away, the unveiled face underneath was not one that resembled the young man's at all. Their eyes shared the same color and tone, though the younger of the two had a bit more of a glow, but the frames of their faces, the height of their cheek bones, and even the slant of their eyes were significantly different. In fact, upon closer inspection, the girls also realized that Tsao's skin tone had a completely different pigment to it. Overall, in contrast to the young man's variety of features, Tsao's face seemed to resemble someone of a distinct Chinese origin.

Before the thought could be pondered further, the tall infiltrator frankly stated, "I'm not going to fight if you won't."

In response, even as he was still gasping for air after Tsao's throat punch, Oda mumbled, "…mur'rer…! …murd'rer…!"

As messy as the words came out, the infiltrator had already heard their likes before and stated, "Call me what you will. I only did what was in the best interest of my brother today," and then asked, "You said there was someone who could check him over earlier? Takemi, you said?"

With his mind still off the young man and even his own injuries, Oda began to pick himself up, "…kill you…! I'll kill you!" and began hurdle himself at Tsao.

Yet, before the shinobi could even kick off his knees, Tsao had already reeled up his fist and dropped it like heavy payload from a bomber. With the combination of Oda's oncoming momentum and the merciless fist, the infiltrator slinked beneath the shinobi's strike and delivered his punch straight into the larger man's collarbone. There were a few cracks and Oda could only let out a cry as Tsao ducked out from beneath him and watched as the man collapsed with cold and unsympathetic eyes. For a few seconds, the shinobi writhed and gripped at his newest injury before his energy was expended. Wheezing out huffs and puffs, Oda resigned himself to the ground and waited for the killing blow. Tsao delivered something equally as humiliating by kneeling down and asking, "You said someone will be able to check on my brother? Yes or no?"

Unable to keep his anger in check, Oda just kept repeatedly stating, "I'll kill you… I swear, I'll kill you… In this life and the next, I will always kill you."

Reaching for his dagger, Tsao spoke frankly, "Call this person and have my brother checked. Right now."

Before anything more could be exchanged between the two, the young man's voice rang out the ground, "TSAO…!" Betraying his weak and pitiful state as he laid on the ground with dimmed eyes, the young man heaved a few breaths and demanded, "Get… I WANT YOU TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

For the first time, the girls actually saw a bit of emotion slip through Tsao's face. In the briefest of moments, the infiltrator's mouth curled downward and his brows rose up with hurt. In that split-second, they could see that Tsao was, indeed, human behind all his ferociousness. But, once the moment was over, he began to reply in his cool and calm voice, "I'm just here-," but was cut off.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" bellowed the young man, trying his ultimate to raise his head up from the ground while his eyes adopted lively but subconscious glow, "YOU'RE NOT NEEDED, NOT WANTED, AND ALL YOU'VE DONE TODAY IS NEEDLESSLY KILL A BUNCH OF PEOPLE!" Heaving his chest up and down a few times while Asuka kneeled beside to rest her hands on him and try to calm him down, the young man continued to shout, "GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME AGAIN!"

Reacting as though someone just punched in the face, Tsao's head gave an extremely slight flinch and he closed his eyes for a second. Then, with some kind of deluded confidence, he softly called over to his brother, "I'll go," and looked down to Oda, "Make sure that he's safe." As he began to take a step back, limping on his ankle while doing so, the man called one more time to the young man, "When you're well, I hope you can call-," but was cut off again.

Growling something incoherent through his teeth, the young man finally managed to raise his head and looked his oldest brother in the eye to shout once more, "GO! LEAVE!"

Tripping a bit in his step, Tsao then turned around and moved to the alley's exit. In the front of his mind, he found relief in the fact that his brother was still safe; in the back, he was trying to process what had happened to the Yōma. He would do his own investigation… but to see someone obliterate the beast in seconds was frightening.

The encounter was short for the girls, though it would not soon be forgotten. Especially when they looked into the young man's fiery eyes, it was at that moment that they truly comprehended how much disdain he had for his own family. In truth, the way he recounted his experiences that led him to that point did no justice at all for the emotions that he'd just put on display. Between fighting Tsao firsthand and witnessing the complete hatred that radiated from the young man's entire being, there was not one person in that alley who dared to hold anything over his head. The fact that he was an infiltrator, their early conflicts against one another, him offering up the details of his own family… it was all made more understandable than any earnest account could ever show. Between that, their alliance, and his own display of loyalty by fighting his own brother and the Yōma, a new feeling regarding the young man erupted within everyone. One that mimicked the same camaraderie that they held between one another and completed by the same level of acceptance.

Once the drama was over, the first to speak was Yozakura who turned to help Oda off the ground with Minori by her side, "Let's get you up."

Even with the pain still biting into him, Oda immediately waved the two away, "I'm fine, I'm fine…" and looked to where Tsao had left off to. After silently cursing the infiltrator one last time, he turned back to the girls and said, "I already should have an ambulance on the way anyway, so," and gestured to the young man, "you should get him some place safe." He pointed off to nowhere in particular and said, "Get out of the area and keep him out of sight. I'll text you the address of the safehouse and will call Takemi to have her meet the lot of you there."

Amazed by the sudden turn of attitude that Oda was able to make, Minori bobbed her head up and down for a moment while Yozakura offered some light protest. Reaching down and retrieving the discarded cloth that had been held against the large shinobi's stab wound, the pigtailed girl stepped past her sister and offered it to Oda. After a few seconds, he silently took it with a nod of thanks, to which she sweetly said, "Please, make sure to feel better."

"Will do," mumbled Oda before turning his head toward the young man, who had Haruka and Ikaruga checking him over at that moment. Upon spotting the fact that the boy's face and energy were dwindling down from both a wave of exhaustion and a bit of sadness, the large shinobi called over to him, "Feel better," and faced the rest of the girls, "That goes for the rest of you." In return, he received a gentle round of nods and expressions of gratitude. Even the young man, whose tired eyes were fluttering away a moment before, had turned to offer a nod of sincere thanks and apology before slipping away into unconsciousness again.

With nothing more being said, the young man was hauled up and carried off. The only one to remain behind for a brief moment was Sato, who'd remained completely silent through the whole encounter. She kept her face on Oda, her expression twisted with a soft bit of guilt and asking for some kind of silent permission. In return, Oda just nodded and waved his hand for her to follow after the rest of the group. As far as he was concerned for the moment, there was no point in confronting her. It was something that could be saved for another day, after all. Instead, once she scampered off and caught up to the rest of the girls, Oda rested his head against the alley's wall and waited for his ambulance. After a minute of silence and thought, he began quietly cry and sob in mourning for the ten shinobi that he'd led into the maw of death.

Though the young man was still conscious through the rest of the day, he was not fully aware of everything that had happened. He had brief memory fragments of him being sneaked and carried through the side streets while some gentle voices kept repeatedly assuring him, though he had no real idea what they were saying. At some point, they arrived a place that was blankly familiar and they zipped up some stairs where a blue-haired lady was waiting for them. There was one incident that stuck out where the lady made a smart remark, the young man said something back, and she retorted with an implication of accidental death that wouldn't really be an accident. After that, it was mostly fuzzy… albeit, there was one point where he heard Sato say something along the lines of, "You're seriously fighting over this guy?" to others whom the young man assumed were the ones who confessed to him. In response to the ex-dignitary speaking, he mindlessly mumbled some cusses to her and let his drowsiness overtake him. He didn't hear the words, "I… have an unorthodox suggestion…" slip from Sato's mouth, though he still felt extremely suspicious that she was up to something again, even if she would have nothing to gain from some random betrayal.

By the time his paranoid fuzziness passed and his thoughts gradually began to become more focused, the young man was lying in a comfortable bed that he didn't fully recognize while a headache lightly pounded at the front of his head. Then, upon opening his eyes, he found five sets of radiant orbs staring back down at him with a mix of relief and uncertainty. After a moment of him taking in his comrades and noting that they were wearing their uniforms again, Homura commented, "Are you actually awake and aware this time?"

On instinct alone, he replied, "Nope. I'm afraid that I've died."

"Okay, he's good," came the retort.

Seething in a breath of air as he bit down the pain welling up in his forehead, the young man tried to straighten himself up into a seated position but, between general exhaustion and pain along with some hands pushing him back, he collapsed back into the sweet confines of a pillow and blanket. While Asuka was saying, "No, no! Just lay back for now!" and was trying to get the boy to look up to her, his woozy focus fell upon the room that they were in. It seemed familiar enough but, for some reason, he couldn't properly place it. He almost remembered until Asuka hovered a closed fist near his face. The young man flinched, anticipating a random attack, but then heard the girl ask, "How many fingers am I holding up."

Pausing for a moment to consider the request and the intentions behind it, he slowly replied, "None…?"

Asuka raised a few fingers, "How about now?"

"Three."

The fingers closed again, "How about now?"

"None."

Another three fingers went up, "How about now?"

With little hesitation, Homura gave a few aggressive pats to the top of the brunette's head and grumbled, "For goodness' sake," and turned her eyes to the young man, "How do you feel? Any pain in the head?"

"Like I just got hit by a truck," he answered.

"Any throbbing or is mostly static?" came Yumi's voice as she flanked around Homura.

As the headache came back into mind, the young man bobbed his head, "Throbbing. Lots of throbbing."

Asuka's eyes lit up a bit, "Ah, well that's what Doctor Takemi said should be happening." With her standard flavor of excitement, the girl continued, "See, she said that you suffered a concussion and that, beyond the treatment and medicine she gave you, there wasn't much that could be done," and clapped her hands cheerfully, "But she said that it was good if you're still feeling pain because that means your brain is working-, sensing-, that's the word-, that you're sensing correctly… actually, I don't know if she used that word at all."

Not reacting too much to the girl's excited demeanor, the young man turned his attention back to the surrounding room, "Why do I recognize this place…?" before another question slammed him and he asked in a dire tone, "And the Yōma? Did it run away or… what happened?"

"We'll talk about the Yōma later…" started Miyabi, "As for this place… According to Oda," as her voice beckoned him to turn his head and focus onto something less stressful, "you stayed here the previous night since your apartment was too dangerous to stay in… and, with it being partially destroyed, Oda told us to bring you here."

Effectively distracted for the moment, the young man grunted, "Ah," as familiarity came back to him. With some newfound energy, he lifted his arms and found plenty of bandages wrapped around. He could see in the corners of his vision that the girls had adopted conflicted expressions, offering a strange mixture of sadness, frustration, gratitude, and happiness. Even Murasaki, who'd been keeping silent and offering tired nods and smiles every time the boy looked her way, had such an expression with a calm smile and relaxed brows. Then, once his thoughts turned back to the Yōma, the young man then asked, "Based on the lack of tears, can I assume that everyone's okay?"

"They are," answered Yumi, lowering her hand to cup the boy's cheek pleasantly, "thanks in part to you."

Not wanting to think about the fact that he completely considered leaving them all for dead, the young man shrunk out of her grasp and lifted his blanket to cover the lower portion of his face, "I just… did the thing…" He rolled onto his side, leaving the impression with everyone else that he was just shy in the face of their gratitude. Before anyone else could make a comment that would remind him of the guilt he had over the matter, the young man quickly asked, "So, where is everyone… if not here?"

"By now, they're probably home," answered Miyabi. Not wanting the boy to feel as though everyone else ditched out on him, she quickly caught herself and stammered, "Not to say they just left… It was after your examination and when you were confirmed safe-," but was cut off by the boy waving his hand around.

"Don't worry, don't worry," remarked the young man before something clicked in his head: at that moment, he was alone in a room with the five women who confessed to him… The last few times they were alone or interacting with just each other, there was always some kind of competitive edge. Dreading the fact that he didn't have the energy to deal with anything like that, much less to settle the dispute, the young man just buried himself into his blankets until he was completely covered.

Watching as he shrunk away into the soft fabric, the girls all blinked and exchanged glances with one another before Homura asked, "Are you alright?"

There was a small sound of surprise from the young man before he mumbled, "…Getting comfortable…" and shuffled back and forth to dig himself further into the mattress.

"Oh boy," mumbled Asuka before she patted at the lump beneath the blanket, "You may want to come out of there."

"No," came the quiet but stalwart reply.

Homura then gripped the young man and shook him a bit, "Seriously, you need to take a bath."

"No. I'm comfortable under here."

By that point, Yumi and Miyabi had also joined in with trying to rouse the boy up, "Please?"

"Take no offense, but you smell awful right now."

"And you're staining the sheets with flakes."

It was at that moment the young man realized that he was still partially covered in the Yōma's blood. Using what little light that shined through his blankets, he looked down to his bandaged arms and found dry red smears. When he ducked his head down to look at his chest, he found that some must have soaked through the clothing that he was wearing. Then, upon feeling his face and giving a little scratch, a few flakes fell onto the sheets the young man laid upon and he gave a grumble, "Crap…" But, in a fit of irrational resolve, he just laid back down onto the bed and said, "I'll clean everything in the morning."

Unwilling to put up with his stubborn front, Murasaki reached a hand into the blankets and gently gripped his ankle while offering some kind of assurance. Suddenly, electric volts of pain shot through the young man's body and he launched out the other end of the blankets, nearly falling onto the floor in the process. When he looked up, the purple-haired girl was cupping her hands over her mouth with a flood of guilt emanating from her steadily watering eyes, "I'm so sorry! I forgot, I forgot!" and reached forward, "Are you okay?"

Venting out the surge of pain with a loud groan and a lengthy exhale, the young man felt his ankle throbbing with a pain that he hadn't noticed before. Seeking to investigate the source, he threw off his blankets and looked down to find his foot in a firm but thin cast. He was about to question it with a frustrated yell but then remembered the fall he suffered toward the end of his encounter with the Yōma. Then, as he relived the frightening memory, his hands trailed over to his other bandages and, once his headache began to spike up, up to his forehead. Then he realized that Murasaki was still repeatedly apologizing and cut her off by making eye contact and giving a nod, "It's fine, don't worry."

With her mouth still curled into a frown that said she was on the verge of crying, the girl still mumbled, "I didn't mean to do it-, here, let me help you relax onto the bed," and began to reach over.

"No, wait-, Murasaki, it's fine," said the boy as she grasped his shoulder and lightly pushed him back toward the bed. Even as he continued to protest while the rest of the girls just stared, Murasaki forcefully rested his head against the pillow and then threw a blanket over.

After tucking in the sides and offering a pat to his head, she said with lingering shame, "I hope you'll feel better."

Not one to be merciful, Homura commented, "That's a kind, sweet act and all… but we still need to get him in the bath…"

Murasaki lowered her head even more, "Oh…"

Deciding to offer a white lie, the young man forced himself up into a seated position and patted at his knees to get the girl's attention. When her eyes looked up to him, still riddled with guilt, he stated frankly, "Murasaki, it's fine. The pain's already gone."

"You're lying," said Asuka from the side.

"Shut up," grunted back the young man, doing his utmost to keep his eyes from sharpening into daggers when he turned to the brunette.

"No, I already knew you were lying too," commented Murasaki before she pointed up to his face, "Your expression is all tense, kind of like when Imu stubs her toe and tries not to swear."

"Oh, whoops," murmured the young man before glancing between Murasaki and Asuka, "Well… sorry to you both, then."

"You can apologize properly after a bath," came Yumi's voice as she strode around the side of the bed, "C'mon, c'mon."

The young man began to protest, "Hey, hey, hey! I can walk-," but cut himself off when he realized what he was about to say and looked down to his injured ankle, "no, wait-, damn it…" Then, just as he surrendered himself into being lifted by his shoulders while doing his utmost to ignore the fact that Yumi was pressing her chest into his back, the boy quickly realized that he had been laying in his underwear that whole time. The logical part of him said that it made sense, since his legs suffered injuries that needed to be bandaged too and relaxing was much more difficult with workpants on… But his immediate reaction was much more instinctual as he clawed to try and get back into bed, "No, no, no, no, no! Towel! Towel! Towel! I need to be covered!"

When he began to try and kick himself free, Miyabi moved to his side and proceeded to move one of her arms beneath his legs to help carry him out of the bedroom, "Please, we understand that this is embarrassing!" By the time they made it out into the rest of the apartment, where the young man continued to try and pull himself free, she was sputtering with much more evident frustration, "This will be over quicker if-, quit writhing!" Fortunately, the journey to the bathroom was quick enough.

Quickly taking charge of the situation, Yumi turned her head back to Asuka, Homura, and Murasaki as they followed along, "Start readying up dinner-, Oh! And there should be spare sheets, blankets, and the like in a closet somewhere. Switch those out and throw the dirty ones into the washing machine!"

With a serious look of respect and a glow in her eyes, Homura quickly asked, "But what of you and Miyabi? Will you be alright?"

Letting out a confident breath and releasing the young man into Miyabi's care, who quickly began to struggle to keep her grip on the boy, Yumi looked to her comrades and spoke with a dignified edge, "We've fought each other an uncountable number of times… we survived through the Millennium Festival and PBS… We got through all the emotionally draining struggles that came after and we just dealt with a Yōma earlier today…" Clasping her hand into a determined fist, she called as Miyabi nearly dropped the young man onto his head in the background, "WHAT TROUBLE IS THERE TO BE HAD IN BATHING A BOY!"

Barely restraining themselves from saluting their two comrades, Asuka, Homura, and Murasaki watched as tears glimmered in their eyes as Yumi shut the bathroom door behind her. Silence followed with only the occasional yell coming from the young man from behind the door. At that point, Homura turned to the other two and mumbled, "You know, I'm just beginning to realize how… close this is to sexual assault…"

"Close…?" questioned Murasaki, her eyes narrowing with shame as she realized herself as an accomplice.

Homura turned to Asuka, "You think we should make it up by cooking something extravagant… or…" but stopped to remark, "What's with that look on your face?"

With her eyes drooped down to the floor and her mouth hidden behind a meek hand, the shorter brunette commented, "They're bathing him in there…"

Three dots lingered in the air for a moment as the sound of the young man's struggles ceased and running water began to echo from the tub. Then, fully understanding the information, Homura frustratedly turned around to stomp toward the kitchen, "Damn it all…" Not a second after, Asuka began to trail behind while Murasaki went back to the bedroom to clean up the bedding.

Meanwhile, the young man had surrendered himself to fate. With his lower half wrapped in a towel, he silently lamented his luck. While, in a less complicated and stressful scenario, being rinsed down by two beautiful women would be heavenly… he was not, by any means or definitions, in a simple scenario. Washing down his back and scraping away Yōma blood flakes were two monogamous women who were seeking a relationship with him while three others of the same description were waiting outside. Under those circumstances, the single man's heaven became an uncomfortable hell. As nice as it was that no one was actively fighting or quarreling with one another, he felt like there was some kind of flammable gas in the air just waiting for a spark.

Yet, once the young man fell silent and ceased his struggles, nothing happened. Miyabi scrubbed and rinsed his back down while Yumi ran warm water into the tub, both getting their uniforms drenched in the process without any complaint or remark. He expected either an accusatory response with an order for him to look away or some kind of advance that would leave him bumbling for an escape… but neither came. It was just a silence between the three that wasn't even all that awkward. Once his struggles ceased, Yumi and Miyabi's expressions were casual, like they were used to that kind of thing… So, basking in the fortune that nothing seemed to be going awry, the young man just went with it.

Then he noticed the bandages hiding underneath their uniforms. Though it was a bit more difficult with Yumi, since her clothes were made of sturdier material that covered more skin, Miyabi's were much lighter and clung to her body, allowing the young man to see through and find plenty of bandages all along her upper arms and ribs. In fact, once he turned his head to get a closer look at the injuries, he found that there were red burn marks slightly peeking around the edges of each bandage. But, just as the young man began to take notice of similar marks on Yumi's wrist, Miyabi's face reddened in embarrassment as she stumbled out, "Please… don't look too closely…" and did her utmost to angle her chest away from his sharp and scrutinizing eyes.

Catching himself and realizing how it must have looked for him to be so closely observing the skin beneath their uniforms, the boy quickly stated, "Sorry," and turned his head forward again, "I… just saw your bandages…"

As a wave of relief passed back through Miyabi, feeling that her body was no longer being inspected and judged, she readopted her more casual attitude, "Ah, I see," and continued to scrub, "Don't worry about those. Considering the fact that we fought a Yōma, we should lucky that we only came out with some burns."

Lowering his head, the young man retorted in a quiet voice, "But those didn't come from the Yōma, did they?" and remembered the image of his brother, Haruo, launching down the banger into the beast. Realizing that everyone else must have also suffered some burns from the explosion, a pang of irrational guilt began to eat at the young man. Even if he disowned his brother and would never dare endanger the girls' lives in such a way, he still felt some kind of connection that demanded his accountability. In addition to that, the young man also began to question why he was receiving such special treatment. He suffered a fall and an ankle injury after doing nothing worthwhile against the Yōma… Meanwhile, the girls had completely crippled the creature for a time and sustained a multitude of injuries from an explosion caused by his brother…

Just as the boy's stomach began to twist up in discomfort, feeling as though he was completely undeserving of the treatment that he was receiving, Yumi reached over from her spot next to the tub and squeezed his shoulder, "Are you alright?"

The young man made a sound with his throat before closing his lips and shaking his head. For a moment, he stared off into space before turning back to face the two girls, "I'm sorry for the burns…" Before either of the two could try to assure him, he quickly added, "…and for… letting you guys spoil me like this…"

Miyabi was the first to say, "You have nothing to apologize for."

"When it comes to your injuries, maybe not," said the young man in a much firmer voice, "but I shouldn't be getting… this," and gestured with his hands toward the bath, "kind of treatment…"

"You have an injured ankle," retorted Yumi, "and bathing by yourself would be dangerous."

"So…" the young man's head stuttered for a moment before he pointed to both of their clothes, which were getting more and more revealing as water continued to spray on his back, "What then? Should you guys have to soak and embarrass yourselves for my sake? Even after you, yourselves, are hurt?"

Under her breath, Miyabi muttered, "…Embarrass…?" before her mind went back to the incident a minute prior, "Oh," and waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it."

The young man turned away, "I'm worrying about it."

Before Yumi could try to insert her own thoughts, Miyabi began to say, "Hear me out for a moment," as she lifted a small metal tub to rinse off the last of the soap on the boy's back. Once the water splashed down onto him, forcing out a sigh from him due to the soothing warmth, the woman continued, "First and foremost," as she gestured to her clothes, "we're not terribly embarrassed by this. Considering how many times our fights and spars have resulted in torn clothes, this is pretty laid back by our standards."

Quirking a brow and looking back at her, the young man muttered, "I've been with you guys for a few weeks and I've seen no such thing…"

Lowering the tub and gently tapping it against the back of the boy's head, to which he made an annoyed sound, Miyabi continued, "I'm talking about before your arrival."

"Oh."

"And, as for us being hurt too," interjected Yumi, her voice forceful as she tried to target the actual cause of the young man's concerns, "none of us are as injured as you… and…" before proceeding to scratch at her cheek for a moment, "Well, I'm sure you know that you'll need care for this kind of thing."

Though a bit peeved that her moment to be seen as a comforter was taken, Miyabi just nodded her head, "What she said," and proceeded to lower her arms to pick the young man up, "C'mon, the bath should be good by now."

Blowing out a bit of air as he was lifted like a small child, the young man wanted to continue his line of thought and express how guilty he was beginning to feel for being treated in such a special manner… and he also didn't like the thought of being babied. Ultimately, his face settled with a look of annoyance as he was gently set down into the bathtub. After doublechecking to make sure his towel wouldn't come off and even pushing away the two girls' hands when they tried to remove it, the young man asked, "Shouldn't we be throwing my foot into a plastic bag or something?" To emphasize his point, he pointed down to his injured ankle, "I mean… it's in a cast… won't the water be bad for it?"

"Probably, though its disposable and we were shown how to make more," answered Miyabi, gesturing to some bandages a few makeshift splints on the bathroom counter.

With a sterner look on her face, Yumi muttered frankly, "I'm actually more concerned about the fact that you're not removing your towel to bath. Isn't that what you usually do?"

Not missing a beat, the young man threw back, "Not when there are members of the opposite sex present."

In the background, Miyabi turned her eyes away and made sure to note, "Honestly, I'm okay with the towel for now…"

Yumi didn't budge, "Your lower body won't get cleaned well enough."

The young man didn't budge either, "That's a shame."

A bit frustrated but still understanding, Yumi just said, "Alright…" and listened to Miyabi give a sigh of relief before adding, "So long as you bathe tomorrow too."

"Without you guys present?"

"You'll need someone in here."

"Let's dispute this another time."

"Okay,"

Feeling as though she'd just witnessed the Cold War first hand, Miyabi remained silent through the rest of the encounter as banter continued to get exchanged. Whenever Yumi offered the slightest suggestion of care, the young man immediately turned her down. The only thing that kept the peace was the girl's compassion for his condition. Thus, after a bit more soaking and quiet arguing, the bath came near its time to end and a different problem arose.

"Do you two have a change of clothes?" asked the young man, his voice caught somewhere between worried and suspicious.

Realizing that they didn't think that far ahead, Yumi and Miyabi exchanged unfeeling looks with one another. Then, as their eyes widened and their lips tightened, they both realized their fatal mistake. Of course, it was no fault of their own since they didn't anticipate needing a spare change of clothes after what was supposed to be a quick fight with the dignitaries… but still, in the words of Miyabi as she realized the gravity of their situation, "This… has become difficult…"

Thinking quick and still feeling guilty for the treatment that he'd received since waking up, the young man quickly offered, "If I remember correctly, I have a bag of clothes in the closet of that bedroom. Go in there, grab what you need, I'll dry off, bring me a shirt and pajamas when you're done, we're all dressed decently, and happy ending for all." Then, after making a conscious remark to himself about the girls' chest sizes, he began to say, "Wait… they may not fit-," but was cut off as the girls practically teleported from the bathroom, leaving the bathroom door open in the process with Asuka standing awkwardly nearby in confusion.

With her fist raised, as though she were just about to approach and knock on the door, the brunette asked, "…What happened…?"

After blinking a few times, the young man remarked in a quiet voice, "I've suggested a very dangerous idea…"

There were a few cries of surprise from Murasaki and Homura in the other room, though Asuka didn't break eye contact as she tilted her head and said, "Really…?"

Yumi and Miyabi's voices echoed over from the bedroom, with phrases like, "This looks comfortable," and, "This one-, no. This one," getting tossed around. Just as Asuka noted the fact that the young man was still in the bath and turned to walk away, a few more yells came from Murasaki. Much to the boy's conflicting worries, the yells turned from surprise to elation and a new feeling shook down his spine.

Though, as worried as he was about his clothes being victimized by the grabbing hands of two or more girls, the young man was still naked in the tub with only a towel to cover himself. Thus, he shouted through the still open doorway, "Could you guys, please, bring me a change of clothes before you go on your dressing room spree!?" Much to his pleasant surprise, a shirt and a pair of pajamas were launched from the bedroom and crashed into the corner of the doorframe, to which he yelled defeatedly, "Thank you…!"

Thus, after using his ears to make sure the hall outside was quiet and clear, he pulled himself up from the tub and tumbled onto the tiled floor. He landed with a grumble, "Ow… damn it…" and proceeded to crawl over while his foot began to cry with a small bit of pain, either from his botched landing or from the water in his cast. He grabbed the clothes from the floor, slammed the door shut, and proceeded to hang them up nearby while he dressed himself and used a nearby scissors to cut off his makeshift cast so that he could replace it with the supplies nearby. He struggled a bit but remained determined to care for his own wellbeing, even when Yumi and Miyabi knocked on the door and demanded that they be let in to help. In the middle of one said knock, the young man popped open the door once he was dressed with a new cast on, leaned against the wall to stand, and gave a triumphant smile… before it promptly fell away due to shock.

Dressed in a in a mix of hoodies that clung all too tightly and in pajama pants which did well to pronounce their lower figures, Yumi and Miyabi were staring at the young man incredulously in the face of his defiance. But, even when the former's expression was beginning to twist more sternly, the boy couldn't help but think to himself that they were a wonderful mix of cute and sexy. Then Yumi flicked him on the head, said, "Please, don't be spiteful," and the nice feelings had distanced themselves as the young man was picked up into the girls' arms and carried over to the apartment's dining area. The sight that awaited him there nearly made his heart stop, cutting off all the protests he tried to muster.

Dressed in similar fashion to Yumi and Miyabi, the other three women were running around in his shirts and pajama pants, though Homura seemed to be wearing an old set of gym pants that he wore the previous school year. As the tanned girl was setting the table, doing her utmost to avoid making eye contact while doing so, Asuka just finished pulling out a tray of pre-cooked dumplings from the oven. Off in the corner, where the washing and drying machine were sat, Murasaki was tripping and bumbling around with the sheets covering most of her face and upper body.

Blinking in the face of everything around him while the two girls carrying him sat him down at the head of the table, where he could look to the other five chairs present, the young man considered the question of whether or not he'd died and gone to heaven… but quickly threw it away when he rested his hand against his chest and found a heartbeat. Then, as he settled into the facts of the matter, an awkward feeling ran down his spine as he wondered how he was supposed to feel and act. What was he supposed to say, do, or think? Was he a pervert for enjoying the sight? Wouldn't he only be letting their relationship predicament intensify with conflict by allowing it to continue? Those questions rattled the young man for a moment… Then, in defiance of his tendency to worry, he decided to roll with it. He wouldn't comment unless probed and would act as though everything were normal.

But, just as the young man straightened his back and shuffled his shoulders to get comfortable in his chair, he looked up to find that Yumi and Miyabi had sucked in their lips and were staring straight down at him like he was some kind of bomb. Unsure of the issue plaguing them, the boy briefly turned his eyes away, "Sorry for behaving like a brat earlier…" before looking back to them, "and thanks for the… bath and for carrying me around like the potato I am."

Straightening her neck up a bit, Yumi smiled and nodded while Miyabi suddenly interjected, "You're-, you are not a potate-, not a potato!"

At that point, the young man knew something was up. Even during the bath, the two spoke frankly with only a bit of stiffness. Yet, Yumi still adjusted herself when he offered a bit of innocent praise and Miyabi, however skittish she already was with softer matters, spoke as though she were a scratchy old record player. Seeing the two's reactions when they were simply at the table, with little to no nudity, told him there was something off.

Distracting him for a brief moment, Asuka came by with the pan of dumplings and sputtered, "Sorry that it isn't fresh!" and lifted one of her hands to the fridge, "We wanted to do something cool and fresh… but there's only some boxes of frozen food in there… so… yup…"

Noting the brunette's stiff reaction as well, the young man did his utmost to keep a straight face and said, "It's no problem at all. Thank you."

Without another word, Asuka just began to slide some dumplings onto his plate. Seeking answers, the young man looked to Homura, whom he believed to be the most forward, and asked, "Alright, what's happening?"

His answer came in the form of, "We'll talk once we're all sat down."

"Okay, I'm getting nervous now," mumbled the young man, his eyes scared and suspicious of his surroundings.

The girls around him began to wordlessly take their seats after filling their plates and nervously fumbled with their hands while waiting for Murasaki to return from the bedroom. After a bit of time, Miyabi turned her reddening head and called over, "You're killing us! Just throw the sheets down and… we'll all face this…!"

Murasaki peered the top her head from around the corner of the doorframe, "I don't wanna see how this'll turn out."

"What's happening?" asked the young man.

Yumi tried to take the gentle approach by coaxing Murasaki, "Wouldn't you like to see this to the end?"

Her eyes widening in panic, the purple-haired girl sputtered, "But what if Sato's just trying to sabotage us!?"

Hearing the name of the person that he still didn't particularly like, the young man's eyes narrowed to little dots, "No, seriously, what's going on?" and even thwapped his hand against the table a few times, "Seriously, I hate it whenever a conversation's bouncing around and I don't understand. Would someone talk to me!?"

Not wanting to put off their coming conflict any longer, Homura just called over to Murasaki, "You know what, you can hide in there and the rest of us will handle this and reap the rewards. More for us, I say."

In the blink of an eye, Murasaki seated herself at the table with a large blanket wrapped around her, "I cannot abide that," and raised a clenched fist, "Even as she rests at Hebijo Academy, Bebeby is cheering me on for this very moment."

Surrendering to the fact that he wouldn't know what everyone else was panicking about, the young man slammed his face into the table and emitted a loud groan. Fortunately, it was then that Yumi said, "We have something important to talk about with you."

"Thank you, Gods…" grumbled the young man before raising his face up, "Please, just say it." When a few seconds passed and the girls exchanged looks with one another, he continued by pleading, "Please…?" Again, nobody responded and he just groaned again, "Oh… someone above, give me strength," before thwapping the top of his own head and looking to all of the girls again, "Look, it's been one heck of a day already… and I'll just guess and say that whatever we're going to talk about is a stressful issue. If we're not going to just get through it, could we just save it for the morning?"

"I like that idea," murmured Murasaki.

"No!" said Homura, shaking her head intently before anyone else.

"It's important!" cried Asuka pushing her hands against the table and lifting herself up, "We'll talk! We'll talk!"

"Then talk!" cried the young man with evident panic in his voice, "Enough with the suspense! What is going on!?"

"WE WANT TO DATE YOU!" responded Asuka with a yelp.

"THAT'S BEEN ESTABLISHED SINCE YOU"RE CONFESSIONS!" returned the young man.

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" yelled Miyabi with a crack in her voice as she pounded her hand against the table. With steam practically blowing out of her ears, the red-faced woman then looked the young man dead in the eye and stated, "AT ONCE, SHE MEANS! WE JUST WANT TO DATE YOU AT ONCE!"

"THANK YOU FOR ANSWER-, what?"

Blinking his eyes while his brain blew apart like a computer that just caught fire, the young man went blank in the head. Then, with a scratch to his ear, he asked, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

While the other girls mentally saluted her for being the one to break the ice, Miyabi sucked a breath into her nose and vented the embarrassment for a second. Once she was ready to speak, the woman said in quiet voice, "We all want to date you… simultaneously… That's the idea."

Blinking again and waving his hand around in front of his eyes to see if he was still in reality, the young man asked again, "I'm not hearing you correctly, sorry. Could you spell it out?"

Shaking a bit with a mix of embarrassment and frustration, Miyabi kept her cool and asked, "You're polyamorous-, polygamous-, whatever-, you're cool with the idea of multiple partners, right?" and leaned herself forward with sharp eyes, "That's what you said?"

Still lagged behind with a malfunctioning brain, the young man answered, "I don't see how that's relevant… but… yeah…?"

After Miyabi gave the others a pleading look for assistance, Asuka stood from the table and said, "Well…!" and froze as she tried to find the right words to get their intention across. Eventually, with one grandiose swing of both her arms, she gestured to everyone, cheerfully said, "Ta~da~!" and gave a strained smile.

It finally clicked in the young man's brain after he went over everything that'd just been said. Then he waved his finger around and asked, "Is this a prank or test of some sort? There's no way you guys are seriously talking about this."

Slowly dying on the inside as a result of all the verbal dancing that they were doing, Homura muttered, "For the love of-, listen," and gestured for the young man to look at her. When he obeyed, she said, "We're cool with it, you're cool with it. Accept it and find some peace."

"But-," mumbled the boy as he pointed around to Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi. Suddenly, he stammered, "No, hold on. You three aren't cool with-, at least, I haven't heard…" and scratched at his head. Eventually, as the confusion continued to have a boxing match against his brain, he asked the three, "Pardon me for prying, but are you three… polyamorous?" He gestured to Asuka and Homura, "I remember you guys mentioning something before," before rounding his eyes to the others, "But what about you guys?" It would have been easier to lie and nod their heads. But, knowing that it wouldn't be good to hide crucial information in what would already be a sensitive relationship, the three girls awkwardly shook their heads. In response, the young man rested the side of his head into his hand, "So… you're not cool with it then…?"

Yumi took the moment to answer, "We're happy if we can be in a relationship with you."

"No. No, no," stated the young man as he raised a finger while his headache sprouted up again, "No good, no good, no good." After trying to think his way through an argument that he never thought he'd have to prepare, the boy said, "I… From all that I understand, that is a ter-ri-ble combination." He gestured one hand onto the table, "See, that'll lead to jealousy one way or another. Either I accidentally say something with an implication of favoritism or the relationship itself will fall apart due to… I dunno-, competition? Would that be the right word?" He rested his head into a hand as he mentioned, "That's why I brought the whole polygamous thing up to begin with… It doesn't work with people who only want one partner."

Asuka raised her hand, "Well, when Sato suggested it-," but was cut off.

"Sa-to… suggested this?" asked the young man in a slow voice, "No wonder it's a terrible idea."

For the first time, Murasaki spoke of the matter after letting out a panicked cry, "We were carrying you home, then Yumi and Miyabi kept making remarks to each other, so Sato started asking questions!" Throwing her hands around like a fast-paced mime, she continued, "Our interest in you came up, we talked about some things, the polygamy matter came up, and Sato said we should all just go with it…!" Once she fell silent, everyone was staring at Murasaki as though she were splattered in blood. Seeking to break the silence, she just said, "And… to be fair, it would make things easier for everyone. You don't have to choose, none of us will lose, and there's no waiting around." After a moment of thought, she remarked to herself quietly with a small smile that she buried into her blanket, "…there was a rhyme…"

Murasaki nearly jumped in the air when the young man shouted, "Easy doesn't mean healthy! Doubly so if the idea came from Sato!"

"We know that it'll be complicated-," started Yumi before she was cut off.

"We're all going to be miserable," stated the young man, "Maybe we'll have a honeymoon period and, maybe, we'll do alright for a while…" before his voice turned low and dire, "But every case I've heard of this kind of thing says one of two things: we'll either hate each other by the end of it or I'll end up decapitated and have my body thrown out to sea." After a brief pause, he mumbled, "Neither option sounds very appealing."

"Wouldn't you want this?" asked Yumi, her voice a bit quiet and sad, "Or is it… that you don't want any of us?"

"I would want this if you guys were okay with it," answered the young man, doing his utmost to not get dragged in by his urges to comfort and assure the girl.

"But we are okay with it," said Miyabi with a tinge of frustration, "That's what we've been saying!"

"Not to sound arrogant," stated the young man, "but you're okay with the idea of dating me. Not the part where other women are involved."

"Well, sure it's not ideal-," started Miyabi before the boy interrupted her by standing his body up.

He began to say, "There! That-," but stopped as he began to put weight onto his injured foot. Immediately, he fell backward and toppled over his chair and onto the wooden floor. Just as the girls darted around the table to help pick him up, the young man muttered defeatedly to himself, "…not okay…" When everyone started to pull him up, he thought they were just going to sit him into the chair again. But, much to his dismay, they instead just kept him circled in between them and held on for dear life. The young man wriggled a bit and said, "Alright, I'm good. Put me down now," but was ignored.

"Please give this a chance," whispered Murasaki from somewhere behind him. The young man tried to turn but his body and neck were too caught up in the group hug to twist around. Thus, he could only listen as she said, "We can talk about it in greater detail tomorrow… we could even establish rules and boundaries to keep the peace…" A gentle pair of lips pressed against the back of the boy's head, which zapped through and froze his very core, before she continued, "Please…? We're okay with this… and willing to work it out…"

Sucking in his lips and letting out a sight of defeat, the young man replied simply, "I'm not worth setting aside whatever wants or principles each of you have for a relationship…" He tried to sound strong when he said it, though the weight of devaluing himself still hurt despite how selfish he knew it to be, "No one here should have to bend their will and join a relationship that they're not comfortable with… what, just because of some guy?"

"A special guy," Asuka assured as she tightened her arms around the boy.

"But I'm not special," whispered the young man. He raised his eyes to meet the beautiful orbs of the women whom he could look to and said, "I'm not a shinobi with some awesome powers… I'm not some skilled fighter who can come and save the day whenever you need help…"

At that point, Yumi retorted, "What about with the Yōma earlier? You saved Murakumo, Asuka, and I then," and reminded in a gentler tone, "Plus, you saved me from my distortion when I was on the verge of losing myself."

"Not without getting my ass handed to me both times," argued the young man in a louder voice. Then, with great hesitance, his voice cracked, "And not without considering some of the most selfish things I ever thought of." After sucking a breath through his teeth, he admitted, "The only thing that made me come save you the first time was the knowledge that I wouldn't be able to get away… Not with Jasmine and Hanzō's deal on the table…" He blinked his steadily watering eyes and continued, "Even this last time… I was so close to just running away and leaving you all for dead…" With a crack in his voice, he mumbled, "I'm a selfish piece of shit… Not some special person deserving of the love from one of you… much less all of you…"

"Deserving has nothing to do with," said Miyabi as she nuzzled her head close and rested it against the young man's, "and we're all scared and selfish in some way." Shocked that he was hearing her comfort not a second after his admission, the boy looked to her as she continued, "What matters to us is that you've conquered that fear today, other days, and back then… Plus, we want you for who you are." Miyabi tightened her own hold and pressed herself close, "You're practical but also principled. You're selfish but also selfless." She finished by saying, "You're an individual who's a mesh of complicated and conflicting qualities… and we love that mesh…"

Breathing heavily as all of the mental shields that he had up came down, the young man looked between everyone and felt his shoulders fall. He loved the feeling of the hug that he was in, yet he still felt guilty to even be accepting it. If he got into a relationship with them all, how long would that feeling persist? The thought of five beautiful and remarkable women loving him was absolutely crushing in both the best and worst of ways. He wanted to resist for both them and himself… But he had nothing left to fire back with. In the end, the young man did want a relationship like that with them, though he always regarded it as nothing more than an unattainable fantasy.

Then Homura said into his ear, "Please, just give this a chance," and he completely melted.

Silent and still very conflicted while he was still wrapped up in the arms of five beautiful shinobi, the young man nodded his head and relaxed himself into their hold. He would have returned the embrace if he could but his arms were stuck to his sides. Fortunately, just as he tried to struggle his arms free, he was distracted and completely thrown off by the feeling of Homura's lips gently landing onto his. Shortly after she parted and the young man blinked in honest confusion, the group pulled apart as Asuka turned him to her and stood onto the front of her feet to plant a kiss as well. Miyabi and Yumi came next, turning him around to place somewhat confident kisses as well, though the former had to take a moment to let her bones jitter in nervous excitement. Then Murasaki also pulled him to her and gave a nervous smooch. Once it was all done and over, the young man had no idea what to say or do. He could only shake and wobble on his knees in a mix of nervousness, anxiety… and a lot of shy excitement.

Homura said from behind the boy, "Let's rest… At this point, we've all had one helluva day. We'll work out the fine print tomorrow."

With their frozen dinner being forgotten on the table, the five girls picked up the silent and still young man and carried him over to the bedroom to rest. Even as they sprawled him out and began to resettle the blanket, he could only remain silent as he tried to connect his senses and reality together. But just as he found words, a new concern overcame him, beckoned him to ask, "Wait…" and brought him to try and lift himself against the girls' gentle assurances, "Where are you guys sleeping?"

Practically popping lightbulbs in their heads, Miyabi and Murasaki huddled into a corner to recover their fracturing minds. Meanwhile, Asuka stammered out, "Well, since we're all… in a relationship-," but cut herself off to say, "Hm~, that sounds fun to say now… Relationship. Re-la-tion-ship…"

Taking charge of her faltering friend, Homura said, "It's appropriate that we share a bed, right?"

Miyabi and Murasaki let out breathless and nervous cries from their corner while the young man tilted his head and said with a crack in his voice, "Is that… how it works…? Doesn't it seem early?"

With a more eager smile on her face, Yumi responded, "Well, what's normal for others doesn't have to be normal for us," but then tilted her head with a frown, "Unless, you'd rather not."

Feeling his face heat up to an immense degree, the young man turned onto his side and muttered, "Whatever you're comfortable with…"

There was not a hint of hesitation before he felt the blankets lift, followed by Yumi saying, "I'll be joining you then." The young man tried to play it cool and told himself that they were only sharing the bed. He then let out a muted yelp when Yumi pressed herself into his back and hugged him from behind, "Sleep well."

Soundlessly, the young man mouthed, "I won't be sleeping at all…!"

As all of that was happening, Homura narrowed her eyes and muttered, "You know, since Asuka and I are the only natural pair here… shouldn't we be laying at his sides."

"I'm not moving," said Yumi.

Asuka then pointed to the other side, "Well, maybe if we both snuggle over there-," but was surprised when Miyabi darted from her corner and hugged into the young man's front, "HOLY-, SO FAST!"

Pinning the boy's frizzling head into the crook of her neck, the white-haired woman said with a red but determined face, "I have no intention to move…"

Seeing the more comfortable posture between the two, Yumi began to protest, "Actually, I think he should be facing my side."

Miyabi's nervousness fell away and she promptly stared daggers, "Not happening."

Being careful to not harm the target of their affections, the two commenced a mini tug of war tournament. Between the gentle yanking, the young man was pulled onto his back and swiveling back and forth. Knowing that it could get dangerous as the two's competitive instincts came out, he muttered, "Please, please… There are civilians in the crossfire…!"

Homura and Asuka exchanged determined looks with one another and were about to leap onto the bed to settle the conflict… but then they realized that would likely kill the young man with the force of their dive and chose to be more reasonable by just sitting down on opposite ends. After that, they slithered their way to the sides of the young man's stomach and rested their heads there, smiling once their combined weight prevented Yumi and Miyabi from pulling any further.

Then, not wanting to be left out despite how skittish she was, Murasaki proceeded to divebomb onto the bed. The entire mattress bounced once she landed at its foot, nearly throwing everyone into the air, as she tried to cling her arms around the young man's chest. But, with four opposing bodies blocking her way, she was forced to settle a bit lower onto his stomach. Laying her head between Asuka and Homura, Murasaki then mumbled, "I don't think we'll be able to pull the blanket up without me suffocating…"

Knowing that their combined body heat would probably leave the group as a sweaty mess in the morning, the rest of the group remained silent as Asuka and Homura pulled up the blanket to cover up most of the girl and snuggled in for their sleep. Meanwhile, the young man thanked every holy force reigning above for the fact that everyone was still dressed in a mix of soft hoods, shirts, and pajama pants. The cuddling by itself was stressful enough… they did not, by any means, need to have skin-to-skin contact yet.

Then, as the nervousness began to die down, the young man began to consider his comfortable position. Even if it was a bit hard to breath with two heads resting against his neck and another three on his chest and stomach, there was still something incredibly relaxing that was coaxing him to sleep. Then, as he laid there with his straight expression facing the ceiling of a new and not familiarized apartment, he realized that it was their excessive acceptance that brought him such peace. Somehow, when the slot machine of life was dolling out lots, he managed to receive hellish experience after hellish experience followed by five beautiful women who loved him dearly. However the next day would go, however painful the process of recovery would be, he had them and they had him…

Something about that was enough to bring him into the arms of exhaustion and he promptly fell asleep.

"**A touch too close for most but us,**

**We embrace, skin and mind, with grins…**

**Though, for two-plus, this home's off hair,**

**Place matter's not when we share peace…"**

"**Though our trust is a few weeks' bud,**

**We fought and rest as bonded ones.**

**However sore the wounds might burn,**

**Certainly, that bond must be felt."**

"**Normal can't speak for our red strings!**

**Their strength is beyond standard read!**

**Forever since this day onward,**

**Never will you starve for my love!"**

**April 26 – "Relationships are difficult but, in case the constant reproduction of the human race wasn't a hint, they are worth the effort."**

Numerous times throughout the night, the five women would occasionally awake and look up to the young man's face. In their minds, nothing was more pleasing than seeing him unconsciously smile as he slept. After all of the hard effort they'd all put in, there was a chance for peace. Even if the discussion regarding the Yōma would eventually come back up… they had a chance for peace…


	46. Chapter 46: Silliness and Boundaries

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 46: Silliness and Boundaries

The first things the young man noticed were pleasant but still slightly foreign sensations running across the top and back of his head. He easily recognized them as fingers running through his hair with the occasional pat or scratch to his scalp, so the unknown element at hand wasn't so much the what as much as it was the who… But, with him being plagued by sore limbs and an unbeatable desire to do absolutely nothing that day, the young man had no motivation to solve the mystery. Rather, with his eyes still closed, he shuffled his shoulders to dig himself further into the mattress and let out a content sigh with a smile.

In response, one of the sensations glided from the top of the young man's head and cupped his cheek with a caressing thumb. Before any questions could be raised, a pair of lips pecked onto the boy's followed by another pair and, as wonderful the feelings were, he was much less acquainted with that form of affection. Thus, he opened his eyes and looked up to find both Asuka and Homura looking down to him with tired but pleased expressions on their faces. The young man blinked in confusion, then his eyes widened and he sucked in a breath to let out a yell, but froze as he remembered the night before. He was no longer looking into the faces of girls who'd confessed to him, a fact which would bring on stress during already turbulent times. Instead, he was looking into the faces of his lovers… Two of the five, to be precise.

Still, the young man was not at all acquainted with the prospects of such a relationship and the interactions it entailed. So, rather than offer a casual "Good morning" followed by a line that expressed some form of happiness, the boy pressed his lips together and stared blankly between the two. Despite the red tinge to her cheeks, Asuka was the first to greet him with, "How'd you sleep?"

The young man's response was a quiet and instinctual, "Good… You…?"

Raising herself up a bit and letting the boy realize that she'd been resting on his arm, the brunette pushed herself closer and purred, "If I can have this spot tonight, I'll be great…"

Homura, in a similar position on the other side, gave an amused snort of air while her hand continued to run across the back of the young man's head. Then a mischievous glow shined in her eyes and a cheeky grin overtook her face. By the time she said, "So, how was your first night with five beautiful women?" the young man thought he was prepared with a smart retort.

"It was certainly a night with five beautiful women."

Homura stared blankly as the grin slightly slipped away before she asked, "Is that… It was a good night then?"

Realizing that he was not at all prepared with a smart retort, the young man sheepishly replied, "Oh, no. wait-, I don't mean 'no' like-, it was a good night. Heavenly…" and then shrank his head back into the pillow, "I'll just shut up and nod my head to say it was a good night…"

Not blaming him for the awkwardness and taking his position into consideration, Homura understood and continued to rub the young man's head, "I've gotcha, I've gotcha," before murmuring, "though you can make that fumble up by giving us a hug." The boy nodded in response but only looked around nervously while doing nothing. Raising up her hand to offer a gentle and playful swat to his slightly exposed stomach, Homura stated, "That's your cue to give us a hug."

"I can't feel my arms," replied the young man in a low and frightened tone.

Asuka blinked a few times before nearly falling into a panic, "Wha-, huh!? Are you alright-," but was cut off by Homura's hand clasping onto her mouth.

"Lift your body up," ordered the tanned girl.

Thus, once both brunettes lifted themselves, the young man raised his body up and looked down to his still unmoving arms. As his knuckles grazed against the bedding, he murmured, "I never can get used to how weird a sleeping limb feels…" before he tried to lift his legs a little. But, when he realized that they were being weighed down by something, he looked down to the edge of the blankets and realized that Murasaki was still soundly sleeping with a gentle snore. As her peaceful head rested against the young man's upper thighs, he murmured uncomfortably, "At least she's comfortable…" while trying not to let anything arousing even prod at his mind, fearing that any physical show of that arousal would result in certain death.

"Yup," remarked Homura with a face that wasn't as amused as before, "It's amazing really. Even you showed some signs of waking up… but she's still out like a light."

"I have a way to handle that," came a new voice which belonged to Miyabi. The three conscious people on the bed turned to the room's entrance and found the girl staring with an expression that said she was trying to be humorous. Before further questions could be asked, she raised an airhorn into the air and rested her finger over its trigger, "Want me to?"

Immediately shaking his head, the young man said, "Spare her, please. It's… Sunday…" before he turned to the two brunettes and asked, "Is it Sunday?"

They nodded their heads in unison, also not wanting the sound of an airhorn to disrupt their day, "Sunday."

When the young man turned back to Miyabi, he found that she approached the bed and craned herself over to lower her head towards his. She was trying to look stern, likely out jealousy since three other people were cuddled up to the boy without her, but the steadily rising heat in her face forced her to capitulate and say, "Well… once you're all up, you guys can make breakfast. Yumi and I just got back from shopping."

Homura and Asuka were about to give determined nods but were promptly cut off by the young man saying, "Once my arms are awake, I'll be out there." He received three surprised, though certainly not displeased, looks in return. Feeling his resolve falter under the three women's gazes, he mumbled, "After everything last night, I'll pull a bit of weight too."

"How's your ankle?" asked Miyabi in a slow and cautious tone.

The young man shrugged, "Sore," before raising a finger, "but I'll have a counter to lean on, so… I'm still able."

While Asuka and Homura exchanged supportive and even slightly excited looks with one another, Miyabi was about to try and use the opportunity to say something seductive and sweet. After all, from all that she'd heard and read online earlier that morning, boys loved to hear firm words of appreciation with a bit of tease after doing good deeds. She began to say, "Well, if you can cook us breakfast…" but stuttered when it came time to drop an enticing line, "I'll reward-, I'll happily-, your effort-, I'm-, I-," and cut herself short, "Thank you…"

Before any response could be given, Yumi popped in through the doorway and stood on her toes to look over Miyabi's shoulder at the young man, "Should you really be trying to stand?"

Jumping a bit at the girl's sudden arrival, the young man still managed to remain firm, "As comfortable as this bed is, I'm starting to feel more like a leech than… well, a… boyfriend." He didn't really know if being called a boyfriend was the right term since they all had extremely unusual circumstances with one another. Despite his unsureness, he persevered, "Besides, if I need to move around, I can either manage or ask for help."

With her cheeks rising in joy, Yumi closed her eyes and elegantly strutted around Miyabi to approach the young man. Before the other three women present, whose expressions were more and more shocked as time went on, she rested a hand on his shoulder and hovered her head just above his. After a calculated pause, she said, "Well, it's much appreciated," and proceeded to lower her lips to the young man's face. The boy froze from the gesture, as he had no idea on how to react and felt the other girls' stares. When Yumi pulled back from the smooch, she quietly proclaimed, "I look forward to the meal."

Looking on with wide eyes, Miyabi remarked to herself, "…dangerous…" and resisted the urge to say something combative when Yumi strutted away and out of the room, looking as though she'd just won some kind of grand championship. Meanwhile, Asuka and Homura were bobbing their heads up and down in agreement to the white-haired woman's statement. As all of that happened, the young man remained frozen for a few seconds before promptly murmuring something incoherent to himself.

Just as he rolled himself off to the side of the bed and tried to stand himself up, Murasaki began wake up from her slumber, since she'd so suddenly lost her comfortable thigh-pillow. She yawned quietly and rubbed her eyes as he began to fall forward from the attempt to keep his balance. While the other three girls in the room silently assisted the boy and began to carry him off to the kitchen area, Murasaki blinked a few times and remarked under her breath, "I missed something…"

A few minutes passed and the young man was effectively posted in the kitchen under the watchful eyes of all the women in the apartment. Homura and Asuka's expressions were rifled with nervousness as they stood close by and watched to make sure the boy wouldn't fall, though the latter did put on a layer of optimism with an uneasy smile. Sitting at the table while peering over like a mother hen, Miyabi was bouncing her leg up and down in uncertainty for whatever would come next. Of everyone in the room, Yumi and Murasaki were by far the most apparently calm. Though, where the former seemed to masking her own worry with a confident smile and closed eyes, the latter was mostly just too tired to really think about all of the surrounding circumstances. With everyone's faces being so diverse, the mood was conflicting and tense, as though a single word could start the next world war.

Taking all of that in, the young man wished to reassure them by setting an example of how resilient he was. He wanted to mentally prepare himself and proceed by gliding across the counter, ingredients in one hand and his tools in the other, and prepare the perfect breakfast to start off the strange relationship he'd started with them. After all, if he proved he was willing to pull his weight, perhaps that would take a burden off the girls… But, as with most things regarding the young man at that point, things didn't go entirely as planned. Notably, when he hobbled over to the fridge and gathered the ingredients Yumi and Miyabi had brought, he immediately found his first dilemma: what was he supposed to cook?

He had an idea in the bedroom, taking a wild guess that either some eggs or another common breakfast item would be bought. Fortunately, it was the former. Unfortunately, there was another bunch of items that the young man had no idea what to do with. In addition to some chicken, rice, standard vegetables like onions and scallions, along with some sauces… there were peppers of a foreign sort that he didn't recognize, a small quantity of various meats, an abundant supply of apples for some reason, and so many different spices that he couldn't even imagine the variety of flavor. With the items that he was more familiarized with, the young man could easily make an egg bowl of sorts. If he felt a bit ballsy, he could throw in some of the chicken and make a more traditional oyakodon…

Just as the young man was trying to remember if he was familiar with the taste of Sichuan pepper and galangal, Miyabi was the one who broke the silence by slowly asking, "Are you alright? You look like a deer in headlights."

Not wanting to risk their first breakfast together by experimenting with some concoction, the boy meekly turned around and asked, "Would you be offended if I didn't use all the ingredients you guys bought?"

His question brought a quick laugh out of Yumi, who covered her mouth politely when the young man stared at her in a mix of offense and confusion. A few seconds after, she stated with a small smile, "It's not all meant for a single breakfast. It should just be enough to hold us all over for a few days."

While the young man recoiled and realized his mistaken assumptions, Homura rested her hands over her stomach and mumbled, "Honestly, considering how long it's been since we last ate, I wouldn't mind devouring all of it in one sitting."

Ignoring her tanned friend's statement, Yumi continued to say to the boy, "Make whatever you're comfortable with. Either way, we'll appreciate your effort."

After giving a nod and turning back to the ingredients he had on hand, the young man vowed to himself that he would offer more than just effort for them to appreciate. Sticking to his original idea to make an egg bowl, he began to grab the ingredients from the fridge and rested them onto the counter with only a few fumbles with his leg. Once everything was set and done, he began to go about cutting some onions as Asuka asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what're you planning to make for us… chef," and chuckled to herself.

"Egg and rice bowl," called back the young man he began to cut some onions, which in turn unleashed a great retribution on his eyes.

Of course, hearing those words froze Miyabi to her core. Wonderful memories of her mother came back into mind and she couldn't help but ask, "Say that again?"

Without turning his head, since he didn't want any of the ladies catching sight of his tearing up, the young man just responded by calling again, "Egg and rice bowl. Onions, scallions, and the like included."

Sitting in her chair petrified for a moment, earning a confused look from Yumi in the process, Miyabi went back to a long-forgotten fantasy she had about the boy during their jog together some time before. She remembered smiling at the thought of continuing her life as a shinobi and coming home to stay-at-home partner with a wonderful meal prepared for her. Thus, while doing her utmost to keep an overpowering smile off her face, Miyabi shakily remarked aloud, "Gotta marry him…" Even if it was just a fantasy, feeling a bit of its taste in reality was an outrageously wonderful feeling.

Meanwhile, in response to her louder than intended statement, everyone else in the room froze, save for the young man since he still had to finish cutting the onions. Of course, the first to challenge Miyabi was Yumi, who said through a daggered smile, "Oh, isn't it a bit early for that?"

The white-haired woman rewound herself and mumbled, "Oh-, no, I wasn't being… serious," but then jumped in fear of what her words would imply. She leaned upon the table and called over to the young man by saying, "Wait-, I take this relationship seriously! Please, don't worry about what I-," and then sat herself back down in defeat, "I'll stop."

"I took no offense," called back the young man, deliberately keeping his eyes averted out of embarrassment.

Just as Miyabi let out a sigh of relief, Yumi still craned herself forward and began to say, "Still, I must admire your forward planning."

The Hebijo shinobi straightened herself and said much more solidly, "Don't take it too seriously."

"Well," started Yumi as she fiddled with her thumbs, "it's hard not to, since we're… all, by technicality, in a relationship together now. As in," and pointed to the young man, "not just with him," before rounding her finger to everyone else in the room, "but also with each other."

The explanation brought a small yelp of surprise out of Asuka, who hadn't put much deeper thought into what the relationship implied. Meanwhile, right beside her, Homura remarked, "I see no issues," and wrapped her arm around the brunette, who jumped in further surprise.

Yumi spoke innocently, "I'm only saying that if one of us wants to… advance in front of the others," and locked her eyes onto Miyabi, "then we should all be clear and in agreement first."

Before the rivaling shinobi could retort, the young man barked loudly without facing anyone, "If you guys are going to start fighting, this kind of goes in line with what I was saying about why a relationship between all of us is a bad idea."

Hearing the blatant threat to the status of their still newborn intimacy, everyone in the room froze and looked to the back of the young man's head. When he didn't meet their gaze, Murasaki launched her head up from the table and began to stammer, "No! No – no – no – no – no! Everything's good and everything's fine! They're not fighting!"

Once she recovered from the verbal sucker punch, Yumi quickly bowed her head to Miyabi without any hesitation, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" while the woman did the same.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Asuka raised her arms swung them toward the general direction of everyone else, as though she were presenting some kind of theatric play, "See, everything's fine! Everything's fine!" while Homura sat in the background, trying to think of how a levelheaded person would try to deter the young man from his suggestion.

Still, the boy turned around with eyes that he thought were stern, "We'll talk about everything once we're done eating. The relationship, boundaries… and everything from yesterday."

Seeing his face, the girls didn't shrink it all. Rather, while everyone else only offered a few nods, Homura quickly asked, "Need any help with cooking?"

The young man turned to her, "Why do you ask?"

Without saying anything, the tanned girl just gestured to her eyes. It was at that moment the young man processed just how itchy and puffy they were after having suffered the onions' onslaught for a few straight minutes. Normally, he'd make smaller portions of meals and would be able to take the heat. But, when constructing a meal for six, he'd overestimated his lackluster tolerance and was red-eyed mess by the end.

Knowing he had to clean himself up and swallowing his pride to prevent any potential embarrassment, the young man sunk his head and mumbled, "Your help would be appreciated."

Thus, breakfast was prepared and eaten in relative silence, with the young man's words still lingering in everyone else's minds. Any attempts that Asuka made to build a conversation were nipped by one-word answers or quiet nods of acknowledgement. The only time that a talk was initiated was when a phone's ringtone echoed from the bedroom. Before anyone could question it, Asuka made an annoyed sound, muttered, "Again…?" and trotted off. When she came back into the kitchen area, she lightly bowed her head, "Sorry."

"Who was that?" asked Homura before straightening her head a bit, "Thinking about it now, your phone was going off a lot earlier, right?"

"It's just Mom," replied the smaller brunette, "By the sound of it, she must have figured that we all took part in what happened yesterday." Letting out an exhale, she sat back into her chair and murmured, "It would be fine if it was simply asking if I was okay… which she did at five in the morning… But she just keeps asking to meet up and talk so that she can check or see for herself or something."

"Well," mumbled the young man, "to be fair, her daughter was involved in a life or death battle yesterday. So, she's probably a bit worried."

"I understand that," said Asuka, her voice both guilty and lightly irritated, "but starting fourteen text conversations over the course of seven hours is a bit excessive. I'm fine. My injuries are treated and I'll be ready to go back to school tomorrow."

"Ah," grunted the young man before giving a nod, "Yeah, I can see where that could get annoying." Then he took a moment to think and asked, "So, you'll be going back to school tomorrow?"

"Of course," replied the girl with her voice going back to chipper immediately, "Whether it's rain or shine, hurricanes or battle fatigue… I'm a shinobi and I still need to train!" before planting her balled hands onto her hips.

"So, what've you been doing this last week then?" asked the young man, his eyes narrowed with sarcastic humor.

"Protecting you," shot back the brunette, her voice still very cheerful but holding an unexpected tinge of sharpness.

After a recoil, the young man lowered his head, "Right, sorry," and made an awkward face. Then he asked, "So, your guys'… emergency leave, was it…? Your emergency leave is over?"

Asuka, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi all lowered their heads tired as a joint, "Yes…" was drearily muttered into the air. Homura would have taken the opportunity to rub in the fact that she wasn't a student… but then she realized that she'd have to go back to her part-time jobs to afford her and the rest of the renegades' meals. So, like any person who had their parade ruined before it even began, she slammed her head into the table in a fit of frustration.

"What's got you all riled up?" asked Miyabi tiredly, "You're not a student."

"Bite me," retorted Homura.

As the exchange continued, the young man pondered how daily life would continue without having to be on guard as much as he once was. Though, if the past few weeks were any hint, something else was just around the corner. Either the dignitaries would find him and attempt another attack, his brothers would come back to turn try and murder the hell out of everyone, or Sato would decide to betray them all for some reason and proceed to dramatically team up with Miki for another strange reason while also exploring a deep and enrichening romance between the two. Nearly laughing at the last suggestion his mind brought forward, the young man also decided that he wouldn't be surprised by a god riding down on an rainbow-farting unicorn from Disco Heaven to bestow a quest to eliminate the ancient evil known as King John the Ugly-Bastard Turnip, which would be awkward since the boy did enjoy a few ways that turnips could be prepared.

Taken back into reality as his wonderings for what the future beheld continued, a new question sprouted itself into the young man's mind… and his face immediately froze in terror. The girls quickly took noticed and turned to him with a mix of concerned looks, with Murasaki eventually asking, "What's wrong?"

"What happens when your parent's find out you guys are all in a six-way relationship with some random non-shinobi…?"

Asuka, Miyabi, and Murasaki all froze and proceeded to sip at their drinks and dug into their egg bowls with no desire to think about the actual answer to that question. At the same time, Homura gave a lighthearted shrug and Yumi began to happily think about what comments that her grandfather, Kurokage, would have about her choice in men.

When they finished their meals and piled their dishes into the sink, the young man announced from his seat at the table, "Alright, shall we… commence… the talk?"

"Is that what we're dubbing this?" mumbled Homura before mockingly repeating in a ghastly voice, "The talk~…"

"Just you wait," shot back the young man with a pointed finger, "this will probably be more dramatic and stressful than the birds and bees."

"What about birds and bees?" asked Miyabi, her face lighting up with curiosity.

"You know…" said the young man, his voice a bit more rigid, "Babies and where they come from."

With a straightened back and heated face, Miyabi made a small squeaky sound and murmured under her breath, "I didn't know there was a title for it…" and shivered, "…And this'll be… more dramatic and stressful." Thinking about the long and traumatizing talk that her father gave her years before, the woman asked in a serious voice, "Could we put this meeting on hold for a year or two?"

"Overruled," said the young man without a moment of hesitation.

Miyabi remained frozen in her seat before her head shrunk down a bit, "Could we… maybe… vote on it?"

Feeling his patience loosen away for a moment, the young man started gently, "Well, we could vote like a proper democracy," and then sharpened his face into a glare, "but I'm a tyrannical ruler and my word is law." With a straight face and a dramatic wave of his arms, he proclaimed, "Come forth, all ye heathens who'd defy me! Let us discuss the… recourse-, law-, no, holy word-," but then slumped over and said, "Screw it. We need to talk. Let's talk."

Miyabi continued to shiver anxiously while everyone silently remarked upon the young man's theatrics. Then, having mentally prepared herself, Homura asked, "Well, do we have any starting points?"

Leaning onto his hand and tapping the other against the table, the young man let out a thoughtful groan before shrugging, "Well… we should cover all of the bases. With the way we're all…" and awkwardly gestured to everyone, "together… even common sense for a standard relationship may not apply so well here."

"This is beginning to sound a bit tedious," remarked Homura.

"Then we start from the ground up," came Asuka's quiet cheer, ignoring her friend's grumble, "Everything simple and complex, let's figure it out and settle!"

After a round of nods, even from the still shaky Miyabi, the young man went into his head and tried to think of the most basic rules and establishments to a serious relationship. Of course, with it being very much on the spot, he knew that his thoughts wouldn't be organized nor would his proposals be thought-out. Still, some ideas came to his head and he knew that he had to voice them. Thus, he said in a less solid voice, "First question: is this a serious relationship for everyone? For me, it'd be serious."

Slow and confused, the girls each responded, "Yes…" a few seconds after the young man finished his own affirmation.

Yumi leaned onto the table and asked, "What kind of question is that?" before sternly crossing her arms and straightening herself, "Especially after everything that's led up to this point…"

"Stupid as it was, we're covering the basic of basics," replied the young man, his voice becoming clearer and more composed. Realizing just how deep the boy wanted to go with setting the rules, the girls all let out a collective sigh of anticipated exhaustion. After shuffling his shoulders awkwardly as he took in their tired looks, the young man continued by asking, "Next question: open or closed relationship. I leave this to you guys."

At first, everyone but Homura quickly answered, "Closed," before all of their eyes collectively narrowed with confusion.

Murasaki tilted her head and asked, "You… didn't have any thoughts on the matter?" before lowering her head and murmuring incoherent thoughts of suspicion to herself along with an audible, "Well… if you're okay with multiple women, why wouldn't you be okay with more…?" and then gave a depressed sigh.

Before any seeds of doubt could be planted, the young man shook his head and raised his palm to gently dismiss the girl's worries, "Believe me, I'm not interested in pursuing other women." He rounded his eyes to meet the gaze of everyone else and affirmed with quiet resolve, "Believe me, I'm lucky to be in my current position with the five of you and I know it." He then proceeded to clasp hands together on the table, said with a little less confidence, "Speaking frankly, that was my offer to you all… I figured-, I thought you might not be content since-," and gestured to himself, "I'm figuring that you may not be content with the whole… me being a, for lack of a better word, shared… comfort…? Commodity…?" He shook his head, "So… I figured, if I'm going to have a relationship with the five of you, perhaps you'd like other men-," but was cut off.

"That won't be necessary," stated Miyabi in an understanding but firm voice that made the young man feel as though he was being scolded, "We agreed with one another to work it out and we've all an interest in you… exclusively." She rubbed her cheek for a moment and then said, "So, don't worry about trying to make it up to us."

Blinking just once as he comprehended just how seriously dedicated everyone was on the matter, the young man had an anxious itch on the back of his neck that he forced himself to not scratch. So, he just made a sound, "Ah," nodded his head, "well, it's appreciated. Thank you," and rounded his head to everyone, "All of you."

From out of left field, Homura raised her hand, "Quick question," and asked, "In a closed relationship, would we-," before pointing her finger to the women around her, "would us girls be able to… Have a relationship-, a romantic kind of relationship with each other? Or does that go against the closed relationship thing?"

Without much pause or thought, the young man just nodded, "Well, we're all technically in a relationship with one another already… So, yeah. You could go for that kind of relationship."

Everyone but Asuka caught on to what Homura had in mind, leaving the girl to be the only one with a blank expression while the rest of the women crossed their arms and pumped their fists in approval for Homura. The tanned girl simply gave a victorious nod and leaned back into her chair like a general marching into battle that would be a sure win. Not catching onto the mood, the smaller brunette instead asked, "Can I ask a less serious question?" After receiving a silent go-ahead in the form of waved hand, Asuka continued with sharp and determined eyes that no one could take seriously, "How often can we hug and kiss?"

In one simultaneous movement, everyone else turned their heads toward the young man while their eyes flashed red with predatory intent, producing a low but frightened sound from the boy's throat. But, once he composed and reminded himself that he was in good company, the boy simply answered by saying, "Well… I always appreciate a good hug… and I imagine I'd be the same way with kisses… so, no need to ask-," but cut himself off once he could see steam seeping out from the corners of everyone's mouths. He muttered inaudibly, "Gods, I'll regret saying that…" and gestured to the girls, "What about yourselves? Want me to give some kind of warning?" in an attempt to alleviate the feeling that he was about to be attacked.

"No warning required," stated Yumi and Miyabi with loud and proud voices.

Asuka, on the other hand, said, "Provided the mood is appropriate, no need to ask…"

Mumbling something next to her, Homura shook her head and then answered, "Ditto with that one."

On the far end of the spectrum, Murasaki shook with a nervous smile in her seat before murmuring, "I may need a bit of warning…" before shaking uncontrollably, "I mean, with that kind of question and being on the receiving end of a kiss, there'd be so much to consider…" She raised a finger with every point she doled out, "Would I be in the mood, wouldn't I be in the mood, what if I'm having a bad day, how would you know if it's a bad day, would we be out in public, wouldn't it be too heated in private-," and began to wildly run her hands through her hair as the confusion continued to build itself up.

After a brief moment of consideration for all of the questions Murasaki was bringing up, the young man shivered as he thought about every worst-case scenario and just looked to everyone and said, "I think I'll just ask before any such situation… just to be safe."

Murasaki took a breath and let out a sigh of relief as she sat exhaustedly in her chair, all while everyone else gave small shrugs of approval to the accommodation. Once her energy was restored, the purple-haired girl raised her head and asked meekly, "Can we put this on hold…? This whole conversation is getting to be too much…"

To that, the young man remarked with narrowed eyes and a voice tinged with disapproval, "We're three questions in…"

Murasaki lowered her face into the table, letting out a muffled, "And what three questions they were…"

Letting out a sigh, the young man tapped his finger against the table and gently coaxed, "C'mon… there's still plenty to go over…" When the girl didn't raise her head and no one else offered support, his voice became a bit more solid, "Seriously, with circumstances like ours, there's a lot to go over. C'mon."

Murasaki murmured as she nuzzled her face back and forth, "Too… stressful…"

The young man nearly raised up his hands to grip his hair, "Murasaki, would-," but dropped them in frustration, "Lords above…" and sucked in breath to cool himself. Then, after a bit of thought, he raised up a finger, "What if we went over three more questions and took a break?"

Just as Miyabi and Yumi began to reluctantly say something else to encourage the girl back up, Homura tapped her fingers against the table and said, "How about I lay it out like this and you guys can either agree or disagree," before sucking in a breath. Once she thought out all of her words, she let out in a single breath, "Let's roll with this and see what comes. If there's problems, we stop, talk, and deal with them, make compromises where we can, and go on with our lovey-doveyness! If questions pop up, we talk. If concerns come in, we talk. If some random threat shows up, we talk and then deal with it or deal with it and talk. Either way, there's no need to bury ourselves in like a bunch of bureaucrats when we could just be doing fun stuff…!" Once she was done, Homura nearly died from the lack of oxygen in her body and collapsed onto the table.

Much to her ire, the young man just retorted by saying, "I'd be more comfortable if we laid everything out. I'm not very familiar with relationships and I'd rather not do something wrong by accident."

In a low voice that was on the border of becoming a growl, Homura quietly shot back after heaving in a breath, "If you do something wrong, we'll talk about it, be understanding, and all that mumbo-jumbo… would that make you happy…?"

After a few seconds of silence, the young man raised his head and innocently asked, "We'll communicate?"

"We'll communicate," affirmed Homura.

"Healthily and understandingly?"

"Healthily and understandingly…"

"With each other?"

Homura began to respond, "With each-," but cut herself off to stare daggers at the young man, "You're doing this on purpose."

Dropping the innocent smile and averting his eyes to the far side of the room, the young man leaned back and forth in his chair. Then, growing a bit more daring in his acts of spite, asked, "On purpose?"

"I'm going to kill you," threatened Homura as she raised her arms and cracked her knuckles.

Raising his hands to defuse her aggression, the young man admitted, "Okay, bad joke. Sorry about that," and clapped his hands together in thought. After a moment, he simply looked to everyone else and said, "Honestly, I'm a bit uncomfortable with this approach… but… what would do you guys think?"

"I mean," started Miyabi while resting her cheek onto her hand, "we have those beginning three points, which should set a good foundation… and, honestly, if I know you and the rest of us, we should be able to work anything out."

Yumi nodded her head, "I second that," and faced the young man with a gentle smile, "provided we talk, express any problems, and work through them properly and decisively, we should be just fine."

"And at the end of the day," interjected Asuka, "we can always kiss and make up if something goes wrong!"

Murasaki would have said something encouraging and hopeful as well but was too busy engraving her tired head into the table at that moment. Thus, the young man could only turn his head away for a brief moment, "Well, I'd rather avoid the whole 'something goes wrong' thing to begin with… but," and shrugged before facing everyone again, "if that's the approach everyone would prefer… let's go that route."

Without a second of pause or hesitation, Homura threw her hands into the air, "Meeting adjourned!" and then shot her hand down to Asuka's to pull the girl up, "If you need us, we'll be talking in the bedroom." Just as the smaller brunette began to bumble and murmur out multiple questions in her confusion, Homura turned around and said in a threatening tone, "Only interrupt if it's an emergency."

By the time she was being dragged from her position by the table, Asuka finally managed to get some words together, "Wait-, where're we-, hold on, Homura! Why are we going in there!? I feel like I'm in danger! Someone, please explain or help!" Not long after, the tanned brunette dragged the girl into the room and promptly slammed the door. A few more nervous chitters could be heard from Asuka before everything went silent.

Yumi was the first to speak, "Well, I'm glad that she's ready to confess," and even adopted a smile.

Remembering Homura's feelings for Asuka, the young man raised a brow, "Is… Are you sure that's what she's doing in there…?"

"What else would they be doing?" asked Miyabi, her tone level and calm.

"Well, in horror movies," started the young man, "getting dragged off into a room while calling for help is usually a sign that someone is going to be killed." Right on cue, a surprised yell from Asuka echoed out of the bedroom. In response, the boy just lowered his head and murmured, "A moment of silence for our fallen comrade…"

Yumi closed her eyes cheerfully but the tired tone she spoke in hinted that she wasn't as humored by the young man's dry remarks, "I'm sure she's just shocked about the confession."

There were more chittering and aimless stammers from the other side of the door before all fell silent again. The young man quietly clapped his hands twice in prayer and mumbled, "Asuka, you will be missed…" before straightening himself and his demeanor. In a more serious tone, he began to say, "Well, while they're partying up in there, we should talk about what happened-," but was cut off when Murasaki stood from her chair. When she said nothing and just stared at the young man, he slowly asked, "Are you alright?"

"No questions yet," said Murasaki as she began to round the table.

Taken aback by the dismissal and sudden advance on the girl's part, the young man flinched and averted his gaze, "I mean, it's kind of important. I feel like there's some information that needs to be shared-," but was cut off when Murasaki wrapped one arm around the back of his neck and lowered the other toward his legs. The young man started to exclaim, "What're you-, WHAT!?" as the girl heaved the boy upwards bridal style and clutched him close. Then, while Miyabi and Yumi stared in great alarm, Murasaki proceeded to carry the boy toward the couch that awaited in the living area. Shivering as she maintained an inescapable grip on him, the young man's mind raced as he tried to figure out the thoughts that were running through the girl's head. At one point, while maintaining a cold and expressionless face, she even looked down to him through the corner of her eye and the boy thought he was being carried toward his death…

Then, with a satisfied hum, Murasaki gently sat the boy onto the couch. Then, after making a few sounds of thought and arranging the boy into a straight posture with his thighs closed together, she gave a firm nod and sat on the couch next to him. Once a few seconds passed, she fell sideways and her head fell perfectly onto his lap with a satisfied groan, "As perfect as I fantasized it to be…"

While Murasaki began to murmur several words of gibberish in her comfort, the young man looked down with an unreadable expression as he asked, "…Enjoying yourself…?"

"Very much so," stated the girl before she raised a finger into the air, "though, I'd be better if you started patting my head."

"This is a bit much, don't you think?"

One of Murasaki's eyes peered up to the young man, "I spent a good portion of yesterday caring for your injuries… and now some of mine are starting to flare up." With a straight face, she declared, "Legend says that only a lap pillow and the loving strokes of my one true love can cure me of this pain…"

Making a small sound with his throat, the young man mumbled, "You don't have to guilt me into it…" as he slowly raised up one of his hands and rested it onto the side of Murasaki's forehead. Once he took in the soft touch of her hair, he began to stroke his thumb back and forth.

"More," came the order in a pleased voice.

Once the young man began to make a petting motion, the same which he'd practiced on the cats that he knew while growing up, Murasaki let out a loud and lengthy purr and stretched the rest of her body out onto the couch. Figuring that he was doing enough of a good job, the young man asked, "Am I free to ask my question now?"

"No," came Yumi's voice from behind. Just as the young man turned around, he found her leaping gracefully over the couch with a spiral. Once her feet made contact with one of the cushions on the opposite side of Murasaki, Yumi began to tip herself over while using all of her bodily training as a shinobi to slow her descent with her muscles alone. Straining as it was, since she was only grounded with her foot on a soft cushion, the girl was pleased that her head landing onto the young man's other thigh was met with nothing more than a surprised yelp. While Murasaki laid pleased and motionless on the shocked boy's lap, Yumi patted her head and ordered, "Me too." Being a bit quicker to act, the young man raised up his other hand and practiced the same petting motion that he was using with Murasaki. Yumi let out a pleased hum and murmured, "Okay, ask your question now."

"Wait," cried Miyabi, who was approaching from where she sat at the table, "I want to… as… well…" but stopped when she realized that there was no more space on the young man's lap. Another idea popped into her head and she began to say, "No, wait. I actually just want my cheek stroked-," but then she slumped over upon realizing that both of the boy's hands were also being taken. Feeling a bit defeated, she quietly asked, "…Can I have a turn…?"

"After an hour," responded Yumi.

Letting out a depressed sound, Miyabi looked as though she wanted to protest. Then, in an act of desperation, she turned to the young man with the saddest face she could muster. But, being as freshly caught into the situation as she was, the boy could only scrunch up an uncomfortable face and lower his head shamefully. But, before Miyabi could dejectedly turn away, an idea came to him and he straightened his neck to nod it back a few times, gesturing for Miyabi to come closer. Catching the intention of his gesture but clueless to what he had in mind, the woman cautiously approached. When the young man kept repeating the gesture, even when she was as close to the couch as could be, she craned her head forward with the expectation that he was going deliver a simple kiss. It would have been a sweet gesture and would drive home that she'd get her turn later.

Instead, the young man leaned his forehead forward into Miyabi's and nuzzled it left and right repeatedly. Having braced for a kiss of some sort to stave off her anxious nature in matters of romance, Miyabi was completely blown away by the surprise attack. Though some would call it a lesser gesture, especially since the other girls were getting both lap pillows and pettings right beneath her, the woman was more than happy to accept it. The young man only had two arm and two legs after all and, throwing in the fact that he was forcefully volunteered into the coddling position that he was in to begin with, Miyabi was just happy that he was willing to spend a bit more energy to give her as much affection as could be conveyed.

After nearly a half-minute's worth of nuzzling, Miyabi pulled away and murmured, "Thank you," with a red face. She then went to the rear of the couch, wrapped her arms around the young man's neck and held her protective posture over him.

Trying not to acknowledge the fact that Miyabi's actions left his head pressed between both of her breasts, the young man asked with a straight face, "Can I ask my question now?"

"Of course," said Yumi from his lap before looking up with a wink, "You could have just asked at any time, you know."

Narrowing his pupils on the contradictory girl for a moment, the young man began to say a few words of argument before shaking his head, "Oh, by the holy word…" and then resigned himself to just ask, "So, what happened to the Yōma?"

"It's dead," answered Murasaki as she shifted her shoulders to edge herself more into the young man's thigh.

"No~, really?" quipped the young man before sucking in a breath, "Sorry…" and looked back down, "How did it die?"

There was a brief pause before Miyabi asked, "Would you believe us if we said we killed it?"

"Based on how little affect everyone had on it collectively and the usual nature of that kind of question… no. No, I would not."

"Well," started Yumi as she patted one of her hands onto her makeshift pillow and adjusted herself, "let's just say that a super shinobi came out of nowhere and killed it."

There was a bit of silence from the young man before he asked, "No, seriously… what happened? Did the Self-Defense Force show up? Did they bomb that thing to Hell?"

"She's actually not lying," said Miyabi in a straight voice as her jaw occasionally tapped the top of the boy's head, "The equivalent of a super shinobi called Kagura showed up and killed the beast in seconds."

"Kagura?" repeated the young man before looking up to the girl, "Isn't that one of your guys' ranks for a tiptop shinobi?"

"Yes, though this one was actually named Kagura," answered Miyabi as she began to pat one of her hands onto the top of the boy's head, "and she's not really associated with the government."

Taking in the pleasure of being on the receiving end of some pats, the young man tried to remark in a serious voice, "You sound awfully casual about this…" that instead came out as a distracted murmur.

"We've met her a few times in the past, usually under less stressful circumstances," said Miyabi as a gentle smile began to fall onto her face. She couldn't really explain the pleasure that she felt upon looking down to the young man, whose oftentimes serious face was steadily beginning to contort into one of reddened embarrassment. Having that kind of power felt just as good to her as their nuzzling a minute before.

"Ah…" croaked the young man, "And… was there anything else that came after?" He was trying to fight off the tired feeling that weighed down onto his eyes, "Anything noteworthy?"

"Nope," remarked Yumi from below, "From what's been gathered… the Yōma's dead, the dignitaries' warehouse was successfully raided, and the infiltrators…" but cut herself off when she remembered the encounter with Tsao before he left. Just as the young man began to look down toward her, Yumi then asked, "Actually, could I ask you a question?"

Hearing the serious tone to Yumi's voice, the young man's tired face was roused a bit and he looked down to her, "Please, go ahead."

"We saw Tsao's face yesterday…" started Yumi, who immediately heard a sound of acknowledgement from the young man, "but he didn't look much like you… Meanwhile, your other brother… the unmasked one who threw down that explosive to the Yōma and the rest of us… He looked like an older twin of yours."

"I know what you mean," remarked the young man as he gently increased the intensity of Yumi's pats to assure her, "To answer you frankly, Tsao is only my half-brother. He was born after my mother had a relationship with an immigrant from China, though he ditched out as soon as he found out she was pregnant."

"Ah," remarked Yumi as she pushed her head into the boy's thigh in acceptance of his comforting gesture, "I think I see."

"That's about the gist of it," mumbled the young man as his eyes began to trail off toward the past, "Though, when my mother met and later married my father, he accepted and raised Tsao with open arms. Hell, for as long as I can remember, Tsao always called him 'Dad' and didn't care for the fact that he had a biological father out there…" After lowering his head, the young man remarked, "Though… I wonder now if that's also part of the reason why Tsao is so… clingy and protective… His wife, his daughter, our mother and father, with me, and even Haruo… I don't know why, but I've always felt as though there was some kind of connection…"

Nobody really knew how to respond verbally. Instead, Miyabi and Murasaki simply reached for the young man's face and gave him gently stroking fingers. Being bolder, Yumi actually raised her head up to kiss the boy on the lips before resting back down onto his lap to say, "Well, there's no need to worry. The trouble has passed and we're all free to relax."

"Until the next bit of trouble arrives," remarked the young man with a tired look on his face, trying his best to look sarcastic and cheerful. But, as his thoughts from earlier that day came back to haunt him, he couldn't help but let out sigh.

Hearing the depressed tone to the young man's voice, Yumi rolled her head up to face him as Miyabi began to soothingly run her hand through his hair, "Well, if everything goes according to plan for the next few days, we won't be having anymore trouble." She gave a soft smile, "Just relax for now."

Though he was comforted by the words and sensations tickling the top of his head, the young man still let out a murmur, "Ah… but how often do things go according to plan?"

"No more of that talk," came Murasaki's voice as she raised up one of her hands and playfully gave a few soft slaps to the boy's cheek, "Why worry about it when we can just procrastinate and watch-," but then her voice came to screeching halt. Just as someone was about to ask if she was okay, the girl quickly asked, "Wait, what day is it today?"

Miyabi started by answering innocently, "It's Sunday-," before her eyelids drooped, "Oh."

In one rapid movement, out of both excitement and the intent to defend her place on the young man's lap, Murasaki leaned off to one of the coffee tables beside the couch and snatched a remote into her hand. It was then that the young man realized that there was actually a decently-sized TV sitting right in front of them. In a bit of awe, he asked himself, "Wait, how long has that thing been there?"

Miyabi turned her head down to him, "Two nights here and you've never noticed?"

The young man began to answer, "No, not really-," but was cut off when Murasaki slammed her head back into her lap pillow, accidentally crushing a portion of the young man's groin in the process. He made a noiseless exhale and twisted up his face, noting that the purple-haired girl's meek nature did nothing to reflect the damage that she was capable of. Yet, when she looked up at him innocently, he decided to just wave his hand and murmur, "I'm good, I'm good… It's a-, it's a leg cramp. Calf cramp…"

"Oh, sorry about that," said Murasaki as she lowered her free hand to gently massage the young man's shin and used the other to turn on the TV and flip through the channels. Under her breath, she murmured, "It's only going to be reruns today…" before smiling, "but it'll always be fun to watch…"

Before anyone could question what show she was hunting for, Murasaki found her target and proceeded to blast of the volume as the TV roared, "We now return to Captain Abyss-Seeker of the Triple Seven Order!" until the audio was practically ripping itself apart with how loud it was, "BROUGHT TO YOU BY I-B-N'S BREAKFAST SETS, JAPAN'S NUMBER ONE CHOICE OF EARLY MORNING NUTRITION SINCE THE NEW MILLENNIUM!"

"TURN IT DOWN!" cried nearly everyone else simultaneously as Yumi grabbed away the remote before Murasaki could dare defend it. Once the volume was brought down to a more respectable volume, there was a joint sigh of relief followed by a few knocks against the wall from within the bedroom.

The only sound was that of the beady-eyed cartoon supervillain on the TV, "Ho-ho-ho~, I warn you, Mister Seeker… My punch is one that has knocked the wisdom teeth out of several heroes," followed by a maniacal cackle of laughter, "Even when they threw me in jail the first four thousand seven hundred and eight-six times, none of them ever got their teeth replaced! THE TRIPLE SEVEN ORDER DOESN'T COVER DENTAL INSURANCE AFTER ALL!"

Cracking his knuckles and approaching with a swagger to his step, the superhero made his grand reveal on the TV as he approached from the dark shadows, "Well, I suppose you can say that I'm extremely lucky then…"

The villain's already wide eyes widened even more, "Wait… YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY MEAN…? THAT'S-," but was cut off.

"THAT'S RIGHT, DINMOR!" said the hero as he opened his mouth and pointed inside, "I paid out of my own pocket to have those removed just before I came to pursue you! THAT IS MY JUSTICE!"

The young man couldn't help but ask, "Who the hell are the people that wrote this and when will the law allow me to forcefully turn them into the police?"

Murasaki simply gave a smile, "Either way, it makes me happy on the inside… and the animation is pretty fun too." She then frowned and turned her head toward Yumi, "The volume could be louder though…"

"Don't even think about it," came the collective response from everyone else.

As the two characters proceeded to punch and beat the stuffing out of one another on the TV, the apartment fell into a relative peace and quiet. Whenever the young man took a breath, it felt as though all of the trouble and anxiety brewing inside him was being vented out. Throwing in the combined weight on both of his thighs and the fact that Miyabi was still patting away at his head, he believed that nothing could ruin the mood. Fortunately, he caught himself just in time as he realized that things were going too peacefully. In fact, if he snapped his fingers in an expectant manner, he would have been renamed to Clockwork.

Right as the young man closed his eyes and braced for trouble, the door to the apartment proceeded to echo a loud and violent knocking. While the three women around him jumped in surprise, the young man murmured to himself, "Sixth sense, you save my heart again…"

Not understanding what he meant at all, Yumi turned her head up to him with a raised brow, "What?"

Blowing her off completely, mostly for the sake of humor, the young man then asked, "Want me to get up and see who that is?"

"Not with your foot," stated Miyabi.

Upon realizing that he'd forgotten his injury completely, the young man let out a frustrated, "Oh."

Realizing the coming conflict to come, Murasaki quickly said, "Yumi, please get the door?"

With a glint to her eye, the girl caught on quickly and turned away in an innocent manner, "No, no… I believe Miyabi should… since she's the one who's already standing…"

"You two just don't want to surrender your spots," growled the older woman in a threatening tone. When no one made eye contact, she uttered under her breath, "Once you two have finished up your hour, I'm laying there for two…" and pulled away to answer the door. But, by the time she arrived, the knocking had already ceased and she could only hear a couple of familiar whispers.

"Do you think they killed him by accident?"

"Huh-, how would that happen!?"

"Smothered to death by their breasts during a forced cuddle session?"

"…I heavily doubt that…"

"It's possible!"

"In your fantasies, maybe."

"Well, to be fair it'd be a death I'd want-, that's not the point! We need to get in there!"

"I'd rather not intrude on my sister if she's still tending to him. Something like that could lead to me ruining an intimate moment… and I don't want to hurt Yumi's chances at all."

"You say that, but you neglect one thing…"

"What's that?"

"There are four other women in there whom could be having that exact kind of intimate moment. After all, they aren't going to be complacent fighting over him forever… Who knows, Asuka and Homura could be pairing up right now…"

There was a brief pause before the other voice sounded back, "The windows."

"The windows?"

"You're a shinobi, right? The windows."

Having been humored by the conversation long enough, Miyabi popped open the door to cut off the two she knew as Katsuragi and Yozakura before any damage could be done. Much to her dismay, there was only a dust cloud left behind as the two darted away from the entrance and to the end of the hallway. Miyabi promptly said to herself, "It's times like this I realize how… not-normal we all are…" before she turned around and called, "Open the windows. We'll be having visitors."

In his confusion, the young man called back, "What?"

Ignoring his question just as he had Yumi's, Miyabi walked over to the bedroom door and called, "Oi, I'm coming in to open up the windows." But, once she opened up the door, there was a duet of alarmed cries and she immediately shut it with a face frozen in confusion. Then, after a few seconds, her face reddened.

Having a view of the girl from where she laid, Yumi slowly asked, "What were they doing?"

"I'm pretty sure Homura was trying devour the skin off Asuka's face…" murmured Miyabi as steam began to blow out of her ears.

Giving a small shrug where he sat, the young man thought to himself that such a situation made some semblance of sense since he knew of Homura's feelings and, considering how long they were bottled in, there was probably some blanketed intensity that was coming out. But, before he could even think to make a smart remark, four distinct cries of alarm echoed out from the bedroom. Seconds after, the door was thrown open with Asuka and Homura sprinting out terror. One thing that immediately caught the young man's eye was the fact that their clothes, which were still the his from the previous night, were torn and ripped in a few revealing places. Multiple questions plagued his head, but Katsuragi and Yozakura leaped out of the room before he could dare to ask. The former of the two pointed her finger at Asuka and Homura, "A-HA~!" and let out an excited cheer, "I KNEW YOU TWO WOULD GET TOGETHER EVENUTALLY! I KNEW IT!"

Yozakura, on the other hand, looked much more shocked by the girls' indecency, "I've never seen you two like that before…" before throwing up her hands, "And your clothes!? Why're they torn like that!?"

As Asuka and Homura began to cover themselves and stammered incoherent answers, the young man added with a hint of irritation, "Considering the fact that those are borrowed… I have the same question…"

At that point, Katsuragi and Yozakura turned over to the boy to find Yumi and Murasaki still determinedly resting their heads in his lap. The new arrivals both scratched their heads before the latter eventually asked, "Wait… why're you all…" before slamming a fist down into her palm, "I've got it," and pointed down to Yumi, "You're all competing for his affection by going through various relationship rituals!" Forgetting about her questions regarding Asuka and Homura for the moment, Yozakura threw her fist into the air for her sister, "You can do it, Yumi! I believe in you!"

It was at that moment the young man realized that none of the other girls were aware of their six-way relationship. As he froze, Yumi adopted a smile in the face of Yozakura's cheers and repeated happily, "You do?"

Murasaki, however, turned her head to the girl and muttered under her breath, "Be careful. Even you won't survive a civil war…"

From there, different kinds of chaos were ensuing simultaneously. Miyabi was still flushed and surprised by Asuka and Homura's display in the bedroom. The two girls were busy covering themselves up while Katsuragi repeatedly circled them, celebrating their apparent relationship and occasionally trying to grope at their exposed skin. Yozakura was cheering on Yumi, who was resisting the multiple urge to let it go to her head as Murasaki tried to dissuade. Near the center of it all, the young man just stared blankly and recalled all of his different thoughts that promised trouble from earlier that day. He didn't, at all, guess what was going go so wrong… but he still couldn't help but murmur to himself, "Called it…"


	47. Chapter 47: Laps and Debate

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 47: Laps and Debate

With narrowed eyes and an unmoving expression as he sat on the couch, the young man looked down to Asuka and Homura as though he were a king judging two criminals from a throne. The girls occasionally glanced up to him, a mixture of guilt and uncertainty in their features, as they wondered what fate would come next. Then, just as Homura was about to ask why they were kneeling on the floor in the first place, the young man spoke plainly, "Alright, tell us from the beginning what happened."

When the tanned girl's face reddened, Asuka straightened herself and looked up innocently, "Well… we went into the bedroom."

"We saw that."

"Homura said she had to talk about something important."

"Okay."

Asuka's face flushed a bit as she hunkered her head down, "Then… she cupped my cheek and started to pull me close… I closed my eyes…"

"Right."

From there, Asuka's body posture immediately straightened as she raised a finger into the air to say without any hint of deceit, "And when I opened my eyes, she threw me backward, drew her swords from nowhere, and challenged me to a duel right then."

Before the young man could scrutinize the details, Homura accusingly turned her head toward Asuka and shouted, "Hey! Hey, hey! You're leaving out details! It was much more heartfelt than that!" As if to annunciate her point, the renegade stood up and recreated the scene by whispering softly, "Asuka… before I tell you what I need to tell you, there's something that must be done…" before springing up onto her feet to point back down to the shorter brunette, "And then you were all like," and promptly heightened the pitch of her voice, "Homura… whatever could you mean?" With a few stomps of her feet against the floor, the girl then shouted, "And then I said it would be our final duel as friends! That's what I said!" and pointed to Asuka, "Don't mince critical details!"

Flanking the side of the couch, Yozakura asked herself, "What about any of that was critical…?" before turning her head toward the young man, "But, more importantly," and then pointed her finger to his lap to silently murmur, "why're Yumi and Murasaki still resting their heads there…?"

While the two girls contently rested their heads in the boy's lap and Miyabi hugged his neck from behind the couch, all without any sign of them vacating in the near future, the young man nodded his head to the brunettes on the floor and asked, "So, you began fighting?"

Asuka, who'd been quivering in fear after Homura's reprimands, turned her head to the young man and calmly stated, "Yup. I had my swords in the corner and fought with all I had," before slumping over, "though… I lost quicker than usual…"

"And," started the young man slowly, his judgmental gaze piercing through both of the girls, "it was then that my clothes got torn up in the fight?"

Keeping their arms wrapped over the areas of their bodies that were exposed, even if nudity in battle with one another was a common thing, Asuka and Homura both nodded their heads. Just as the latter was about to comment, "Then, after I won-," she was cut off by the young man.

"Alright," came his conclusive voice, "I just wanted to know why you guys tore up my pajamas and gym pants."

Asuka's face blanked out in confusion, "What?"

Mimicking Homura's tone from the end of their talk earlier, the young man declared, "Meeting adjourned," and relaxed his back into the couch.

The tanned shinobi immediately stood up from the floor, "Hold up!" and clenched her fists into the air aggressively, "Don't you want to hear the details!? You had two girls passionately fighting and, soon after, kissing one another in your bedroom! It was extremely romantic and heartfelt! ONE OF THE CUTEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE!"

Not raising his voice despite every urge in his body telling him to, the young man then said, "Well, if you don't mind sharing personal business, I'd love to hear the story," before pointing to the end of the couch, "Just quit shouting and take a seat. Relax."

Waving her fists around combatively, Homura then yelled, "Well, what was the point of getting us to apologetically kneel before you!?"

"You tore my pajamas," stated the young man in a low voice, "Such a sin is often unforgiveable, though your honesty has moved me so to forgive you."

Blinking a few times, Homura then asked, "Do you seriously only care about the pajamas?"

"That's what I was angry about," continued the young man, noting the fact that he didn't hear an accusatory tone in the girl's voice, "Otherwise, I'm happy you and Asuka have come together in the way you have." Again, he patted at the couch, "If you'd like to, I'd be happy if you sat down and told us the other details," before shrugging, "Or, if it's too personal, feel free to keep it between one another."

Katsuragi scratched her head as she continued to stand beside Yozakura, "I'm having a lot of trouble piecing things together here…" before she called to the young man, "Oi. Quit ignoring us and tell us what all happened."

"One dilemma at a time," noted the boy with a raised finger.

Homura, having calmed down and realized that she was overreacting, asked slowly, "And… you're not mad about us kissing? We don't need to have that talk?"

Keeping in mind the two new arrivals that were still within the room, the young man shook his head, "Not at all. We've already set our circumstances up earlier and we're all in a single… connection." The young man was about to say the word 'relationship' but knew that would only instigate further inquisition from Yozakura and Katsuragi, which would certainly bring an unexpected reaction.

"Ah," mumbled Homura as she internally bashed her own defensiveness, "Well, thank you for being understanding and not difficult about it… aside from making us kneel down for your pajamas."

"You both might want to get dressed," noted the young man, as he turned his gaze off to the side. Homura tilted her head as Asuka wordlessly got up and retreated to the bedroom. With her fists still unknowingly pumped into the air, the former was about to ask what the boy meant before looking down at her current state. With a sudden beet-red flush to her face, she also fled the room and slammed the bedroom door behind her in embarrassment. Once both women were out of sight, the young man dropped his stone-faced façade and let all of the heat in his body vent out of every pore of his skin. He collapsed further back into the couch and muttered, "I've seen too much today…"

Peering from the side of the couch, Yozakura asked frankly, "Can anyone explain what's going on here?"

Katsuragi was practically bouncing around on the balls of her feet in anticipation, "Seriously, I feel like there was so much behind that last conversation… It's kind of killing me to figure out what happened."

Still exhausted from having seen several parts of two different girl's bodies through tears in clothes that belonged to him, the young man silently asked the women who were cuddling him, "Could someone else take up this next case… I don't I can take anymore stress for a few minutes…"

Figuring that she could do the good deed, Miyabi announced without any hint of care or caution, "We've since begun a six-way relationship. It's confusing and will likely be difficult down the road but everyone's getting what they want out of it." She even pumped her fist with a bit of motivation, "Either way, we'll be working it out."

After Miyabi's first few words, the young man's stress levels immediately overflowed into every fiber of his being. Even as he heard Asuka and Homura gushing in the bedroom, "They took it better than expected," he couldn't begin to fathom how Miyabi could be so soft and embarrassed one moment and then so blatant the next.

While Katsuragi and Yozakura silently stared at them with no visible expression on their faces, the young man turned his head up to Miyabi with wide-eyes and quietly asked, "…You… couldn't have been softer about it…?"

Recoiling a bit and even throwing up her hands, Miyabi stammered, "What-, wait, I didn't want-," before scratching her head with both of her hands, "I didn't want to sound unashamed of what we had going! Was it too much!? Should I be easing it back a bit!" The girl then reached down to the phone in her pocket while muttering in a panic, "That relationship article never covered this… Why didn't it prepare me for this!?"

"Hey, hey," came Yozakura's stern voice, bidding the young man to face her. When he did so, she said without much expression, "Could you clarify what she said? What six-way relationship do you guys have going?"

Before the boy could answer, Katsuragi appeared from over the blue-haired girl's shoulder with stars in her eyes, "Do you guys have an open relationship together!? Is it a sexagon?"

The young man already wanted to crawl back into bed for the day. Sucking in his lips and turning away, he hoped that would be answer enough for the blonde. Yet, much to his mix of relief and embarrassment, Yumi spoke without any hint of embarrassment, "The six of us are all in a romantic relationship together."

Yozakura flinched her upper body back as far as she could without falling over, "WHAT!?" before her eyes shone a different light upon her sister, "That isn't like you! Like any of you! What-, how did-, Where did this even come from!?" She then turned her accusatory gaze toward the young man, who still refused to face her, "How'd you get them to do that!? Bribery? Blackmail!? HYPNOSIS!?"

The young man turned around and was going to iterate that it wasn't his idea, though he faltered upon realizing that his words would sound dismissive of the relationship he'd just started. Fortunately, Asuka and Homura arrived just in time in their casual attire to clear him of the accusation, with the latter boldly stating, "None of the above! We suggested it and he agreed to it! End of story!"

"Why would you suggest it!?" cried Yozakura, her voice shrill and confused.

"It was Sato's idea," Asuka calmly interjected, hoping her quiet voice would calm the situation down. It didn't work at all.

Yozakura yelled in return, "But you still took that idea and used it! Why!?"

Having fully analyzed the situation, Katsuragi threw her arm over the blue-haired girl's shoulder with a cheeky grin and questioned in a smug voice, "The better question would be… why not?"

Under his breath, the young man questioned, "The best question would be: why are you both so riled up over it…?" and muttered to himself, "Some blowback would be expected but… geez, this is all coming from one of you…" before he began to pray that everyone else would be a bit more calm.

In the meantime, Yozakura pulled away from Katsuragi and yelped, "It's indecent! It's inappropriate! It is absolutely lecherous!" as she stomped her foot, "The time period in which this would be appropriate has long passed and this needs to be stopped!"

Upon hearing the declaration, Yumi almost pulled her head from the young man's lap as she growled, "I love you, Yozakura, but this is none of your business." She waved her hand and said, "If you're just going to meddle, then show yourself out until you can talk in a quieter voice."

Practically going into shock, Yozakura threw her hands into the air and yelled, "Why're you, of all people, involved in this!?"

"Because it is easier and less emotionally taxing to just do it this way," came the straight answer from Yumi, "I can still keep my friends without any strain while also clinging to the man I love." Closing her eyes indignantly, she finished by stating, "I acknowledge the difficulties to come but we are all more than capable of working through them."

Before Yozakura could continue her verbal assault, Katsuragi practically leaped over her shoulder and peered close to the older sister, "Speaking of clinging, I notice you haven't left your lap pillow since we got here. Are you that comfortable?"

Yumi's expression changed to a bright smile, "Oh, very!"

"Don't change the subject!" cried Yozakura, almost desperate to try and hammer in her point.

Still holding the young man, Miyabi simply called to the girl, "Let it go. You're not going to change anything."

Locking her arms to her sides, Yozakura shook for a moment and trembled as she tried to figure out what to do next. But, just as the flames were going to be snuffed out, Murasaki lifted her head for a second, sniffed loudly, and declared in her quiet voice, "You're just jealous."

With enough rebound to almost knock away her soul, Yozakura almost collapsed to the floor in shock. Then with a grand flaring of her nostrils and a long inhale, she retorted, "THAT IS NOT IT AT ALL!"

Burying her head back into the young man's thigh, Murasaki mumbled, "I can smell you easily, as though I were reading an open book. Don't lie and back off."

At the same time, Katsuragi was still inquiring with Yumi, "So, how comfortable would you say he is as your pillow."

"Hm…" came the other girl's sound of thought. She subconsciously lifted one of her hands and pressed it against the young man's thigh, occasionally rubbing it back and forth as she took in the texture of his pajamas, which brought a small yelp of alarm out of him. Still, Yumi continued by saying, "He's better than the average pillow, though I wouldn't recommend this with a sore back."

Pulling out a notepad and pen from her cleavage, Katsuragi gave a click of her tongue and murmured, "Better take some notes…" before ushering, "Please, go into detail." She even pressed her face closer and iterated, "Heavy detail…"

Not giving much thought about why the girl would want such information, Yumi gave the young man's lap another pat before murmuring, "Well… for heavier details…" as she began to explain, "With his pajama pants, it feels about as soft as a regular pillow. Of course, with there being bone beneath all of this, there isn't nearly as much absorbency." After saying that, Yumi held up two fingers, "In truth, the comfort of this is mostly based on both shape and feel."

Murasaki muttered to herself, "I like the absorbency just fine, thank you."

Hearing the girl's comment as Yozakura finally began to quiet down, Miyabi also commented, "I would like a lap pillow in general…" before spitting silently, "…haven't even got one yet, thanks to you two hogging him…"

At the same time, Katsuragi finished making a few notes, "Alright, it's about shape and feel, kind of like tits without the absorbency," and enthusiastically said, "Alright, what else?"

Brushing off the lewd comment, since she was still in the midst of her passionate discussion, Yumi rolled back and forth between laying on her back and sides. She then declared, "What's most important is how well the arch of your neck fits with the curve of the thigh. Though, if you're laying on your side, you'll need to take into account the span of your shoulders." She shuffled her arms a bit, "Fortunately, mine are wide enough to compensate for the distance between my head and the rest of the couch… of course, the back matters too… Actually, there are a lot of factors in play. But it's mostly the neck and shoulders that matter most to maintain comfort."

"Would you mind if I give him a try?" asked Katsuragi.

Before Yumi could flat-out dismiss the girl, the young man gave a low but powerful, "You're not laying your head here."

Recoiling from having been so quickly rejected, the blonde stammered, "Huh-, why so quick to turn me away!?"

"Intimate lady friends only," proclaimed the boy in a casual tone.

"Bu-, but…" started Katsuragi before she regained her composure. After a bit of thought, she remembered the one argument that worked against every male that she ever encountered. After undoing another button on her uniform, revealing a bit more skin than she usually did, the blonde lifted her arms above her head as she declared in a sultry voice that didn't fit her too well, "Tits."

"Indeed, those are tits," responded the young man without even blinking, "My answer is the same."

Katsuragi didn't retreat as her voice became much quieter and predatory, "You don't need to mask your interest… I saw your reaction to Asuka and Homura's skin…"

"Breasts are fine, dandy, interesting, and whatever else," stated the young man before giving firm pats to the heads of both Murasaki and Yumi, "but the lap has only one firm rule: intimate lady friends only. As the club bouncer and rule maker, I say that you don't fit the bill."

Katsuragi froze and lowered her head in disappointment, shuddering as she lamented her defeat in silence. Then Murasaki drove the final nail into the coffin by saying, "Why do I smell your desire raging even after you've been rejected…?" before tittering, "Truly, you can be much like Ryōna…"

Letting out a childish cry into the air, Katsuragi fell onto her knees before the couch and rolled around as she threw a tantrum, "PLEA-EA-EASE~, give me a turn! I want a turn! I've only ever gotten a lap pillow from Asuka before and it felt so ni-i-i-ice…"

Homura turned to the brunette, "You've given Katsuragi a lap pillow before?"

Asuka gave an awkward grin, "She was having a bad day and I wanted to cheer her up…"

With tears in the corner of her eyes, Katsuragi continued to spin herself around and about, "I swear, I'll back up you guys up at anytime you need it! If there's ever a time where I can do a favor, I'll always do it!"

"Why're you so desperate?" asked Yumi, who finally raised her head from the boy's lap, "Why not just ask Asuka again?"

"Math, Yumi… Math!" cried Katsuragi. She held up one finger, "Asuka's only given a lap pillow once… and that was to me…" before holding up another one, "but this guy's giving two lap pillows" as she looked up to Miyabi, "and people are getting quietly competitive over it…" Her tantrum finally came to its peak as she wailed, "I wonder if I'm missing out on something! The shape, feel, and absorbency of his thighs! I want to know if I'm missing out!"

The young man answered the tantrum by saying, "Intimate lady friends only."

Katsuragi let out another frustrated yell into the air before letting her face fall into the floor. Though everyone took a moment to stare at the girl's defeated display, focus soon turned to the fact that Yozakura was suddenly holding a phone in her hand. Slowly and cautiously, the young man turned his head to the girl and asked, "Are you taking a picture for the records?"

Still taking pity on Katsuragi as she sat motionless on the floor, Yozakura responded, "Honestly, I was about to text everyone else for help to convince you guys against your… relationship… But now…"

The young man narrowed his eyes while everyone else voiced their objections to her previous plan, "But now…?"

With a sigh of resignation, Yozakura lowered her head and mumbled, "…now I'm wondering whether lap pillows are so powerful…"

Yumi gave a pat to the young man's knee as she said, "They are."

At the same time, the young man growled, "Don't get any ideas…"

"I had an idea…" came Katsuragi's muffled voice from the floor, "…HAD…!"

Finally beginning to take some pity on the girl, Yumi raised her head from the young man's lap, stood from the couch, and gave it a pat, "Alright, alright…" before tiredly standing up and offering, "You can have a turn."

For a split-second Katsuragi's face beamed as she lifted her head from the floor and rose onto her feet. Then it collapsed into an agitated scowl as she pointed back to the couch, "…it'll be a bit hard to do that…"

Turning back to the couch, Yumi jumped in surprise to find that Miyabi had already assumed a comfortable position on the young man's thigh. The woman let out a content sigh and closed her eyes and, just when Yumi was about to scold her, the boy mumbled aloud, "I have no objections. Intimate lady friends only."

Just as Katsuragi began to ball herself up on the floor again and mumbled some curses, Yumi turned to Murasaki and asked, "Would you be willing to surrender your spot?"

"No," came the quick answer.

The young man also retorted, "You know, I don't remember giving out sharing permissions with this lap."

Having had enough of the nonsense, Yozakura shook her head and brought her phone up to eyelevel, "I'm just going to text a couple of people about this…"

"Feel free to do so," grumbled Homura as she stretched out her arms, "We can make our own decisions and we don't need to defend them to anyone."

Katsuragi then spoke from the floor, "But wouldn't it be annoying to have everyone hounding you about it?"

"First off," started Homura as she raised a finger to shush the blonde, "not everyone will be hounding us about it. I'd wager mostly everyone will be supportive."

"But who won't be?" asked Katsuragi with a devilish smirk, "Who, particularly in Hanzō Academy, would be violently objected to this? Who was it that started duels because of things she deemed indecent… things that weren't even all that indecent to begin with…?" She finished by turned her head back to the floor with a widening grin of malicious intent, "Who would object to your sexagon?"

Not needing to be pushed anymore to realize who they were talking about, Asuka ran from beside Homura and kneeled before Yozakura's feet, "Please~, if you're going to text anyone, don't text Ikaruga!"

"It's already been done," said the blue-haired girl as she closed her eyes and pocketed her phone.

While Asuka let out a cry of terror, the young man faced Yozakura and declared, "Certainly, this is the most rude and intrusive I've seen you."

Jumping a bit from his declaration, she turned her head away and hmphed, "Your relationship isn't proper."

The young man didn't hold back, "Neither is how you guys are dressed after your shinobi transformations, but you don't see me complaining."

Yozakura wasn't all that affected but she did let out an annoyed sound when Murasaki raised up a hand to give the boy a high-five, which he gladly reciprocated. Then Katsuragi spoke up to the young man in an innocent voice, "I can take Ikaruga on, you know. It's always a close fight between us, but I can at least wear her down so that she'll be too tired to bother you guys."

Figuring there was some kind of nefarious intent, he quickly shot back, "But you'll only do so if I surrender my lap?"

Katsuragi gave a cat-like smile and a thumbs up, "Yes~."

Turning his head away, the young man declared, "We don't negotiate with terrorists." Instead of balling back up on the floor, Katsuragi watched with a cocky smile as Asuka, Homura, and Yumi awkwardly stared at him. After a few seconds, he asked with a hint of concern, "What?"

Asuka turned her head away as she said, "Well… Ikaruga can be pretty violent about these kind of things."

Immediately, the young man caught on, "No."

Homura also tilted her head with a wavering smile, "Plus, if it's only for a while…"

"No."

Even Yumi began to say, "If we can gather the support of everyone else next time… there may not be a problem…"

After that, Miyabi called from the young man's lap, "Well, you're gonna have to get someone to move first…" and nuzzled her body closer, "It won't be me. I'm his-, one of his girlfriends and I haven't gotten a turn…"

Homura and Yumi were quick to zone in on the other potential candidate, "Mu-ra-sa-ki~…?"

The girl buried the lower half of her face into the young man's thigh, "No."

"It'll only be for a while," assured Homura before she raised a finger, "Besides, you won't be without a lap pillow."

Curiously, Murasaki lifted her head, "I won't?"

As if they were presenting some grand prize, Homura and Yumi simultaneously lifted their arms and gestured to Asuka, "There is a soft lap right there!"

Freezing under the sudden pressure on her shoulders, Asuka murmured to herself, "I don't remember this plan…"

Considering the idea and also not wanting Ikaruga to cause any chaos, Murasaki lifted her finger to her lips in thought. At the same time, the young man then said, "Cool, I'll have a free leg. Still not giving it to Katsuragi."

"Your lap will be mine…" started the blonde in a low voice before growling out, "little boy~!"

"Shut your face," retorted the young man.

The girl dropped her cocky expression, "Shut yours."

"Please, please," said Yumi extending a hand to the young man's shoulder, "We know you may not be comfortable with it, but please do this for us?"

"Intimate lady friends only."

Letting out a sigh in the face of the boy's stubbornness, Yumi was about to try and gently coax him before Homura tapped her shoulder. Quickly, they retreated into a corner and began to whisper with one another. The young man exchanged looks with Asuka and quirked his brow as the two turned back to him, running an ominous feeling down his spine once they made eye contact. Then, with a skip to their feet, they zoned in on the young man and sang together, "We'll reward you~" before leaning forward. Before the young man could object, the two kissed both of his cheeks and held their positions for a nearly ten seconds.

Thus, falling to the powerful tactic, the young man was patting both Miyabi and Katsuragi's heads in his lap while shaming himself. Sitting on the floor next to the couch, Asuka was doing the same with Murasaki and Homura, who also wanted to experience a lap pillow for herself. Yumi was standing beside Yozakura and said confidently, "As a group, we pride ourselves in conflict resolution."

Staring in disbelief, the blue-haired girl simply said, "I… cannot argue against that…"

Right when she said that, a voice came from the bedroom, "Be that as it may, I cannot allow what I see going on here."

Nearly everyone jumped in shock to find Ikaruga peering from around the corner of the door frame, save for Yozakura and Katsuragi. While the young man's heart stopped for a few seconds in his sudden fright, Asuka quickly cried out, "How'd you get in!?"

"The window," came Ikaruga's plain answer.

Though she was initially surprised, Homura settled her head back into Asuka's lap and asked, "And… you plan to try and stop us?"

"Yes," came another straightforward answer.

"Violently?"

"If need be."

Katsuragi let out a disgruntled groan from the young man's lap, "Could you put that off for… I dunno, a few hours? I just got this lap and I want to enjoy it for a bit longer."

Ikaruga narrowed her eyes to glare at the blonde for a moment before then staring accusingly at the young man, who jumped with a cracked mumble from his throat, "What…?"

"Did you all happen to forget what happened yesterday?" questioned the shinobi as she held her sheathed sword by its grip. Curling down the corners of her lips into a ferocious scowl, she stated, "We just barely got through a battle where numerous people died! Shinobi, dignitaries, and civilians alike!" She lifted her sheath and slammed the end of it into the floor, "Have any of you even seen the news? Do any of you know the numbers!?" When nobody answered, she continued grimly, "Altogether, there are sixty-seven people who died. Not including ourselves, there were over a hundred civilians who were injured or trapped in debris during the Yōma's rampage." Huffing in a breath and letting out a long exhale, Ikaruga then declared, "How can the lot of you be so enthralled with committing to such lewd acts after all that tragedy!?"

Asuka, Katsuragi, Yozakura, and Yumi were visibly taken aback upon hearing the numbers. Even keeping in mind that roughly twenty-eight dignitaries and ten shinobi who were killed, that meant that nearly thirty civilians were fatally caught in the crossfire. But, just as they began to slink down in shame, the young man straightened his back a bit and felt his fear of Ikaruga slip away as he muttered, "Not to dismiss the fact that people died and that horrific events did come to pass, but what does any of that have to do with lap pillows or our personal relationships."

Homura gave a nod in Asuka's lap and, while troubled by the numbers as well, said in a cold voice, "Stole the words from my mouth…"

"Don't you have any respect to at least behave properly!?" asked Ikaruga, biting her teeth together. 

"Maybe we have different ways of expressing respect," stated the young man, "but I regard that more as honoring their memories either with prayer, by defending their name, or something similar." Leaning back into the couch while giving defiant pats to both Katsuragi and Miyabi's heads, his tone turned bold, "Letting them decide what to do with my personal life is not one of those ways, partly since we'd only be assuming they'd care at all what some teenagers do in their romantic endeavors."

Upon hearing his absolving words, the four girls who were unsettled by thought of disrespecting the dead were comforted. Yet, Ikaruga still narrowed her eyes, "So, you're content to commit to lewd acts after everything?"

Giving a frustrated huff from his nose, the young man shot back, "Don't try to manipulate this. Your concern is appreciated but this isn't for you to decide."

Settling her head back into a comfortable position on the young man's lap, Katsuragi called to her best friend, "In all seriousness, I'll have to get up and kick your ass if you don't settle down. Partly because I agreed to defend them but mostly because I know my spot will be taken the moment I leave."

Turning her harsh gaze to the blonde, Ikaruga was going to say something but couldn't find the words. Instead, once her expression lightened up, she mindlessly stared before asking, "Alright, I've never seen you so defensive over something like this. Even when you grope us, you're quick to let us go after enough argument."

In the middle of both groups, Yozakura turned her head off to the side and muttered, "She's enamored with the science of lap pillows…"

Then Murasaki also added, "Plus, she's also in heat."

Lifting her head to look down to the girl, Katsuragi quirked a brow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Murasaki didn't make eye contact as she pressed herself further into Asuka's lap, "My nose doesn't lie."

The blonde made a disgruntled sound before shrugging and leaning back into the young man's lap. Feeling disregarded by how the conversation had turned and realizing that she'd been fighting a losing battle, Ikaruga slumped her head forward with a sigh as she questioned, "So… why're you so defensive of your position there?"

"Ah," Katsuragi grunted before rolling around to get another proper feel of the young man's lap. Then, after adjusting herself to lay face first into his thigh, which brought a small murmur of discomfort from the boy, the blonde's muffled voice came out, "As Yumi said: absorbency, shape, and feel. All are accommodating in this case. Not as absorbent as Asuka's lap, but the shape and feel are extremely ideal here."

Quivering as the girl continued to lay her face down into his lap and feeling Miyabi adjust herself to retain her portion, the young man let out a cracked murmur, "You're getting too comfortable…"

Completely blowing off the boy's comment, Katsuragi continued, "Frankly, he'd make good money if he sold himself for this purpose."

Ikaruga promptly pointed her finger toward the young man, "Prostitute!" and raised her sheathed sword again, "Is this how your relationship is!?"

"Do you just have selective hearing or something…?" grunted the young man.

"Don't even think of starting a fight," growled Katsuragi as she rolled her head onto its side to face Ikaruga, "I'm very serious about kicking your ass." She raised one palm out, "I love you and don't want to fight you," before balling into a fist, "but I will kick your ass."

"Then it's a good thing that backup is on the way," fired back Ikaruga.

Quickly catching and understanding the implication, Yumi turned toward her sister, "Who else did you contact?"

Yozakura jumped and turned away, "No one in particular…"

At that moment, the front door to the apartment was blasted off its hinges with a crazed Imu dashing in while asking in a panic, "Miyabi is trapped in a perverted situation!?"

Throwing up his hands into the air, the young man let out a frustrated yell and cried, "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE AND MY DOORS!?"

Still laying in his lap with wide eyes and a slack jaw, Miyabi turned her head up toward Yozakura to give an intense glare, "I'm trapped in a perverted situation…?"

Feeling the overwhelming pressure of genuine anger come down on her, the blue-haired girl began to shake as she murmured, "…I only said you guys were in a perverted situation…" and sniffed, "I don't know where 'trapped' came from…"

Giving a gentle karate chop to the top of Yozakura's head, producing an ashamed cry, Yumi said in a low voice, "We'll talk about why you're very much in the wrong later."

"I'm sorry…"

Not pleased with the lack of response to her presence, Imu began to stammer, "What's going on!? Someone, tell me what's happening!" before taking notice of the fact that her best friend was laying her head down in the young man's lap. She raised her bo to the boy, "You! What is she doing there!"

The young man started calmly, "First, why don't you explain why-," before his voice exploded, "-YOU COULDN'T KNOCK FIRST!?"

Miyabi looked up to her friend and said, "I can speak for myself, you know."

Unwilling to believe that the epic and almighty shinobi that she knew all her life would choose to lay in the lap of another, Imu stammered with shaking fists, "He twisted and broke your mind, didn't he!? He's an infiltrator! He can do that!"

"Nope," mumbled the boy, "Not with my training."

Imu didn't hear him at all, "There must be something I'm not seeing here! What did he do to you!? Even if you can't say it directly, give me a hint so I know how to fight this dickhead!"

"And~ back to the dickhead comments… Oh, joy…"

Miyabi blinked, wondering why her best friend, of all people, was kicking up such a fuss about the relationship she chose to pursue. She expected it from Ikaruga and Yozakura, who were two women more based in tradition, and she could even see Yomi kicking up a fuss. But Imu, who's morality was more based on an unorthodox code of honor, didn't have much other reason to object. So, figuring that she truly believed that Miyabi was being forced, the white-haired woman then said, "I've agreed to take part in a six-person relationship with him."

"It's called a sexagon," stated Katsuragi in a completely serious voice.

Ignoring the blonde, Miyabi said with finality, "I was completely willing to go along with this. In fact, it was us who suggested it. Not him."

Imu stood by the couch motionless for a few seconds before her face began to fall. Her mouth cracked open, her angry eyes twisted with sadness, and her body began slowly crumble under her own weight. In some kind of desperate act, she turned toward her sister, who was still relaxing against Asuka's lap, and silently looked for some kind of support. But, when Murasaki refused to make eye contact, Imu finally asked, "You're… a part of it too…?" Part of her couldn't believe that her little sister, who scarcely left her room for anything but the bathroom, had willingly chose to take part in a relationship too.

Taking notice of the fact that Imu's concern had solely been on Miyabi up to that point, Murasaki felt both spiteful and cold to the woman's hurt. The situation was a complete reverse of Peach Beach Splash, when the elder sister had repeatedly left the younger feeling excluded. Of course, back then, Murasaki resolved herself to a compromise by believing that Imu had a different kind of love for each of them. She believed that Imu held her and Miyabi in her heart as equals. But the tables had turned and the elder sister was the one who was feeling excluded. Truly, Murasaki did love Imu very much. But, just as her sister deeply loved Miyabi, she loved the young man and held him in an equal regard. So, seeing the hurt only made the younger sister think to herself, "How come you're not handling this with the grace that you thought I should have had…?" Thus, frustrated with the hypocrisy on Imu's part, Murasaki gave a quick and curt, "Yup. Willingly and happily."

Letting out a dejected groan from her throat, Imu collapsed onto the floor and hugged herself into a ball. Then, before anyone could try to usher her up, another series of voices came from the bedroom.

"See! See! I told you Imu would rush here! In the blink of an eye!"

"Shut up, bitch."

"Oh~!"

Looking to the door to find Ryōbi and Ryōna peering around the corner like a pair of creepers, the young man said in a low voice, "The front door is open… Was it necessary to come through the window…?"

Joining the sisters, Yomi also popped her head from around the corner, surprising the boy enough for him to yelp in a high pitch. The blonde awkwardly waved her hand and explained with an embarrassed smile, "Sorry to intrude like this. The window just seemed faster."

"How many people have you got in there?" called Katsuragi, lifting her head a bit to stare incredulously. Comically, Haruka, Mirai, and Hikage also peered their heads from the bedroom door and stared silently. Almost needing to laugh at the sight of the totem pole-like display, Katsuragi then asked, "Alright, next question: are you guys standing on top of one another to pull of that feat?"

With her head very near the top of the door frame, Hikage began to say, "How else would we-," before unknowingly lifting her head and hitting it, "Ow." With no reaction at all on her face, she slumped down and fell onto Haruka, who crashed down into Mirai, who let out a cry as her head collided into the back of Yomi's, who would have cried out if her stomach hadn't landed on an elbow belonging to Ryōbi, who let out a growl as Ryōna let out a cry of pleasure with everyone's combined weight toppling onto her. At the end of their crash, everyone was curled onto the floor and letting out groans, save for the masochistic blonde who was breathlessly laughing and begging for everyone to do it again.

A chipper pair of laughs came from the front doorway, followed by a serious, "Minori, Hibari… not now."

Everyone in the room, save for the still moping Imu, turned their heads to the front door to find Shiki leading the way in with the remainders of the Hanzō and Gessen Academy elite, leaving everyone but Sato reunited as one large gathering. The blonde pressed her finger into her lower lip upon seeing the pile of evil shinobi and the laps pillows being given in the living area. After a few seconds of observation, she snapped her fingers and said with a smile, "I have no idea what happened but," before giving a thumbs up to Yumi and then to everyone on or beside the couch, "Don't worry! We're here to give our support!"

After minutes of being negatively judged for their choice of a relationship, the six members all let out a collective sigh of relief, save for Yumi. Instead, she made her happiness known by clapping her hands together and crying out with stars in her eyes, "You are!?"

In the meantime, the young man pursed his lips for a moment, called quietly, "Yozakura, Yozakura…" and waited until the girl fully turned to him, her face still flushed with shame and guilt, "I thought you only texted a couple of people…"

The girl shook before saying, "I know how it looks but I did only contact a couple of people. Ikaruga and Imu. That's all."

Wanting to pinch the girl's cheeks and pull them around, the young man sucked in a breath and hissed, "Then why is there a parade strutting through the apartment…?"

Yozakura practically cried, "I don't know, I swear!"

Overhearing their quiet discussion, Shiki gave a flaunty, "Ho – ho – ho~," and took a confident step forward. Like a runway model about to give a speech on how she cured real-world diseases, the blonde opened her mouth to say something grand. Then, after a few awkward seconds of pause, Shiki deflated a bit once she realized there was no grand way to explain and raised a finger, "See, Ikaruga told Hibari and Yagyū where she was going and why, who then told us." She then lowered her head, realizing the lack of impressiveness after her showy start, "Otherwise, I'm not sure how everyone else got here."

Ryōbi, who was still being crushed under a pile of shinobi, wheezed out in agony, "Imu… told us where… and why too…" and then let her head fall to the floor as the lack of oxygen began to kill her. Smiling at the very bottom of the pile and lying right under her dying sister, Ryōna was also giving silent laughs as she continued to urge the crushing to continue.

Finally beginning to pick themselves up as the twins began to lose consciousness, Yomi and Hikage stood, picked up the two girls, and shook them around wildly at neck-breaking speeds. While they did that, Haruka stretched herself until her back cracked and mumbled, "Ow…" before remarking, "Then Ryōna sent me a text detailing the situation…"

Having taken in the whole scene and being used to such antics, Ikaruga turned back to Shiki and asked frankly, "And you said you're all here to support their behavior? Truly?"

"Of course," chipped the blonde with a smile, "Honestly, I think it's very fitting and~ cute."

Ikaruga's eyelids drooped in irritation as she repeated, "…Fitting and cute…?"

Jumping in from behind, Hibari pumped her fists and said, "Very much so! Fitting, because-, well~," before raising one of her arms to scratch the back of her head, "Actually, I don't think that fitting is the right word for this kind of thing. More like… Ah~…" Eventually, the girl just gave an innocent shrug, "It's relieving to know that no friendships will be broken by fighting over a boy."

Stepping in from the back, Murakumo added after raising a finger, "It could be fitting if you take their rivalries and friendships into account." The young man, who hadn't noticed the girl until that point, took note of the fact that she was still wearing a paper bag with a smiley face, courtesy of Minori, on her head. Rather than question it, he decided to ask later.

Ikaruga turned to Murakumo, "Could you explain how that would be fitting?"

"I dunno, honestly," stated Murakumo, "I mean… Save for Murasaki, everyone involved could be determined as the 'leads' of each of our groups. Thus, they had a rivalry with one another that was going on before their love quarrel. But, they're also friends… So…" After a moment, the masked girl just shook her head and grumbled, "Look, I think it's fitting. Don't argue."

"I came here for the express purpose of arguing," mumbled Ikaruga before turning back to the young man, "Look, regardless of any argument for it, what you're doing is absolutely inappropriate-," but was cut off when she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned to find Yomi right next to her, Ikaruga lowered her brow and asked, "What?"

"You're a good friend," started the blonde with a smile, "and I do cherish our friendship dearly." After sucking in a breath, Yomi continued with equally narrowed eyes of frustration, "But, speaking honestly, you're being too intrusive right now. It's none of our business and, if they can work it out, then it will leave things all for the better."

Ikaruga didn't give in, "But there are rules in place for a reason! They keep relationships sacred and they need to be abided by!"

"But trying to enforce these rules will only end in your misery," said Yomi in a matter-of-fact tone before she raised her finger, "Remember when you went on a rampage, enforcing all of the smallest rules that your academy had to offer, and going as far as to enforce them in public?"

"It was for a good cause!" cried Ikaruga.

"It ended with nearly everyone, including yourself, stripped nude in public because you couldn't keep control of your hacking and slashing."

Having had enough of the drama, the young man made a guttural sound with his throat and watched as the two girls turned to him. He then asked, "Ikaruga, speak frankly. Do you want to break everyone up?"

The girl straightened herself and gave a curt nod, "That would be best."

"Well, we're not going to," stated the young man. He was about to continue but then Miyabi stretched up her hand and patted at his shoulder, to which he looked down at her with a baffled look.

"You stopped patting my head when you were talking," said the woman before resting herself back onto the young man's lap, "Otherwise, please continue."

Obeying the order, even if he was a bit annoyed at having been interrupted, the boy silently began to pat the girl's head and listened as she let out a content sigh. Once he could speak again, the young man continued, "We're not going to break up unless someone within the relationship wants out. No ifs, ands, whats, or buts from anyone else. It's our decision and not anything you have control over."

Ikaruga started to say, "If that's the case-," but was cut off.

"If that's the case, what?" called the young man, "You're going to attack us? You'll keep arguing with us? What're you going to do?" before he let a grimace take his face and gave a quiet yell, "That'll do nothing but piss us off! It won't do anything but estrange you from us, which would also suck!" He tried to press his face forward but stopped upon realizing that he would be disrupting Miyabi and Katsuragi's lap pillow. So, instead, he just settled back into the couch and said with no hint of uncertainty, "You don't need to accept it. If you can tolerate it, we can keep our friendships healthy. But you'll only do damage if you press any further without any prompting on our part."

From his lap, Katsuragi purred as she was on the border of falling into a comfortable sleep, "Hear and hear~…"

Glancing down to the blonde, the young man narrowed his eyes, "Wait, why are you still getting a lap pillow out of this? You didn't even defend us beyond a simple 'don't or I'll kick your ass' while you laid there."

Without moving, Katsuragi only murmured, "I'm here in case there's a physical attack," before stretching her arms out, "That's all this insurance gal covers…"

Without much a foot to stand on, Ikaruga blew out her cheeks and then turned to see if there was anyone who was on her side on the matter. Imu was still sprawled out on the floor, motionless, and the rest of the girls were simply staring in silence. Ultimately, it was Yagyū who spoke first, "Honestly, if it isn't too disruptive, I don't see a problem with it. Let it go."

Ikaruga began to say, "But… there are problems-," before Mirai jumped in.

"I know, I know," cried the girl in a high-pitched voice, "It's kind of freaky, wondering what lewd acts they'll get into, but…" before bringing up a flattened hand to hide her mouth from Homura, "Think of it this way: us renegades won't need to be subject to some stupid training exercise every morning if she's preoccupied. Bite the bullet and let us be free."

"I'm not deaf, Mirai…" grumbled Homura from Asuka's lap, only keeping her voice low and quiet because she didn't want to lose the support for her relationship.

Ikaruga's face kept getting gloomier and gloomier as she felt alone in her struggle for decency and propriety, becoming desperate enough to look at Minori for help. The girl, who was playing with back of Hikage's hair after some idle conversation on their part, turned and said with a smile, "Honestly, you only need to look at them! Imagine if you were taking a picture. How cute are they?"

Deciding to look at the situation with a different lens, Ikaruga turned around and looked at the couch as an unknowing outsider would. She saw a young man sitting down comfortably with a stern look on his face, gently giving head pats to two girls, one of whom was an intruder he decided to accommodate for some reason. Off to the side, there was a brunette giving her best friend and a, more often than not, shy and reserved girl their own lap pillow. Then there was a motherly woman standing off to the side, defensively observing to make sure that none of them could be disrupted. At its foundation, the relationship was lewd and inappropriate… but there was undeniable warmth.

Resigned to tolerate the relationship, Ikaruga closed her eyes and gave a nod, "If it's to keep the peace… I'll leave it be."

Katsuragi lazily lifted one arm and pumped a fist, "Yeah~… we did it…!"

While everyone else began to let out a joint cheer and the word 'celebration' was thrown around, the young man looked down to the blonde and mumbled in a sing-song voice, "You did pretty much nothing…"

"And look where that go us…" fired back the girl as she began to drift off into a nap.

Sucking in a breath and wondering if that would actually be the end to it, the young man laid back into the couch and stared as Hibari clung tightly onto Ikaruga with another cheer. He was actually a bit surprised to find the small smile of relief creeping up on the raven-haired girl's face. In turn, he gave a quiet snort and began to relax as the room turned into a gathering full of different conversations. Though he was still concerned for Imu, who continued to silently remain on the floor, and for the fact that there was still likely to be consequences from the other day… it was nice to know that there was an overwhelming ratio of approval. Even if he fully believed that such approval wasn't necessary and even if he would have been determined to keep the relationship for as long as everyone involved wanted to take part… it was nice to be supported by one's friends… even if one only did so for the sake of getting a lap pillow out of it.


	48. Chapter 48: Randomness and Irregularity

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 48: Randomness and Irregularity

Holding an unopened bottle of soda in her hands, Ikaruga stared between her peers in the living area of the young man's current residence. She took a breath to cool her nerves, thought out the small speech she was going to give, did her utmost to not judge Asuka and Homura as they laid their heads down on the young man's lap. It was getting a bit easier to not scrutinize the relationship they had, especially considering the cute sight, but she was still unsure of whether or there could be a wholehearted celebration when she still considered it indecent. Still, she was determined to make the effort.

As everyone else finally settled onto various spots among the couch, a couple of chairs, and at the kitchen table, Ikaruga cleared her throat and called loudly, "There's no need for us to beat around the bush… It's been a rough few weeks." She paused and gathered her composure, seeing as she wasn't much used to speak at the head of everyone in a casual setting, before continuing, "Honestly, yesterday held enough stress to last a year." Ikaruga slowed down and said in a sad tone, "People died and we could have died too. People's homes and businesses have been left in ruin and we don't really know how it came to happen in such a violent way. Among the consequences for all this, the general public now knows about the existence of Yōma."

Under her breath, Katsuragi mumbled from beside the girl, "There's certainly no shortage of news agencies and forum's who're talking about it…"

Restraining herself from chiding the girl for interrupting, Ikaruga continued by lifting her soda bottle into the air, "Still, there are things to celebrate." She rounded her gaze to everyone and proudly said, "We're all alive. Against the odds of dignitaries, infiltrators, and a Yōma… we survived." Coming up to the part of her speech that she was partly dreading to announce, she then gestured to the young man, "Even after such events… we had a romance… of sorts, bud in the… in the wake of the…"

"You don't need to force yourself," came Yumi's calm voice as she sat on the couch beside where Asuka was laying.

With an alarmed expression, Ikaruga raised a flattened hand, "No, no! I-, I can do this."

"Just note," said Miyabi as she sat on the opposite side of the couch, "any insults will not be tolerated."

Laying on the floor in front of everyone else in the relationship, Murasaki was rubbing the back of her head against the young man's knees. Not even paying attention to the speech at all, she murmured, "Ma~ssa~ge… Ma~ssa~ge…"

Sucking in a breath and letting it out of her mouth, Ikaruga forced on a smile and said, "Even in light of the dreary events from yesterday, we still had a romance blossom amongst all of us. Two, if we count Homura finally confessing her own feelings for Asuka."

"Finally?" murmured Asuka as she raised her head from the young man's lap, "Has it really been going on for so lo-," but was immediately cut off by Homura reaching from the opposite side to pinch her cheeks, "Ow~! Wha're 'ou 'oing!?"

In the meantime, the young man said with a plain look on his face, "Naif," before patting the girl's forehead.

No mercy was given to the shorter brunette while Ikaruga continued her speech, "So, there's light at the end of this tunnel. Otherwise, I've sent Oda a text to let him know where we all are. Since he's probably still being treated, I wouldn't expect a text back for a while but let's be hopeful for him." Ikaruga lowered the soda bottle for a moment, "Otherwise," before enthusiastically thrusting it into the air, "Cheers to us all! May good fortune continue to bless us and keep us alive!"

Everyone else, save for the young man whose hands were occupied with patting Asuka and Homura's heads, raised their hands and bottles into the air before a resounding yell echoed throughout the room, "Cheers!"

After that, soda bottles and cans were popped open for the celebration to start. Semi-expected once the sugar came out, Hibari and Minori were chasing each other around in circles within a minute of the party's start while Yagyū and Yozakura tried to get a handle on them. After various twists and turns, the two were forcefully contained into a closet so that they could relax. Of course, not one to leave Hibari by herself in a dark place with a hyperactive Minori, Yagyū voluntarily placed herself into the closet with them. Once the lock was set and there was a moment to breathe, Yozakura thought to herself, "Soda was a bad idea…" and remarked under her breath, "…this place isn't wide enough for that kind of thing…"

Back on the couch, Asuka was concluding the tale of how Homura confessed her feelings, "Once she beat me, I was picked up and thrown onto the bed."

Katsuragi, who broke off from Ikaruga to listen in on the tale, let out a quiet groan and asked, "Please… tell me that this ends with you both massaging each other's breasts or something erotic like that…"

Homura narrowed her eyes from the young man's lap, "It actually doesn't. Do you have a problem with how I did it?"

"It's so painfully you two…" remarked the blonde with a slumped head.

Not paying attention to the banter, Asuka continued to say, "Then… she said something, though I wasn't paying much attention, and confessed to me! After that, I felt a bit awkward but, since we were technically already in a relationship, I happily accepted!" She paused to add, "Oh, and then she proceeded to kiss me. It was very… forward."

Miyabi commented, "It was more like you two were trying to merge your faces into one solid form."

Homura, having finally told off Katsuragi, then lifted her head from the young man's lap to stare at Asuka, "Hold up, did you just say you weren't paying much attention to my confession?" and sat into an upright position, "I put a lot of thought into that!"

Just when the tanned shinobi was about to kick up a bigger fuss, Asuka looked up with her big and innocent eyes as she said, "Well… you just looked very cute while you were talking, so I couldn't help it."

Every muscle in Homura's body froze before she slumped back down and repeated with a quivering smile, "I was cute…?"

"Very much so," affirmed Asuka, "Your face was all red, your mouth and jaw kept shaking, and your eyes kept bouncing all over the place.

After hearing all of that, Homura's insides proceeded to melt and she let out a content sigh, "Aw-ha-ha-ha~… Asuka, don't change…"

Katsuragi, who was still standing nearby, then asked from out of the blue, "Can I have another turn on the lap?"

Fortunately, before Homura could explode into a tirade to avenge the spoiled moment, the young man said without a hint of hesitation, "Nope. Intimate lady friends only."

Jumping in surprise by how quick he turned her away, Katsuragi cried, "Oh-, c'mon! I was there earlier!"

"For the sake of contracting your services," remarked the young man before indignantly turning his head away, "which you failed at."

Asuka and Homura both let out content sighs as Katsuragi yelled, "Give me another chance, damn it!"

Meanwhile, toward the side of the room, Mirai was looking to the top of a bookshelf with an expression of disbelief and asked in a quiet tone, "What're you even doing up there?"

Curled up into a comfortable napping position with an empty bottle of soda beside her, Hikage said from above, "Trying to nap."

Mirai narrowed her eyes, "On top of the shelf?"

"The couch was taken."

"Use the bedroom."

"Haruka's doing something in there."

Mirai flinched, "Oh, dear God…" before her imagination proceeded to do wonders. Certainly, Haruka was up to some kind of dastardly plot that would be extremely lewd in nature, if the region of her plotting was indication. With a startled look on her face, the girl simply waved up to Hikage, "Have fun up there…" and slinked off, hoping that she would not be involved in the entertainment to come.

Peeking her head up from behind the couch around the same time, Ryōna openly questioned the young man with a teasing grin on her face, "You don't seem to be the most affectionate… nor the most initiative~."

Narrowing his eyes on the blonde while also quirking his brow, the boy patted the heads of Asuka and Homura, who were still resting in his lap, and asked, "Ah, so being the residential pillow doesn't count?"

Before Ryōna could answer back, it was Yumi who cheerfully called, "No, no~" before she stood up and made a seductively slow approach, "I think she's got a point."

"Care to elaborate?" asked the young man, who immediately leaned back into the couch in a mix of suspicion and wonder.

Once the distance was mostly closed and her feet stood next to his, practically forcing Murasaki to shrink away from the boy's legs, Yumi leaned forward and extended her hands to rest on the couch while keeping the object of her affections trapped in-between. She held her position for a moment and watched as the young man shrunk nervously and murmured inaudibly. During all of that, Miyabi watched with a wary eye and was taking mental notes on the girl's sudden temptress-like movements, "…I need to learn this art…"

With a smile, Yumi murmured, "Haven't you noticed that we've been the ones doing the romantic work so far?" Before any questions or comments could be raised, she gently swung her head back and forth as she commented, "We confessed to you, we've cuddled you, we've kissed you…" and gestured her hand to Asuka and Homura, "…and, if we're going to be honest, you know that we're the ones who made you into a pillow…"

"I take full credit," commented Murasaki, who was hiding her face in her knees after having been forced away from the young man's legs.

"Duly so," retorted Yumi as she lifted one hand and lovingly patted the girl on the head, bringing out a small sigh of contentment.

Meanwhile, feeling as though he was coming off as a freeloader, the young man made a small sound of dissatisfaction with his throat and tried to think of some example where he initiated the affection. But, even if the meeting from earlier was counted, there was only one instance where he properly tried to show his love and appreciation. Feeling a bit ashamed, he mumbled, "Well… I tried to cook breakfast…" and shrunk his head lower.

"And we had to jump in to help," stated Homura as she lifted her head from his lap and moved it up to his shoulder, "so it doesn't really count…"

Asuka, not really catching on to what everyone else was planning, simply mimicked their movements and clung onto the young man's arm, "Indeed, we helped…"

With Murasaki peeking in-between Homura and Yumi, she turned to the smaller brunette and asked, "You don't know what to say either…?" as she pressed both of her hands onto the young man's knee.

Not willing to hide the confusion on her face, Asuka simply slumped, "Yeah, I'm not sure where this is going or why we're ganging up on him… Honestly, I feel a bit mean…"

In the middle of the exchange, Miyabi zipped around the back of the couch and, after almost tackling Ryōna out of the way, clung her arms around the boy's neck from behind. When everyone looked to her, wondering if she had some words to add, she simply sucked in her lips and made a squealy sound with her throat that could be roughly translated to, "I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Topping off all the sudden attention the young man was getting, Yumi quietly asked, "Isn't there something you should be doing to correct how inattentive you've been to us?"

Having been completely surrounded with their faces eclipsing all of the light sources in the room, the boy was completely out of his element and even a bit frightened. But, after repeatedly noting that neither any chiding nor harm were taking place, he cooled himself down and tried to think about what they were after. But, as the seconds went on, the young man's expression contorted more and more into unease as he ran through every idea in his mind. He didn't think they wanted to be taken shopping, which would be a bad idea if it was on his dime since he was low on funds in general, and he didn't think they wanted to be taken on some extravagant trek through the forests and mountains nearby… Perhaps they wanted him to help out with a certain project or maybe he was overthinking it and they were asking him to get more soda… But, figuring that they'd be more forward about those kinds of things, the young man drew a blank and inaudibly whined.

Letting out a lighthearted and quiet snort as she watched the young man's evident confusion, Yumi began to lean her head down to him, "Perhaps you could give a kiss? That'd be plenty affectionate."

Blinking at his own empty-headedness and stupidity, the young man remained still for a few seconds before giving an affirmative sound. He watched as Yumi puckered her lips and was about to lean forward with his own.

Then, from out of left field, Miyabi let out a panicked cry, "Thank you very much!" and leaned her head over the top of the young man's and crashed her lips straight into his. They held for a few seconds before she felt that their teeth had also collided and were in a bit of pain. She recoiled back over the couch and slumped onto the floor while holding her mouth, "Ow…"

Ryōna kneeled next to her, "Can kisses hurt…?" before an idea popped into her head.

Fortunately, before anything dangerous could be initiated, Ryōbi caught the sudden enlightenment on her sister's face, approached from nearby, and said with a wheeze to her breath, "Don't even think about it, whore…"

Meanwhile, frustrated that her crowning moment had been yanked away, Yumi's face was pulled into a depressing pout. But, figuring that there was room for recovery, she began to lean forward again, "My turn."

Just as the young man, baffled and a bit dazed by Miyabi's ambush, nodded with an unthinking mind and began to lean forward. But, just when the two were centimeters apart, Murasaki's hand came from nowhere and pulled the boy's head to the side, where she gave a lengthier kiss. Yumi jumped back, letting out a yell of confusion and frustration, and watched with wide eyes and the usually anxious Hebijo girl held her position. Then, after a few seconds to many, Murasaki broke away with a pop and had to take a few breaths. After realizing just how far she'd gone, her face turned completely red and she murmured to Yumi under her breath, "Next-, next time, when I'm resting against-, that will-, that'll teach you to force me away-, I was leaning against his knees!" before sitting by the end of the couch.

"I'm sorry…" mumbled Yumi, wondering if what she did was so offensive. But, remembering that she still had the young man trapped between both of her arms, she was about to lean back down as she spoke to Murasaki, "I'll apologize properly in just a minute, please just let me-," but cut herself off upon realizing that Homura had seized the opportunity to kiss the young man as well.

After breaking away and giving a slightly embarrassed rub to her lips, the renegade turned to Asuka, "Your turn," and watched as the brunette also connected her lips to the young man. Feeling Yumi's piercing stare from the side, Homura turned her head with a shrug and said, "You were taking too long." Once Asuka finished her kiss and began to pull away, the taller brunette then said, "Ah-ah. Me too." With a nervous giggle, the girl then leaned over the young man and pressed her lips to Homura's.

Relieved that her turn had finally come and not even caring about her wasted efforts for seduction, Yumi was about to lean forward again. But, as Asuka and Homura continued to kiss one another, with the former leaning over the young man, there was an effective blockade over his face. On the verge of crying out, tears began to peek out from the corners of Yumi's eyes as she began to pull away and surrender herself to the thought of not getting kissed at that moment.

Then, having taken notice and being aware of how frustrated the girl had to be, the young man slowly slithered out from beneath Asuka and Homura, who eventually broke away to watch the comedic situation unfold. Once he was free, he poked Yumi on the shoulder and said, "May I give you a kiss?"

Having been driven mad by that point, Yumi let out a small war cry, quickly wrapped her arms around the boy, and gave a squeeze that stole every breath from him. She then locked her lips against his and allowed them both to crash backwards into the couch, with Asuka and Homura backing out of the way just in time. From there, Yumi simply held her position on top and kept a firm hold of the boy's lips in her own while lovingly pressing herself against him.

Watching the scene from afar as she finished screwing the door hinges back in, Imu let out a sigh of envy. She didn't really care for the fact that the young man was up to such antics with Asuka, Homura, and Yumi. Whatever they got into, they were within their right to pursue. The only thing that disturbed Imu was seeing Miyabi and Murasaki's part in it.

The fact that they were in the relationship was maddening enough, but seeing them get so openly competitive and locking lips with a single boy was soul crushing. Setting aside Imu's feelings for Miyabi, the girl also had to ask: was either one of them alone not enough? Did the young man have to be in a relationship with five total women? She shook her head as the final screw was dug deeper and deeper into the wall, "No… No, he does not…"

But there was nothing that Imu could do. Miyabi, her best friend since childhood, and Murasaki, her dear sister, were both completely enamored with the young man and there was nothing that could be done. Maybe if she confessed earlier, Imu could have prevented the scenario from taking place. Maybe if she'd spent more time talking on a personal level and less time taking pictures to enjoy the moment, she could have kept them both to herself.

Realizing just how selfish her thinking was, Imu shook her head a bit and wondered if that would be the role she was going to play as time went on. Was she doomed to be the 'jealous could-have-been lover' or something similar? With no doubt in her mind, Imu didn't want that and she also knew that Miyabi and Murasaki would be more than displeased if she didn't show some kind of support or, worse, if she expressed her feelings and discontent. If such a situation came to play out, she could already envision the results… Miyabi would be a bit softer and would say something like, "Sorry, he's the one I have feelings for."

Meanwhile, giving the more dreadful of the two responses, Murasaki would say something like, "Why're you so possessive? I lightened up for you at Peach Beach Splash and now you're trying to control me after it's your turn to be left out? How hypocritical! I hate you!"

Shuddering at the thought of receiving such blatant hate from her sister, Imu nearly collapsed her head against the door frame. At one point, Yomi came over and asked, "Are you alright?"

With a straight face that barely reflected how panicked she was on the inside, Imu mumbled in a straight and emotionless voice, "…I have unresolved thinking to do…"

"Is this about Miyabi and Murasaki?" asked Yomi. Imu then proceeded to let out a loud groan that was inaudible to everyone else.

As that was happening, everyone near the couch was actively timing how long Yumi was attacking the young man's face. At one point, Asuka even reached into her pocket with an innocent expression on her face and pulled up the timer on her phone. Throughout the silent chatter and observation, the sound of the smooch continued to ring out and the young man's face was finally beginning to turn blue. Thankfully, just before the encounter could turn fatal, Murakumo decided to intervene and patted Yumi on the shoulder, "He's going to die soon."

With a loud inhale, Yumi broke away and heaved heavy breaths while still clutching the young man close. Then, upon realizing that he wasn't moving, she panicked and cried, "He's not breathing! He's not breathing!"

With a blank expression, Asuka lowered her phone and commented, "I mean… it was a four-minute kiss… not including however long it was before I turned on my timer…"

Miyabi also commented to Homura, "And I thought you guys were being aggressive in the bedroom-," before her face contorted into horror and she screamed, "WAIT! HE'S NOT BREATHING!?"

"It's alright," stated Murakumo, who calmly lifted her sister from the boy, "I've got this." After setting Yumi down and ignoring the confused blinks that she was receiving, the girl then grabbed the boy's shoulders and gave him a violent shake, "Wake up, wake up, wake up-," before stopping herself, "Wait… no, he'd have to be breathing for that to work."

"Why are you so knowledgeable about waking up unconscious people?" asked Murasaki.

"Lots and lots of experience with Minori eating her candy too fast."

"Wouldn't that shaking just break his neck?" asked Ryōna before she happily cried, "When you're done, could you shake me next!?"

At the closet, the pigtailed girl could be heard exclaiming, "I heard my name out there!"

"Never mind that, why're we still in here? We've calmed down," murmured Hibari's voice.

"Don't be afraid of the dark," came Yagyū's quiet and gentle assurance as she prayed for the scenario to never end, "I am here with you."

Back at the couch, Murakumo then started to say, "Next best step-," before she was cut off by Asuka.

"Emergency services?"

By that point, the young man was already starting to breath on his own. He raised up his head and started to murmur, "…I'm alive…?"

He was completely ignored as Murakumo shook her head excitedly, crinkling the paper bag on her face, "Not yet, Asuka!" before she kicked off her shoes and proceeded hyperactively rub her socks against the wooden floor, "Static electricity!" Once she believed that a great power was budding within her, the masked girl then cried, "With the power of Nikola Tesla!" before shoving her hands forward and groping the young man's chest like the defibrillator she could have been.

Absolutely nothing happened at all. The young man, a bit more awake than he was seconds before, looked up to Murakumo uncomfortably as the smiley face on her paper bag stared back. After a few seconds more, he asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

With a straight voice, Murakumo slowly said, "Reviving you with static electricity."

"I was already awake."

"Zapping you with static electricity."

"The floor is made of wood."

There was a pause before Murakumo more shamefully said, "…Groping your chest…"

"There you go. Also, would you pull your hands away?"

"Sorry."

"Don't be," remarked Katsuragi with a haughty smirk after crossing her arms over her chest, "I make a career out of it."

After pulling back Murakumo awkward scratched at her chin and said "I'd appreciate if we'd never speak of this again."

The boy nodded and the whole scenario was set to stone as such: the young man successfully initiated an intimate act with Yumi and it turned disastrous. Never more could any ever dare to relive the moment, especially since, if it weren't the young man who Murakumo groped, it could have turned into a litigation of severe sexual harassment.

Breaking her eyes away from the awkward encounter, Ikaruga sighed and wondered if it was to be the day that she forever said goodbye to decency while she spent time with her friends. Seeking to get some air and respite, she began to retreat toward the bedroom and opened the door. But, just as the way in opened enough for her to covertly slip in, a pair of arms grabbed her by the shoulder and mouth to pull her inside. Before she could properly seek to defend herself after successfully pulling away, she was shocked into silence at the sight of Haruka.

Though the woman gave a quiet and seductive, "Shush… No telling anyone now~," and tried to play off the situation, Ikaruga would have none of it.

"What… are you wearing…?" came the voice which threatened the death of a thousand souls.

With her body only being dressed in a bit of red wrapping paper, which barely did well to cover her more private areas, Haruka gave a laugh in the face of her exposed near-nudity and calmly stated, "To be forward and blunt, I intend to help the lucky six."

Taking in the blatant sexuality of the woman's appearance, between her breasts that were desperately trying to escape their confinement and the very much exposed curves of her hips and thighs, Ikaruga couldn't help but ask with a twitch in her eye, "How do you mean…?" But, just as Haruka began to explain, the raven-haired shinobi collapsed onto the ground and swore to herself, "I need to apologize to them…! I thought a six-way relationship was inappropriate but this nymphomaniac has proved me there are far worse threats…!"

Blowing a bit of air out her nose, Haruka's smile turned into something far more innocent-looking and dangerous. While Ikaruga continued to remain on the floor, occasionally convulsing as the shock began to overcome her, the woman reached down her hands and went on the attack. Of course, with Haruka being an expert in such encounters, the poor Hanzō shinobi didn't even get a chance to scream for help.

Back on the couch, the situation had finally calmed down. With Yumi and Miyabi both clinging onto his arms after kicking Asuka and Homura down to the floor next to Murasaki, the young man blinked at Murakumo's sudden question, "Where'd that come from?"

While her sister continued to give heartfelt apologies for almost asphyxiating the boy to death, the masked girl then said, "I keep forgetting to ask and I fear that I'm going to forget in time," before repeating, "Where'd you learn to fight like you did the other day?"

The young man blinked and shook his head, "Can we focus on the casual setting for now? Let's keep the business talk to when we're in a more dire situation."

"Actually, I'm pretty curious too," remarked Homura, who took to clutching around Asuka's waist from behind

"Is it so important?" grumbled the boy, his face falling a bit in a mix of irritation and exhaustion.

"Well," started Murakumo who raised a finger to the air, "it wouldn't be too much. I mean, you come from a family of infiltrators so… maybe we could put some dots together," before pointing at the boy, "But you've claimed yourself to be some kind of pacifist and, call it generalization if you will, but most pacifists don't know how to effectively fight a creature that's as tall as a building."

Seeing the contradictions that came out from his words and actions, the young man awkwardly shuffled while still in Yumi and Miyabi's embrace, both of whom weren't paying much attention to the discussion. After a few seconds, he mumbled to himself, "I suppose it's… strange, especially when you word it like that." Blanking out a bit and wondering how to give a proper answer, he aimlessly said, "Well… my grandfather began to teach me close-quarters combat when I was eleven-," before he was loudly cut off.

"That wasn't close-quarters combat," stated Murakumo, pushing her face closer towards the young man, "that was you flying around like an angry midget with a pair of swords going up against a twenty-meter beast…" she then raised up and jabbed a finger in his direction, "Completed with the grappling hooks and a those maneuvers you had."

"Alright, alright," said the young man, raising his hands from his lap despite the weight on his arms, "I-, I'll speak frankly," before taking a breath and murmuring, "Let me… I'll spell it this way: I was a full-on infiltrator before living with my grandfather and was taught by Tsao. I swung the same swords as he swung, swished the way he swished in the air, and stabbed the same way he wanted me to stab… targets, that is. I never killed anyone. Ever."

"Wait-, hold on," murmured Murakumo as she did the math in her head. A moment later, she said, "So… you were trained with swords, swinging, and stuff when you were younger than eleven?"

"Is that so strange?" asked the young man before narrowing his eyes to the girl, "From all I've heard, shinobi start training as young as four."

"Point taken…" mumbled the girl before she scratched her head through her mask. She then mumbled, "Still, those were some techniques to know and learn at such a young age." Murakumo then crossed her arms, "Especially since you retained them after some years of pacifism."

"Look-," barked the young man before he calmed himself and took a breath, "I know. It's weird and contradictory," before he gave piercing stare, "but I'm not lying about it. Tsao's training is something that has been slammed into my foundations as a person. It's something I both thank and detest him for." He then held up his finger, "At the same time, I also hate fighting with every fiber of my being. I don't like the thought of it, blood, or anything that results in or is caused by fighting." The young man stared hard at Murakumo as his eyes seemed to catch a glimpse of a distant memory, "That's me and that's all there is to know on the matter… I'd also appreciate if you didn't pry any more than you have."

The masked girl stared at him for a long couple of moments. While Miyabi and Yumi were giving supportive and comforting squeezes to his arm, Murakumo was taking in all of the young man's firm demeanor. It wasn't as aggressive or stalwart as many of the other expressions he'd shown but, at the same time, it also seemed to be the most defensive and fragile. If he hadn't done all that he'd done, Murakumo might have pressed further. Yet, when considering all of his definitive acts in recent memory, especially including his battle against the Yōma, she decided to respect the boundary he set.

Instead, she lowered her head into a slight bow, "I'm sorry."

Taken aback by the sudden turn of the conversation, the young man rumbled a sound of discomfort with his throat and said back, "There's no need to be. Thank you for-," before being cut off.

"The apology's not only for just now," announced Murakumo as her head remained downturned, "Rather, it's for everything. From our arguments, to every negative thing I said regarding you, and for my lack of patience." After a few seconds quiet seconds, as the celebration around them started to come to a halt, she then raised her head and continued to speak, "I'm also sorry that you had to take part in the battle the way you did. I know you were fixed on the nonlethal option-," until the young man waved his hand for her to stop.

"You don't need to apologize for the battle," mumbled the young man, his face trying to come off as unexpressive as possible, "We all wanted the battle to be nonlethal. We all fought for that." His jaw tightened a bit as he continued, "It ultimately falls on Tsao and the rest of the infiltrators for tearing that option apart." A few moments passed and he turned back to face Murakumo, "And I have a feeling that you're going to apologize about this too… but don't feel bad about me fighting the Yōma. As much as I detested it on principle alone, never mind how terrifying it was… if it meant we all got out alive, then I'm not bothered by it… too much… Even if my pansy-fighting did absolutely nothing to the damn thing."

There were an awkward few seconds of silence before Murakumo commented, "I actually wasn't going to apologize for that last part…"

"Oh."

Before any offense could be taken, she raised a finger, "I only say that because apologizing would potentially imply that I was sad to see you step in. In truth, I wasn't since it meant that you were saving Yumi, Asuka, and I." Her hands pressed into her sides as her head fell again, "As… shameful as it might be, I know that we wouldn't have been able to take on the Yōma on our own. In fact, we would have died rather quickly." She capped it off by saying, "Thank you for setting aside your principle in that moment."

"Ah," murmured the young man with eyes that weren't meant to be so wide, "well, for what it's worth… I'd do it again… hopefully…" He sighed and moved to rub the back of his neck but found that his arms were still pinned by Miyabi and Yumi, who were staring up at his face with small smiles. The young man straightened himself and moved is gaze to the floor, "You know, if the Yōma-bastard you're fighting doesn't scare me to Hell and back first…" before finally facing Murakumo again, "And, regarding your apologies earlier… They're accepted. I'm also sorry for the part that I played in our fighting too."

Without another word, the friendship between the masked shinobi and the infiltrator was truly affirmed.

**O, the joys of forgiveness and the cementing between the truest of bonds!**

**Truly, it a gift with the utmost power that must be given only with the greatest of discretion. In this instance, it could not have been offered between a better pair. Though there was violent disagreement, there was never any malicious intent. Only the bickering pride of two poor fools who failed to meet one another's eyes.**

**But, with the sins of the past set aside, the two can look one another in the eye and regret nothing. Their anger, born of the care for others and themselves, had been set aside and replaced with a greater foundation.**

**Truly, though the world desires your end, it can also be so beautiful… Blessed be…**

Feeling as though things had become too sappy and uncomfortable, further evidenced by the silent room of gawking shinobi all around them, the young man turned his head away and stumbled over his words, "Anyway, since that's over, what's with your mask?"

Murakumo recoiled and reflexively asked, "Where'd that come from!?"

"I'm trying to change the subject," answered the young man, who'd scrunched his face up in embarrassment. Then, as a lightbulb went up over his head, he rounded his face back to the girl to say, "And what do you mean 'where'd that come from' when you, yourself, pulled such a tactic on me earlier!? I even said those exact words!"

As she relived the memory, Murakumo slumped forward and uttered, "Oh… yeah, sure enough," before shaking her head and crossing her arms to defensively say, "But-, still…" Ultimately, having had the tactic she'd used earlier turned on her, Murakumo couldn't bring herself to argue against the young man's usage of it, "Alright… you win this round…" After a moment of recovery and thought, she then stated, "Well, to answer your question, I haven't repaired my mask yet and this is a temporary one that Minori made for me sometime ago." As if to emphasize her point, the girl traced her finger over the smiley face on the paper bag.

The young man still had other questions, "Why wear one at all?"

"Because I'm ugly," came the frank answer.

"Bullshit, I've seen your face."

Yumi made a small sound of surprise in response to the profanity, but she still remained cozy against the young man's arm. At the same time, Murakumo decided to press, "Are you sure you should be implying a girl is pretty when you're right in front of all your girlfriend's there?"

Before the young man could be put into an awkward position, Asuka quickly called over from where she sat, "Actually, I'm all for it… provided, it's only as a means of convincing you that you're beautiful."

From beside her, Homura reluctantly murmured, "Seconded…" while remarking about how innocent the short brunette was.

"Doubly for!" chimed Yumi as she pressed closer to the young man.

"I see no problem," stated Miyabi, who did the same.

"I'll only have a problem…" mumbled Murasaki as she stood up and pulled up her phone to present it to the young man, "…if you don't offer me doubly as many compliments…" Out of curiosity, the young man glanced at her phone and found a picture of the girl and Bebeby laying in, what he assumed was, their room at Hebijo Academy. The young man tilted his head up to her and was about to speak before he was cut off, "I also want you to compliment Bebeby. She's been alone for the past day and half… I want to bring her some good news when I have to go home later."

Sucking in his lips for a moment, the already crowded boy could feel the humored stares of everyone else piercing into him. Thus, with an attempted shrug of his shoulders, he said, "Murasaki, as a person, you are both baffling and wonderful in many ways. Shy as you are, you have been and continue to be proactive in this relationship. I'm not sure if you're facing any fears while doing so… but just in case, thank you for doing so." In return, Murasaki nodded and waved her hand for the young man to continue, to which he mumbled, "Oh, and Bebeby's pretty cute despite behaving like a horse ass."

Murasaki pressed her face closer and said with an uplifted smile, "I only counted one compliment for me. One more."

Yumi gave a tug to the boy's arm, "Can I have two as well?"

"Behave accordingly," ordered Miyabi as she also reached up and childishly patted at his shoulder, "I want compliments and praise as well. I know that I've been mucking up this relationship thing a bit…" Toward the end, she gave the young man a shake, "But, I'm trying! I'm trying!"

Off to the side, Asuka turned to Homura and asked, "Should I ask for compliments as well?"

"Save that card for later," mumbled the girl with a devious grin, "If he forgets us, we can make him give us four."

Overseeing the whole scene and putting her mind off from what started it all, Murakumo casually walked away as the young man was forcefully extracted of all the praise he had for the girls. Though no one could see it, she had a soft smile under her mask. Truly, she was happy that there was no bad blood between them.

A bit of time passed as the young man continued to offer compliments to the girls he had a relationship with. Much to Asuka and Homura's disappointment, he did remember to include them, "Asuka, you've been a pillar of support since the beginning and, if it weren't for your intervention back when we were all still fighting, I'm not sure if we'd all be here today."

As the brunette beamed brightly, Yumi gave a gentle and painless tug to the young man's ear, "Hey, you already called me a pillar of support…"

The young man retorted in a voice cracked by nervousness, "And the Japanese dictionary doesn't have enough words for especially unique compliments. I'm sorry!" as he processed the small minefield he'd walked himself into. Then a knock came from the front door and he loudly called, "Can someone get that!? I've been surrounded and pinned."

"Can I get another compliment?" murmured Yumi in a quiet tone.

The young man shrunk his head, "In fear of the mess that would be created…" and was about to give a firm denial before he caught the girl's sad eyes looking back at him. In a moment of weakness, he uttered, "…maybe later…"

As all of that continued, Shiki finished taking a few pictures of the gathering and then bounced toward the door. Upon opening it, she found smiled brightly and announced loudly into an imaginary microphone in her hand, "Check, check! All party-goers," before gracefully flipping her body around to face everyone in the living space, "I'm proud to announce the arrival of our local fuzz!"

"You all seem to be having a good time," rumbled Oda as he squeezed through the doorframe.

"Considering everything," came Hanzō's voice from right behind, "I think it's time for them to lay back and relax for a while."

In response to his statement, there were three incoherent murmurs of discontent coming from the far back of the adult group. Once Oda managed his way through the door and Hanzō strutted in after, Jasmine, Kiriya, and Rin all marched in right behind the pair. In contrast to the more laidback demeanors of the two shinobi leading the way, they had much more serious expressions on their faces.

A round of greetings was echoed from everyone throughout the room, save for the young man. Instead, the boy was mouthing the words, "Help me," while Yumi and Miyabi's backs were turned, hoping for a way out of his extremely awkward situation.

Either not taking the hint or ignoring the boy's plea completely, Hanzō merrily chipped, "Well, I can see you guys have gotten close. Are we upgrading the harem antics to a more physical level than before?"

Beside him, Jasmine mumbled along the lines of, "At least it's some kind of progress," before gently raising her voice, "In all seriousness, I think a decision should be made in that regard." Toward the end, her eyes began to turn much more stern, "It isn't good to string along five young girls."

The young man froze and wondered about the best way to approach the dilemma he was in, that being to come forward about his new relationship or save it until he could do it safely over the phone from an unknown location. As he considered his options, Miyabi looked up to him and asked, "Do I tell them proudly or nervously… or at all?"

While the question marks were practically visible over all of the adults' heads, the young man turned his serious gaze to the girl who was leaning into him and muttered, "Which one do you think will increase my chances for survival…?"

"Proudly," remarked Yumi from the other side, possessively pulling the boy closer.

Miyabi peeked around, "But-, wait, I did that earlier with Yozakura and Katsuragi… Didn't I get scolded for that?"

"Proudly," shot back a firm Yumi, "Perhaps you were a bit more forthcoming, though I held you in a high regard for it." She stared hard into Miyabi's eyes, "If you truly want this relationship, do not feel any shame in it…!"

"You're just riling her up so that you won't have to be the one to tell, aren't you?" questioned the young man, his narrowed eyes going down to the Gessen shinobi. In response, the girl turned her head and tried to whistle innocently but was unable to and could only make a spitting sound with her lips.

"You took the harem route, didn't you?" questioned Hanzō, crossing his arms and nodding in admiration.

Oda flinched reflexively upon hearing the words leave his friend's lips, "The harem route!?" before facing the young man and urgently stating, "No, that can't be!"

Immediately bracing for the same judgment that he received from Ikaruga earlier, the young man murmured, "Oh no… here we go…"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is!?" cried Oda, his serious face twisted with complete and utter fear, "It may seem like fun and games now but you need only wait! Once the rest of the girls become aware of one another, they'll go on a violent offense." He lifted a finger and did a small march in place, "Now, it might seem like fun and games at the time. They'll keep offering more and the attention you receive will be gratifying… until they turn their ferocity against you in jealousy!" After stopping his foot, nearly splitting the wooden floor in doing so, Oda finished by saying, "Before you know it, you'll be stabbed, decapitated, and floating alone with whichever woman survived in a boat in the middle of the sea!"

"Oda," remarked Kiriya in a low tone, "you just described the plot of a series down to a tee. Is that where you're getting your information from?"

There was a long moment of silence before the large shinobi slumped over and prodded his fingers against each other, "Truth be told, I've never witnessed the harem route in real life… I've only got the cartoons that my wife watches for reference…"

"I don't remember Suzuka being into those kinds of shows…" mumbled Rin.

"She says it's a 'phase' she's going through…"

Giving a slight stomp to her foot, Jasmine uttered, "Oi! Are we going to ignore the matter at hand?"

At that point, the young man stopped enjoying the banter between all of the adults and thought to himself, "Okay, now~ I'm going to get my ass kicked… Fine, I'm prepared…"

Jasmine held a hand to her head and uttered, "Seriously… we're getting distracted by some teenagers' relationships and harem cartoons when there's a bigger matter at hand." While the young man and everyone else straightened in confusion, the woman continued, "Look, I'm glad we're all fine and that the six of you have found some kind of… common ground or whatever the hell you want to call it… But there is still something regarding the Yōma that we urgently need to talk about."

"Wait, so you don't care about our relationship?" questioned Asuka, who was caught somewhere between relieved and confused.

"You guys found a resolution," sighed Jasmine, "and I'm happy for it… but there's a bigger matter at hand-, wait…" After pausing and looking around, she asked, "Aren't we missing six bodies- nope, Hikage's on top of the bookshelf." After receiving a tired thumbs up from the girl, Jasmine asked, "Who else are we missing?"

Right on cue, Hibari, Minori, and Yagyū were popped out of the closet while Yozakura wordlessly fled the scene with a key in hand. Even when the adults stared in confusion and silently asked questions with their eyes, the blue-haired girl did nothing to offer clarity. After a few seconds, Minori remarked, "It's been too long… I need another soda…"

"Again…" grumbled Yagyū from the bottom of the pile, "…if you want sugar… you're lit-er-al-ly carrying your candy bucket right now…"

"I want soda~…"

Hibari chimed, "Me too…"

Slumping her head down to the floor in defeat, Yagyū simply said, "Please… drink in moderation… don't chug it down…"

Then, preceded by a loud and terrified cry, Ikaruga ran out of the bedroom screaming while completely naked. Just as the young man turned his head away to avoid the view, Haruka prowled straight out of the bedroom and after the girl, wrapping paper clutched tightly into her hands while yelling with a wild smile on her face, "If you help, you'll get to see the joys that your precious rules forbid you from! Why're you still running away!?" With all of the running and bouncing that came from the girl's pursuit, the only thing that wasn't covered was the essential area on the lower part of her body. In response, the young man tried to maintain a poker face while the rest of the girls yelled for the two to get dressed.

But, between the sight of Asuka and Homura's exposure from earlier and the fact that there were two other naked girls running through the apartment at that exact moment, it was beginning to become too much. Seeking to escape the visuals while the adults tried to regain order and control, the young man craned his head as far back as he could and imagined the feeling of an ice bucket full of water running down his body.

Then he found two black eyes staring right back at him and heard the sound of a meow. Standing behind the couch was a little girl he'd never seen before with a green-haired pale woman standing defensively over her. In the arms of the smaller body was the cat that Onoda had the other day, Chomubach, who looked content and pleased as the girl's little hands ran through its fur.

"Hullo~!" chipped the girl, causing the rest of the room to fall silent and turn toward her, "You may or may not know me as Kagura!"

More out of surprise than actual fear, the young man let out a high-pitched and girly scream that belonged to a slasher film. He would never find out what exactly brought such a reaction out of him, other than the fact that little girls holding cats while being escorted by ghostly-looking figures was usually a bad omen. Unfortunately, the scream he let out would forever be lightheartedly scrutinized by everyone all around him.


	49. Chapter 49: Threats and Confabs

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 49: Threats and Confabs

The apartment was pitch-black. The windows had blankets hung in front of them to allow no sunlight through and the door leading to the outside hallway had several towels covering its cracks. For a while, it was extremely silent too. With only the hushed breaths of several people, who were all equally wondering about what was going on, even a pebble could be heard if it struck the wooden floor.

Then rhythmic footsteps began to lightly trek from the side of the room until they found themselves in front of the television. A high-pitched voice ordered in a serious tone, "Naraku…" before a remote clicked.

Then the cartoon hero from earlier, Abyss-Seeker, was sprawled across the screen. He muttered, "Even without my wisdom teeth to lose… your punches may be too much…"

"Ho-ho~, Mister Seeker…!" laughed the villain, Dinmor, before he paused and had an extremely emotional look of shock on his face. With tears in his eyes and sniff of his nose, the beady-eyed man murmured, "Do you mean it? None of the other heroes ever admitted defeat, even after I knocked out their teeth… Truly? Is my punch finally too much for someone…?"

"No," stated Abyss-Seeker in a monotone voice before sucker punching Dinmor straight in the stomach, blasting him off with enough kinetic force to launch him into space.

"Naraku, Naraku~…!" came a childish whine, "Change the channel, change the channel! The mood is going to be ruined!"

Murasaki could be heard murmuring, "…but I like this episode…"

"Many apologies, Lady Kagura," stated Naraku in her quiet voice. After a bit of frantic clicking, the screen turned to complete static.

The little girl's sweet voice rang, "Thank you~!"

From where he sat on the couch, the young man asked himself, "What is going on…?"

"Just-, look," mumbled Jasmine, who was standing toward the backwall with an annoyed grimace, "just entertain this for now. You'll get it soon…"

At the same time, Ikaruga's broken whispers could be heard from as she pressed her head against Asuka's lap as they sat against the foot of the couch, "Her hands… everywhere… She would have defiled me… And her smile… Never again should she ever feel happiness…"

As the short brunette offered comfort in the form of head pats, Haruka thought to herself that the raven-haired shinobi's last statement was too much. Though, based on the fact that nearly everyone in the room dogpiled on her, tied her up after forcefully dressing her, and gagged her mouth with a cloth, perhaps Ikaruga's murmurs had some merit that Haruka couldn't exactly see. Yet, as things stood, she didn't believe that anything she did warranted such treatment, though she knew everyone would disagree if her thoughts could be voiced.

Interrupting the antics, Kagura marched in front of the staticky television and said in as dire a voice as she could muster, trying her best to deepen it like a horror book's narrator, "There are many awesome legends which have passed over these lands known as Japan… and there are many more which have spread across the world. Some are fictional, some are real, and others are somewhere in between…" She cracked her head to face the group of people before her, who were all huddled up together and sitting either on the couch, chairs, or floor. After a dramatic silence, she said, "But we're going to be talking about the real one today… The legend that surpasses the seriousness of every other… One which should not be taken lightly…!"

The young man repeated under his breath, "…should not be taken lightly…" as he watched Kagura wave Naraku to come onto her makeshift stage. He decided that the girl was either tone-deaf or he was the one who was, somehow, insane. His mind voted on the former as he tried to anticipate the next round of craziness to come.

Yet, despite expecting something wild, even the young man couldn't hide his complete surprise when Naraku pulled out two Maracas and shouted in a surprisingly deep voice, "SEARCH! FOUND! CLASH! DEATH! TIS THE CYCLE!"

While the short girl proceeded to wave her new instruments around wildly and without any form, Kagura murmured in a serious voice, "This is the tale of a war which will become the largest in all history…"

"MANKIND," screeched Naraku before her voice cracked, "they'll shine…!" She then tried to shout again, "Yōma," but her voice was too hoarse, "they'll shine…" Deciding to throw away her comfort, Naraku threw her maracas into the air and stretched out her arms sideways as she painfully yelled, "THEY'RE BRIGHT ALONE…!"

Not putting much focus on the fact that her friend sounded like death, Kagura shouted in her waning deep voice, "So the tale goes…!"

While everyone watched in awe of the spectacle before them, Naraku caught the maracas and proceeded to shake them as ominously as she could, which wasn't very much, as she whispered, "Summons. Secrets. Searching. Screaming." When she gave herself a spin, Murakumo gave a subtle nod in appreciation for the show's aesthetic. Continuing her maraca-shaking, Naraku continued, "Trials. Triumph. Trekking. Terror."

"Onward to possibility!" cried Kagura as she dramatically threw her hands into the air.

"ONWARD TO POSSIBILITY!" shouted Naraku.

In a quiet voice, Kagura hunched over and covered her mouth as she whispered horrifically, "Should it turn to be mankind's final war," before dramatically pointing a finger into the air, "the end of existence must force the cost…" She then cried and raised her open palms to the air, "For the Yōma must be made to suffer," and stomped her foot to the floor, "if it wants to snuff out the brightest stars!"

"Onward all possibilities…!" cried Naraku before her voice finally gave and she couldn't say anything else.

"ONWARD ALL POSSIBILITIES!" screeched Kagura, who abandoned her attempts at a deep voice.

Then, just as the two were about to launch into a dramatic tirade of more words and lunacy, Ryōbi loudly grumbled, "This show's garbage. Turn on that cartoon from before or whatever."

"Concurred," muttered Murasaki, who skulked over to where Naraku left the remote. After retrieving the device, she proceeded to flip through the channels.

As the television's dramatic static disappeared from behind her, Kagura muttered in shock, "Hey…" before the panic set in. Throwing her hands into the air and charging at Murasaki, the girl repeatedly shouted, "HEY! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! It was my show! I wanted to present the story! I worked really hard on it! Stop! Please, stop!"

Despite the fact that, upon closing the distance between the two, Kagura was connecting her fists into the purple-haired shinobi's chest, her strikes only bounced away. Completely unfazed by the attempted violence, Murasaki only replied, "You can present it to us after a bit more practice…" before she eventually found her cartoon. Yet, before she could relax, she had to repeatedly lift the remote out of Kagura's reach.

"Practicing takes too much time! Acting's not like fighting! It takes too long and it's too difficult to manage!" After a few more wordless cries of desperation, the little girl then began to beg, "Please, we'll do better! I swear! We just needed to work the kinks out! You'll have fun! Honest! I swear, I swear, I swear!"

The young man turned his head to Murasaki, lowering his eyebrows amidst the dreadful situation at hand, "Let's just…" before turning to Kagura, "Is there a point to the story? Could you cut to that?"

"No!" cried the little girl as she violently swung her head back and forth, "I put too much work into it! I don't wanna skip any of it!"

The young man was about to continue but was cut off as the volume of the television began to rise again. He was about to narrow his eyes on Murasaki, who committed a similar offense earlier that day, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Imu already zipped from where she was standing from to intercept the remote. Snatching the device from her sister's hands, she muted the TV and turned on the captioning, "Work with this. Otherwise, it's distracting," before silently rushing to where she'd been seated.

The young man kept his eyes on her for a second before offering, "Thank you," and looking back to Kagura.

"Don't be…" came Imu's mute response, which the boy had barely caught.

Keeping his focus on the childish super shinobi before him, the young man then asked, "If we promise to let you give your skit another try after some practice, would you cut to the gist of it?"

"Practicing takes too much time, I said!" cried Kagura as she balled up her fists and raised them into the air.

"Well, I guess we're done here then," remarked the young man before he sat back into his seat.

Realizing that her tantrum didn't get her anywhere, Kagura stared at the boy with harsh eyes before muttering with a sneer, "I don't like you."

"I don't much like you either," fired back the young man in a calm voice.

"You can't say that to me!" shouted Kagura as she rushed and pounced toward the couch, "I'm a child!"

"Pardon me," grumbled the young man to Miyabi, who was sitting next to him, before he scooted his body out of the way and onto the older girl. With her newfound lover pressing into her as he evaded Kagura's attack, the white-haired woman let out a sharp cry of surprise before silencing herself.

Just as the child-missile collided into the couch, Ryōna could be heard whispering to Miyabi from behind, "Oh! So, you can let out high-pitched cries too!"

Before any defense could be offered, Mirai clambered over the back of the furniture and prodded her finger against the back of the young man's head, "It sounded similar to his from earlier."

Embarrassed by the memory of his terrified scream, the boy was about to try and defend himself before Kagura stood on the cushion to stare down at him. After a moment of frustrated contemplation, she started bouncing herself up and down while crying, "I wanna do the show! I wanna do the show!"

Getting more and more annoyed by the child's hissy fit, the young man yelled up to her, "If you're going to be rude and attack me, there's not going to be any show at all!" Before he could chide the girl any further, he felt an aggressive pat on the top of his head and looked up to find Naraku staring down at him harshly. Determined to not surrender to anything more absurd than he was already used to, the young man grumbled, "What?"

Having lost her voice amidst the performance, Naraku could only offer a weak and scratchy whisper, "Don't yell at Lady Kagura…"

The young man stared up at her with dagger-like eyes, "Do you usually let her get away with these kinds of tantrums…?"

While Naraku maintain silence, many of the girls were rubbing their chins to analyze the situation. Yumi and Yozakura, in particular, analyzed the young man's behavior down to the smallest detail before simultaneously clicking their fingers, adopting sure smiles, and giving firm nods, "The stern and no-nonsense kind of parent…"

Turning around to look at them, the young man asked, "What do you two think you're going on about…?" His answer was the two girls looking away to try and whistle, albeit the spitting sounds signified that they were failing miserably.

Seeing, again, that her yelling wasn't getting anywhere, Kagura stopped bouncing on the couch and slumped onto her knees with a depressed look on her face. As though all of the passion and happiness had been drained from her, she curled up and hugged herself. Seeing her best friend in such a state, Naraku turned her furious expression toward the young man. Feeling mostly guiltless through the encounter, the boy still decided to try and be the more mature of the lot and faced Kagura, "Would you please share the most important part of your show? I really want to see it."

"You're lying," came the child's muffled voice.

"You're not a very good liar," called Asuka from the floor.

"Well, what am I supposed to do!?" cried the young man as he gestured to the little girl, "We're sitting here, trying to figure out if there's a point to the play, and I'm throwing a bone to try and get to that while everyone else is just sitting silently. Let's see you guys do better."

Haruka suddenly appeared from the side of the couch, "I think I have a solution-," but was cut off when Ikaruga screamed.

"HEAVENS ON FIRE, SHE'S FREE!"

Jumping a bit in alarm to the renegade's sudden presence, the young man cried, "How the hell did you get out of all those knots!?"

The girl smirked knowingly and remarked, "You can't use those kinds of tricks on the master who knows them, in and out…" Just as everyone began to regard her as a more dangerous entity, Haruka approached and kneeled beside Kagura to ask, "Would you please share the most important part of your show? I really want to see it."

"Okay," mumbled the girl, "but only if…" before cutting herself off and whispering into the woman's ear.

In the meantime, the young man threw his hands into the air and thought to himself, "Oh, bullshit! She used the exact same line as I did!" But, after making sure that none of his frustration would be verbalized, he felt a few eyes piercing into the back of his head. He turned around and found that Katsuragi and Shiki were smiling at his evident frustration. In turn, the young man mumbled in a low-tone, "Bite me, both of you…"

Then Haruka poked his shoulder and said, "Kagura will cut to the point of this presentation on one condition…"

After a few outbursts, compromises, and shenanigans, the young man found himself standing before the whole group with the child sitting on his shoulders. To make sure he didn't buckle on his injured ankle, Yagyū and Hibari were holding his elbows and maintaining his balance. Though some of the girls argued that it should have been one of his lovers undertaking the job, none of them could come to an agreement as to which two. Under his breath, he questioned, "Did it have to be me? There are taller and less tedious options…"

Murakumo could be heard muttering, "Don't you dare point at me."

Kagura, in return, stated, "When I came in, I saw you giving lap pillows. I was wondering if there was anything special about your body," before slumping over into the back of his head, "Besides sitting up here… I'm getting nothing out of this…"

"Would you like to come down?" asked the young man.

His answer was a tiny fist repeatedly thumping the top of his head, "No! The deal was I sit up here and give the speech! Don't go back on your word!"

Reduced to grumbling under his breath, the young man was going to maintain his silence until he found Murasaki staring at him. Seeing as her TV show was going on behind him, he skidded to the side a bit to see if her gaze would break away. Instead, the girl kept firm eye contact and quietly said, "I am now wondering what a piggyback ride would feel like…"

"Stop wondering that," ordered the young man.

"Now then!" cried Kagura from her perch, "I will deliver this super awesome line without the preceding rhythm, so don't be surprised if it isn't as epic as it should be." With a deep inhale, she then proceeded to rapidly yell, "From the ash of burning cosmos comes Shin, the raider of all life! Building might for millennia and conquering centuries more! It will bring it's gruesome visions to purge what's not its creation as morbid collectives worship on a world drenched in hellfire!"

There were a few moments of stunned silence as everyone tried to process the flurry of words that came from Kagura's mouth. Then, with a small nod of approval, the young man said, "Actually, that was pretty good. Dramatic, loud, a bit powerful… Good word choice."

Freezing in embarrassment, Kagura shyly replied, "Well… I'm not actually the one who wrote that part…"

"Still," remarked the young man, "good delivery."

Kagura continued to pout, "It wasn't as flashy as I wanted it to be…"

"It doesn't need to be flashy. You made it awesome by default."

"…it was the words that were awesome… and they weren't mine…"

"You still delivered them in an awesome way."

Suddenly beaming brightly in response to the determined praise, Kagura gently patted her hands against the top of the young man's head, "Oh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You were a wonderful audience member and podium!" Of course, the young man didn't note the fact that he was only verbalizing his compliments to get back on her good side, seeing as she was, apparently, the shinobi that killed the Yōma from the day before.

"So, just to be clear…" stated Homura from where she sat, "Was that whole thing about Shin…? You know, the Yōma we've already known about?"

"Yes," said Kagura with a massive grin.

For all of the time that was wasted on a subject that could have been summed up in the words, "By the way, Shin is still a thing,", Homura very nearly committed to an attempted murder charge. Yet, whether it was the fact that everyone around her leaned away to brace for the coming explosion of anger or that Kagura was a legendary shinobi who wouldn't even need to try to win a fight, the tanned girl found herself standing down with a sigh.

On the other end of the spectrum, the young man asked frankly as Kagura happily hummed on his shoulders, "So… Shin. I don't believe I heard that name before…" He took a few seconds to think before muttering tiredly, "And… it's a Yōma…?"

Before anyone could try to lay the news gently on him, Kagura merrily patted at the top of his head with her hands as she said, "Yup, it's a Yōma that's coming to kill us all and take over the world because… I dunno, mad god wannabe or something like that." While the young man's face was tensing up more and more as the words continued to prattle on, everyone tried to shush the child as she carelessly continued, "Either way, he's actually pretty capable of doing it too. When he shows up, no if about it, a lot of people are probably going to die in terribly gruesome ways."

The boy turned his head up to Kagura, wishing he could play off her chipper attitude so that he could proclaim it all to be some joke. But, after all of his experience with the shinobi, anything wacky was in the realm of complete reality and anything fantastical was a sure thing. So, in an effort to keep his faltering nerve in check, he asked the child on his shoulders, "And… is this threat a hundred years off or something? Will I have died of natural causes by the time it arrives?"

"Nope, it'll be here before the end of the year," replied Kagura.

While the young man processed the information, Naraku added from behind him, "It's actually part of the reason on why we came here. To warn you guys and-, why're you shifting around?"

However stressful the earlier bits of the day were, the young man fully believed that he had an element of control over himself and the support of those around him. Yet, even with both of those things still in his hold, he couldn't help the agonizing headache which set in upon hearing the news of Shin's coming. Being careful to not drop the child who was still on his shoulders, he patted her knee and said, "Off… You'll want to get off…" before he bent over to let Kagura slide away. The moment that she did so, he proceeded to pull from Hibari and Yagyū's hold to lay on the floor and roll onto his side with a guttural groan. Not a second after, Asuka and Yumi were on him with several others moving in close behind.

While the young man scrunched up his face and closed his eyes, which felt like they were about to burst from the inside, the short brunette quickly asked, "Hey! Hey, are you alright-, it's your head right!?"

At the same time, Yumi was asking, "What can we do? Painkillers, water, anything?"

The young man repeated, "Painkillers and water…" as he slumped his head down.

As Homura quickly jumped to the task, zipping toward the bathroom's medicine cabinet and then to the kitchen, Kagura asked, "Are you hurt?"

"Yes and no," remarked the young man in a low-tone.

"Are you still able to talk?" asked Naraku, who craned her head down to face the boy, "There's something we need to discuss with you."

"Specifically… me?" asked the boy.

"Yup," chipped Kagura.

Without skipping a beat, the young man thought to himself, "Life sucks…" and nuzzled his head against the cold wooden floor. Once Homura came by and offered him a couple of pills and water, he snatched them out of her hands and went about guzzling the entire glass as the medicine swam down his throat. After setting down the cup and taking a hard breath, he looked up to Homura and murmured, "Sorry… and thank you for grabbing those."

"What're you sorry for?" asked Homura.

"I was a bit rough in grabbing those from you… It was rude of me," replied the boy as he laid back against the floor.

"I'll overlook it this time," said the girl as she offered a gentle and pleasant scratch behind the boy's ear, having already forgotten his lack of manners.

Though the feeling filled him with a bit of joy, the young man's headache still remained. He thought about the circumstances and contemplated what Kagura and Naraku were going to ask of him, the consequences of it, and whether he'd be alive when the dust settled. But, before he got ahead of himself, the young man decided to ask, "Just to make sure… you're not going to ask for me to fight this thing, are you? If so, I'll save us some time and give you an answer, that being a hard no."

Kagura narrowed her eyes on him before raising a fist and clocking the side of his head, which only carried enough strength to feel like someone accidentally bumped into him. But, sensing her intention was to deliver some pain, the young man gave her a blank stare as she asked, "You know this thing is going to try and take over the world, right? It'll kill everyone and everything to replace them with its own creation. Are you okay with that?"

"The world isn't my responsibility," remarked the young man as he rolled over to face away from the girl, "I'm someone who is planning to go full-civilian once I'm done doing what I'm doing."

The girls around him stared with mixed feelings, understanding his position and also trying to not project their own responsibility for fighting Shin onto him. Despite that, Kagura would not easily relent, "Should you be so carefree that you'd let the world burn while you live in comfort?"

The young man didn't face her, "I'm of the opinion that the world is, again, not my responsibility. Does it suck that the world's going to burn and I'm probably going to die anyway? Yes." In the middle of his defense, the boy rolled over as he maintained an averted gaze, "But does that mean I should sign myself into a conflict where I'm probably going to die while contributing absolutely nothing of value, meaning my death was entirely in vain? No."

"If you're going to die anyway, you should at least be willing to go down fighting," stated Kagura, losing most of the positive feelings she had for him.

"Or, and hear me out on this," fired back the young man as he locked his eyes onto her, "I could spend my last few months in happiness and find some peace." He then stated, "In the meantime, feel free to warn the general public and get some recruits out of them." The boy gave a cheerless grin, "Sure, there'll be a mass panic and widespread chaos in response…" before snarking, "but, hey… you'll get your fighters out of it."

Kagura responded by going on an all-out attack, trying to pummel the boy with her tiny fists, "THE WORLD IS IN DANGER!"

Not at all fazed, the young man turned back over and let the strikes bounce off his back, "So is my evening."

Naraku, in a calm fashion, quickly placed her hands on the little girl's shoulders and pulled her way, "We don't want him as a fighter anyway," before facing the boy, "Rather, we're here to ask you about your abilities as an infiltrator."

Trying to find a calm by looking up to his surrounding friends, the young man responded coldly, "I find people with distortion, the thing caused by Yōma blood, and cure the hell out of them. That's all."

"Ah," remarked Naraku, "In that case, that's all we really wanted to ask of you."

There were a few seconds of silence before the young man suspiciously glanced over his shoulder, "Is that really all? After the little one's rant, you're not going to try and abduct me to make a super shinobi-infiltrator hybrid?"

Naraku stared at him before tilting her head, "I… don't think that'll be possible without years of training…" She thought to herself for a moment before asking, "Wait, are you hoping that what were going for? I mean, it'd be a rush but-," and was promptly cut off.

"Nope!" cried the boy as he shied away, "Nope, nope, nope. I just wanted clarity on your motivations."

Kagura stuck out her tongue before spitting, "Our motivations are to stop Shin… WHICH YOU SHOULD BE HELPING US WITH!"

Patting the girl's head, which immediately calmed her down, Naraku then said, "In truth, we only need you to cure as many shinobi of their distortion before then." She took a breath and said, "Never mind whatever happens to their personalities and identities if it's left unabated…" before locking her eyes onto as many girls as possible, "Shin could use the distortion to try and control them, making sleeper agents out of them after his initial attack."

Remembering their confrontation against Yumi's distortion, everyone was immediately reminded of how they were brought under its control to fight one another. The only ones who weren't affected were the adult shinobi and those who were already corrected. Realizing just how dire the situation could be if Shin were to suddenly show up, a wave of shivers ran down the spines of everyone within the room. On the other hand, as his headache began to clear away, the young man asked frankly, "So… you want me to correct the distortions of everyone in here? That's all?"

Keeping Kagura calm by soothingly stroking the top of her head, Naraku replied simply, "Exactly. That's all we came for… Well, that and to inform you of the severity of the situation."

"Well, I suppose you're in luck," remarked the young man as he sat back up and pointed to Hanzō and Jasmine, "because those two are blackmailing me to do the exact same thing."

The pair jumped in response and were about to offer instinctual words of defense before catching themselves. They knew which bed they made and were prepared to lay in it. During their guilty self-loathing, Naraku simply nodded her head, "Be that as it may, we're glad you'll be doing your part." With a few final pats to Kagura's head, she gestured to the door, "We'll be taking our leave."

Oda straightened himself and asked, "So soon?"

"We're going to go check the tree," cheered Kagura as she began to strut toward the door, "You know, to make sure no seals have come undone."

"The tree…?" uttered the young man, his voice full of questions.

Catching the boy's confusion, Kagura chipped in one last time, "Oh, the tree is-," before catching herself and looking to Oda, "Sorry, we're on a schedule. Could you tell him about it? Thank you and buh-bye!"

With that, the two shinobi went through the apartment's front door and left the group behind. There was a quiet exchange of looks between everyone, conveying just how serious the situation became. Then, as though it were standard everyday business, they all shrugged and began to reassume their previous positions. Murasaki and Mirai sat against the couch and turned their attention to the TV, with Imu silently debating whether or not she should join in to earn sympathy points with the former. Toward the back of the room, Rin and Kiriya began to talk about the sort of plans and procedures that would need to be in place. Nearly everyone else just broke down to casual conversation, with Asuka even asking, "You know, I'm still wondering how they go into the apartment in the first place… It's like they just teleported behind us…"

Put off by how brazenly relaxed the situation had become, the young man stood from the floor, nearly toppled over himself due to his ankle, and cried, "Hold on! What happened!? Shouldn't there be a panic between all of us or something!?"

Ryōna let out a laugh from beside Ryōbi and explained, "Honestly, we've all heard the Shin spiel so many times over the last few months that we're having a hard time taking it seriously."

Leveling his hands with his face and shaking them in the air, the young man asked, "Well, if we take her little… poem-, presentation-, whatever it was that Kagura gave while on my shoulders… If we take that at face value, we're talking about a doomsday event." He gestured over to Katsuragi as she was walking into the kitchen area to grab another soda, "Yet, you guys seem to be ready to act like there's nothing dangerous."

"Again," said Ikaruga, who was standing as far away from Haruka as possible, "we've discussed it repeatedly over the last few months."

The young man pointed his finger to her, "And how are you, of all people, acting like it isn't a big deal!?"

"Even Ikaruga has her limits," said Yomi as she approached the young man and gave a gentle pat to his shoulder. After a few seconds, she thought to herself and said, "Let me put it into perspective. Since Peach Beach Splash-, wait, have we ever talked to you about Peach Beach Splash?"

Entertaining the thought that there was something behind everyone's relaxed demeanors, the young man answered quietly, "I've heard snippets…"

Yomi started with a casual smile, "Well, that took place during winter and there were some…" before it faltered and she glanced awkwardly to the side, "There were some complications that came up after that left us all feeling a bit down and frustrated." Before the young man could pry for details, she continued, "Anyways, at the same time, the government kept sending out repeated alerts that Shin was on his way and that we had to brace for immediate battle."

Murakumo decided to pipe in, "We took it seriously through all of January…" before she looked down to the floor and crossed her arms, "Then it happened twice every week in February… then through most of March…"

Ryōbi groaned loudly and turned to Oda, "By the time you assholes caught on to the fact that your combat alert wasn't making us, you know, alert… we were treating the alarm like a Sunday stroll…"

Oda defensively raised up hand, "Hey, don't pin this one on me. I may have my moments of thoughtlessness but even I'm not stupid enough to abuse an emergency bell." All of the adults in the room adopted mirrored glowers as the same thought seemed to course through all of their minds. Then Oda murmured, "The most likely culprit would be the Prime Minister's current secretary… Trying to keep us on our toes in the most nonsensical way possible, probably…"

The young man took a moment to think before tilting his head and awkwardly asking, "So… I shouldn't take Kagura's threat of Shin too seriously…?"

"No, no!" cried Yozakura, "Take it seriously. Please, take it seriously…" before she turned her head away and played with a strand of hair in front of her ears, "It's just… at this point, we're pretty accustomed to these kinds of threats… So, I wouldn't expect much of a reaction from us until we actually see Shin for ourselves…"

"Ah," remarked the young man before crossing his arms, "Well… frankly, I'm not very sure how to go about this anymore… Do I panic…? Ask about the tree Kagura mentioned…? Blah… No, save it for a different time…" After silently remarking about the magic of turning one's focus off one stressful subject and placing it onto another, he debated the thought of joining the festivities. Then, practically appearing from the boy's shadow, Haruka poked her head out from behind him with a smile on her face, prompting Ikaruga to silently sprint into the kitchen to turn on the faucet. Though the renegade said nothing at all, the jolly and guiltless expression that she had with a teasing smirk was enough to ring every alarm in the young man's body. After processing the danger, he leapt toward the couch with a yell, "AWAY!" and stated in a frightened voice, "Alright, I'll go about it like this: what the hell were you trying to do to Ikaruga earlier and what're you thinking to do to me now!?"

"To answer both questions…" uttered Haruka before her smile turned absolutely sinister, "I was going to give the thing that is both feared by the innocent but loved by the dirtied…"

"BEGONE, SHE-DEVIL!" cried Ikaruga as she suddenly appeared to defend the young man and herself, splashing a cup of water into the woman's face, "BEGONE! YOU'LL HAVE NONE OF US!"

Completely unfazed, Haruka swept aside her bangs and licked her lips, "Bring another cup to cool me down…?"

Ikaruga let out a yelp and retreated to sit beside the young man on the couch, "She's too dangerous…" After a few quiet seconds, she murmured to the boy, "You fought that Yōma so, since you're the most experienced with taking on merciless beasts, you should be the one to handle her."

Not a second later, the young man pulled himself up from the couch, biting back the pain of walking on his cast, to skittered to the backside of the furniture and said in a clear and emotionless tone, "No. You're a better one-on-one fighter than me. Plus, you're taller and stronger. Face your fears. I'm rooting for you."

While everyone else watched in amusement as the two went back and forth, Haruka crossed her arms and mumbled, "You know, being this feared is something to be proud of," before slumping her head over, "but it still feels pretty bad…" Deciding that she had enough, the woman clapped her hands and watched as the young man and Ikaruga turned their wide eyes on her. Haruka then said, "Truly, I only have an offer that will help the current situation."

The young man narrowed his eyes, "What situation?"

"You engaged first," stated Ikaruga before she fled to the corner of the room. As the boy cursed and called after her, she cried, "I have faith in you!"

Haruka, under the watchful and curious eyes of the young man's partners, closed the distance by circling the couch and clasping her hands onto his wrist, "Truly, it's helpful to your situation in nature."

The boy stared at her and, despite sensing an evil intent, said to her quietly, "Alright, I'll bite… What situation do want to help…?"

Haruka started to say, "Your sexual situation-," before the young man pried himself free to run for his life. The woman watched bemusedly as he limped through the crowd of girls around them, who were divided by their shocked or amused expressions. Then, after a few shrill cries and pleas, everyone split apart to watch the young man try and pull Ikaruga from her corner.

"I've done my time…!" grunted the boy as he pulled at her waist, "Your turn…! FACE YOUR FEARS!"

"No! No, no! Not with Haruka," cried Ikaruga as she kept her feet firmly planted, "Anyone but her!"

Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Yumi turned toward Miyabi to ask, "Should we ask for ourselves-," but cut herself off when she found the woman shaking.

"Sexual situation…?" muttered Miyabi, "We have a sexual situation…? Am I ready…? How can I be ready…? There's no way…! This is too soon, even for us…!"

Realizing she was on her own, Yumi turned to Haruka and asked, "How do you aim to help our sexual situation when we don't have one yet?"

The woman raised a finger and smiled, "Not yet, you don't," before lowering her arm and clasping her hands in front of her stomach, "But, since it is typical for many relationships, I would expect it to turn that way soon." She then gestured one of her hands to the young man as he continued to try and have Ikaruga take his place, "The problem here is that there is one boy," and then waved her arm to everyone else involved, "and five girls."

After finally giving up in his efforts, the young man let out a breath of exhaustion and turned his gaze toward Haruka, "What problem is there with that and why is it any of your business…?"

After a haughty laugh, she responded, "It's my business because my dearest friends are involved…" before her smile turned vicious as she hissed, "And the problem lays in your endurance…!"

Off to the side, Hanzō finally realized that the adults had been completely forgotten amidst the conversation. He turned to Jasmine worriedly, "Are you sure we shouldn't involve ourselves? I don't want them to… do something they might regret during the rest of this chaos."

"Shush," responded his wife, "and let them handle it for themselves."

With a small shudder and a face that had turned red from all the heat rushing to his head, the young man uttered, "I see where this is going…" and promptly said, "Look, we're not at that stage yet and there's no need to get there until someone is interested in it."

It took every bit of effort in Homura's body to not say, "I'm interested in it," as a joke. But, reading the situation and seeing the surrounding audience, she knew the laughs would be overshadowed by however many people took it seriously.

"I'm interested in hearing what you have to say," stated Yumi with a serious expression on her face. Despite mulling over how hilarious such a response would be seconds before, Homura visibly flinched along with everyone else in the room.

The young man turned his head and was staring wide-eyed while firmly pressing his lips together, making a high-pitched noise of fright with his throat. Asuka, Miyabi, and Murasaki's reactions were delayed for a few seconds before all of the wiring in their brains came undone. As they all struggled to remain standing with all the heat rushing to their heads, everyone else was frozen and unsure of what to say. Even Hanzō, Kiriya, Oda, and Rin were staring speechlessly. Yet, as Haruka gestured Yumi to come closer to talk in secret, Jasmine then pridefully cheered, "Atta girl! Confident, just like I taught you!"

Hanzō whipped his head to her, "You taught her this!?"

Jasmine dropped her merry expression and stared at her husband, "What's got you so shocked?" before crossing her arms, "Also, yes. While we were winding down from the Millennium Festival, she asked me what it took to be the perfect bride and I taught her." Giving a bit of a shrug, she said with a smirk, "And I couldn't be prouder of how this is going."

"They're talking about sex," mumbled Hanzō in a quiet and, seemingly, frightened voice.

Jasmine sharpened her eyes, "And with all of our extensive 'activities' back in the day and all of the groping you've done in recent memory, I don't think you have a leg to stand on!"

The young man muttered to himself with unblinking eyes, "There are several images running through my head that I wish I hadn't seen…"

At the same time, Hibari approached Murakumo and asked, "So, Yumi actually trained under Jasmine in how to be a bride?"

The masked shinobi nodded her head, "Yup. Apparently, it involved a lot of cooking and a lot of boob groping."

Yagyū inserted herself into the discussion, "You know, that may explain why she seems so… aggressive."

Overhearing their comments, Yumi called from where she stood, "Hey, it's not like that right now! I'm just curious," before turning back to Haruka. Then, just as they were about to continue speaking, she turned back again and shamelessly announced, "It's for study purposes." After a few seconds, a lightbulb went off over her head and she gestured Haruka to the wall, "Actually, he has really good ears… we should get some distance and whisper…"

The woman nodded to Yumi with a mischievous smile, "Brilliant idea."

Knowing what the two were talking about, the young man didn't break eye contact as he warily watched them from afar. He didn't edge his way closer to listen in, as he was truly frightened by the thought of whatever idea Haruka had in mind, but he also knew that his guard couldn't be let down. However, in a lapse of concentrated attention, he turned and found that Miyabi had collapsed onto her knees and asked, "…You alright there…?"

"She's more superiorly trained than me…" muttered the woman who lifted her head and stared scornfully at Yumi, "She found a master and has surpassed me…"

The young man remarked, "You're talking about her and Jasmine's training?"

Slamming her fist into an open palm, Miyabi said, "I need to be brave and level the playing field…!"

"What?"

"But I can't consult with Haruka… she's too rogue an element," mumbled the woman before twisting her head to the one other pervert she knew, "RYŌNA!"

"Miyabi, you're scaring me."

The blonde straightened up and saluted, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Every material you have on sex-, this subject! Prepare it all when we get home tonight!" cried Miyabi as her face gradually reddened in embarrassed heat.

By that point, the young man was taking steps away the woman for the sake of self-preservation. He started to say "I think this is a horrible idea… Especially for you, considering you already seem so anxious-," but was interrupted by a guttural growl from the far side of the room.

"THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER!" roared Yumi, who looked like she was about to throw Haruka out the window.

Silence took over the room again and everyone stared in wonder as the girl strutted away from the renowned predator and toward the young man. Of course, being aware of the surrounding subject matter, he straightened up and muttered, "Please, whatever she suggested, be gentle…!"

Instead of doing something bold and frightening like he expected, Yumi simply extended her arms as she continued her slow charge toward him. When the distance was closed, she pulled him into a hug and said, "We'll move at our own pace…" before shooting a venomous look to Haruka, "…and we won't cave to her demands…"

Without much care, the woman shrugged and said, "Of course, the offer will always be on the table… though the terms of the trade will be absolute…"

Without another word, Yumi hissed at Haruka and clung closer to the young man. In a mix of confusion and persisting paranoia, he asked, "Alright, seriously… what'd she suggest…?"

"Something unforgiveable…"

At that point, Oda got a text alert, checked his phone, and muttered, "Thank you, heavens… I have a reason to leave now." He stretched his arms into the air, accidentally bumping the ceiling in the process, and announced, "Well, Sato's finished being processed and I need to go relocate her."

The young man turned to the shinobi in surprise, "Something about Sato being processed? What?"

"She's officially in witness protection, which is basically the shinobi system for POWs…" rumbled Oda as he made his way to the door before turning to the young man, "Which, since she surrendered to us yesterday, she is being labeled as such."

"Ah, I see," murmured the young man.

"Oi, oi!" cried Murakumo from where she stood, "What's going to happen to her?"

"Nothing bad," stated Oda, "For as long as the Dignitaries continue to exist, she's a credible source of information that can be utilized… At least, that's what I'll keep arguing to the rest of the bureaucrats involved…"

"You're determined to protect her?" questioned the young man.

"More or less, though I don't rightly know why," replied Oda before he shrugged, "For now, let's call it me practicing parental instincts for my daughter's sake." A light bulb flashed over his head, "Oh!" before he faced the young man again, "With all the partying and romancing you've been doing, I'm sure you haven't caught word. School's cancelled for you all this week, in light of the Yōma."

Before the boy could celebrate, Minori jumped from where she stood and spun herself around in celebration, "We're off school! We're off school!"

Oda then uttered, "No, he's off school. All shinobi training is still in session."

Minori froze mid-spin and then crumpled onto the ground, "…Mean… This world is mean, mean, and mean…"

With a reluctant sigh, Yozakura approached her from behind and offered a soda, "Would this cheer you-," but was cut off by having it snatched from her hands. She cried out in surprise, "Hey! Manners! MANNERS!" By that point, Minori was already chugging through the bottle.

Oda took a moment to appreciate the humor of the scene before asking the young man, "Also, have you heard from Miki since the day before yesterday?"

The young man straightened himself and a pang of guilt ran through his chest as he realized that he hadn't been extending much thought to his friend. Shrinking his head, he answered, "No, not yet."

"Good," remarked Oda, ushering a bit of surprise from the young man, "Hold off until tomorrow. I managed to get ahold of him earlier and it sounds like something's going down with the dignitaries."

"Something we should be worried about?" asked the boy.

"Yes, but it's out of your hands," said Oda. He then waved and offered what assurance he could, "Don't worry. Our government's bureaus have been working with some of the suits from the United States to track these bastards. We'll know soon enough."

From atop the bookshelf, where she'd been over the course of the last hour, Hikage asked, "Why's the United States involved?"

Not reacting to the girl's strange positioning, Oda stated, "They were hit pretty hard a few times last year. A few major incidents at some schools and churches," before he said, "Look, I'll do my best to keep you guys in the know. For now, enjoy life, practice your combat techniques… and you."

Oda pointed to the young man, he also pointed to himself and mumbled, "Indeed, I am me."

"Get to your distortion curing whenever you can. Time is of the essence."

The young man nodded, "Gotcha. I'll resume in a few days' time once we're all rested up and recovered."

Giving a firm nod of his head, Oda said, "Good. I'll see you guys soon."

Everyone stared off after him as he left, wondering about whatever was to come. For a few seconds, the young man went over all of the information that he'd learned that day. From the threat of Shin to ongoing events with the dignitaries… and to his lovers' discussion of a certain level of intimacy, which he hoped wouldn't be coming back up again. There was even something about a tree that Kagura mention earlier, though he was too exhausted by the day's events and decided to save it for a different time. Overall, he didn't think that anything would be getting easier.

As if to solidify his point, Haruka called over, "Perhaps you would be interested in the deal I offered Yumi?"

"Not a chance," came the young man's immediate reply as he turned to limp his way back to the couch. Things were going to get stressful again and he would take what time he had to lounge. Perhaps it was irresponsible and unbecoming of him but he'd been steadily drained of his energy since before he arrived in the city. Taking some time to relax couldn't have been a terrible crime.


	50. Chapter 50: Realization and Reaction

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 50: Realization and Reaction

"Damn it…" grumbled the young man as he deleted another text from his phone before it could be sent, "…this can't be that hard to do…" He incoherently griped and groaned for a few seconds more before laying back into his bed with an exhausted sigh. While trying to get the words to come to his head, the young man rolled onto his side and then to his opposite. When he still had nothing to show for all his frustration, he moved himself down to the wooden floor and laid there for nearly a minute. Again, there were no results other than a bit of discomfort and the boy could only let out a groan.

The young man didn't consider himself terribly arrogant or self-absorbed when he thought of himself as a problem solver. In the last few weeks, he did his utmost to keep a strong head and persevered until the peak of trouble had come to pass. In awkward social interactions, he did his utmost to keep his cool and went with the flow of things… unless there was something to speak out against or Haruka was involved, since decisive action was always required with such level of danger. If someone ever handed the young man a broken device and told him to fix it, he could go onto a search engine, immediately bring up a how-to, and teach himself to do exactly that. If ever there was a color cube that needed solving, he would go to war against the puzzle for hours until he eventually completed it.

Yet, despite all of those things, the young man couldn't find the right way to send an affectionate message to the five girls he called his lovers. Even after all of their loving behavior earlier that day, the heartfelt goodbyes, and a few longing looks, he couldn't find a way to properly express himself to them without feeling like a board or a sleaze.

At first, it was a complete nonissue. He was going to send a simple message that said, "Thanks for today. You guys have a good night," and leave it at that. Then he realized that addressing their new relationship would probably be the more proper thing to do. Though their headstrong actions of affection throughout the day were bold and shameless, for the most part, the young man was sure that they must have felt some anxiousness or uncertainty in the same way he was. So, he prepared a lengthier message that addressed the whole situation. There was talk of the problems ahead, there were some inspirational words, and plenty of assurances that he'd be determined to see it through right alongside them. Then the young man realized that he'd written the equivalent of a business letter that couldn't be taken seriously. A few variations later and he soon found himself where he was: laying on the cold floor without knowing what he was supposed to say.

Eventually getting sick of the wood beneath him, the young man picked himself up and hobbled over to the doorway with a few curses to his injured ankle. Once out into the main area of the apartment, he looked over all of the empty surroundings and found himself missing the chaos of the celebration that took place earlier. Even after Haruka went on another offensive, targeting Hibari that time, and taking in the frightening expressions of determination that both Miyabi and, surprisingly, Murasaki adopted… he honestly considered all of that better than the blatant indecisiveness he was feeling at that point.

Deciding to take a step back and find out where the problem was for him, the young man went into the kitchen and scoured the fridge for a simple meal. With some leftover meat, he made a small sandwich, sat it on a paper plate, and thoughtfully stared at it once at the table. Under his breath, the young man spoke to himself aloud, "Alright, first question… what's got me hyped up…?"

His immediate answer was that he was nervous since it was his first relationship, which prompted the boy to slap himself and leave a painfully throbbing red mark on his cheek. Without a shred of uncertainty, he didn't consider that to be a proper answer at all. At best, the relationship was the catalyst for whatever issue he had. He clasped his hands together for a moment and thought about other potential causes. Then, taking a moment to finally take the first bite of his sandwich, the young man concluded that it was just an irrational doubt plaguing his head.

After swallowing, he then asked under his breath, "Well… where did this doubt come from?" before taking another bite. At first, he already figured that the relationship was the root and didn't see much reason to delve further. But, upon finding another potential source, he almost felt sick to his stomach. The young man had wondered whether or not he wanted to be in the relationship at all and if, maybe, his mind was just trying to subconsciously call it out.

With a shake of his head, the young man grumbled, "Nope," and found a sure answer. He knew that he wanted a part in the relationship. It was the second most simple solution, just after turning all of the girls down to preserve all of their friendships. Plus, if he was going to indulge the more selfish part of his mind, he also got to feel the affection of five beautiful women whose actions had repeatedly spoiled him through the day.

Then the young man wondered if his doubt came from some kind of guilt. After a bit of pondering and another bite, he did find merit in that belief. If the affection the girls had shown him could be materialized into water, he would have drowned in it. Yet, what did he bring to the table? He settled them down in the beginning to discuss some kind of boundaries, which resulted in a mostly adaptational mindset, and then tried to kiss Yumi on the lips earlier. If he were to be generous with himself, he would also chalk up the head pats he gave while the girls laid their heads in his lap. But the young man didn't feel right counting those either, seeing as he had not initiated a single bit of the contact. In total, he'd initiated two acts of affection throughout the day. In the young man's mind, that was completely bonkers and unacceptable in every way, shape, and form.

Feeling like the biggest jerk alive, he meekly raised his phone so that he could try to offer up some love. Though the young man didn't have much money to spare, especially since he didn't know whether or not he was being charged for the apartment, he wanted to invite them all out on a walk to the park. He wanted to set up a picnic with food cooked exclusively by him and to serenade them with a quiet and romantic song while two swans held their heads together in the shape of a heart… But the young man wouldn't be able to do much in the way of walking with his foot, he didn't know if the girls would enjoy his voice in such a way beyond simple fun, nor did he think that swans could be trained on such short notice…

His thoughts led a quaking hand back to the phone. At that point, he believed that a simple, "I love you guys," would have done well enough. Yet, there was still something holding him. Getting more fidgety and bouncier in his chair by the second, the young man very nearly fell before a new idea came to his mind. Acting quickly, he brought up a search engine on his phone and quickly found a forum on polyamorous relationships. The young man scrolled through the headlines, feeling lucky that he wasn't experiencing half of the issues that most of the people there were dealing with. From jealousy to coordination to budgetary to familial to competition… there were so many ways that a relationship with multiple partners could go wrong when compared to a simple monogamous one.

Then, just as the young man began to freak himself out with the idea of facing such trouble, he found one post that resonated with him: "I (23F) was sat down by five FWB (All M). I accepted but I don't think I should have. What do I do?" Though it didn't bring an answer to his own issues, the situation was a visible mirror of his own and he couldn't help but click on it in curiosity.

The similarities didn't end at the title. The young man had to take a step back from reality with how frighteningly close some of their details were. The woman had met her five friends at a larger gathering at a sushi restaurant. After connecting with them all, they had casual encounters that sometimes ended in sex and sometimes didn't. They had good times together, worked through troubles as a unit, and enjoyed each other's company in every circumstance. Then, after surpassing a great struggle with the woman's sister, she was confronted by all five of her friends expressing a desire to be in a relationship with her. By the description, it sounded like it was much more competitive than what the young man went through with the girls but it ended in the same way. The woman accepted and they initiated a relationship where they doted on her every little action while she brought practically nothing to the table. Sending a few shivers down the young man's spine, the woman went onto describe how she felt like she was pressured into the relationship and that she didn't feel like she wanted any part of it. There was even one admission that she thought her lack of affection was born out of resentment to the whole situation.

Fearful that he was going to come upon an uncomfortable revelation, the young man set down his phone and stared blankly. He would have gotten up to pace but a sudden throbbing of soreness from his ankle corrected him quickly. Thus, he was forced to stew in the thought that he may have never wanted a relationship in the first place.

What was scary about that line of thought was how much ammo it had for support. The young man never pursued a relationship with any of the girls in the first place, between how busy they all were and knowing that problems would show up down the line due to his non-monogamous beliefs. The other undeniable thing was the fact that he was coerced into the relationship, what with the five women involved surrounding him and going on relentlessly about the suggestion. Then, as one of the more iffy but still prominent parallels, the woman described how she lacked affection for the relationship despite being doted on, something that she admitted could have stemmed from resentment… and the young man was already aware of his own lack of affection from earlier.

Pushing the forgotten sandwich aside, the young man took a long breath and distanced himself from the situation. He placed himself at a crossroads and asked aloud, "Do you want to be with them?" He paused to think, going over all of the chaos from the past couple of weeks and thinking of every reason he could love or hate the five girls in question.

Asuka was naïve and had moments of airheadedness, which could either be good fun or a bit annoying. Of course, she was also the first one to call the young man out as not being a threat to them when they were still fighting. She was the one he woke up to in the Hanzō Academy infirmary, already putting all of her trust in him despite the circumstances. Then, no matter the situation going forward, she maintained her upbeat persona or, when the situation was more serious, remained a caring figure for everyone around her. Overall, she was a wonderful kind of person who actively saw the best in people and was more accepting than anyone the young man knew, including himself.

Then there was Homura, who had violent and snarky tendencies that would occasionally put the boy off. Yet, her violence never went too far, save for the time she launched him headfirst into a couch after he latched a cold hand onto the back of her neck. Also, when the young man thought about it, he already knew that her smart comments and sarcasm never put him off. Perhaps he felt they were ill-timed during some executions but he never thought she went too far. On her positive features, she maintained a steadfast comradeship with her team and everyone else around her. More impressively, she did so while remaining honest with herself and everyone. She didn't dress her compliments and she didn't hold her objections. When compared to the rest of the world, there were very few people in the world who could be so honest to another person while also being so loveable.

When his mind turned to Miyabi, the young man thought he found his first legitimate case of not having any romantic feelings. After all, when they first met, she gave him one of the hardest punches he'd ever taken in his entire life. Going onto their basic interactions, she hardly seemed to be open with the young man. From all he'd heard, she was the no-nonsense leader who was hard and firm with her comrades, though she certainly still cared for them. From their every interaction recently, she seemed more like a clingy child who was too fretful to have a genuine conversation… But the problem with that line of thought was that they had several proper conversations. As jumpy and startled by the young man as she could get, Miyabi could still express herself to him. Plus, if the boy was going to be honest with himself, he did find her demeanor extremely cute and, no matter how hard he tried during his internal struggle, he couldn't hold the first punch against her. Though he knew her nervous demeanor would be something they'd have to work on, considering the fact that a relationship couldn't be built until both parties were relaxed with one another, the young man felt no discontent in being with Miyabi.

Murasaki was a tougher case to handle and think about, mostly due to their lack of interaction before her confession. As far as the young man knew about her base attraction, what she felt was what she 'smelled' in him. He still had no idea how such a concept worked and he still objected to her comments on him having a high level of lust and perversion, but there weren't many other examples of them talking. Yet, when it came down to it, the examples that they did have were fairly sweet. In the last twenty-four hours, she had no shame nor anxiety in being with nor initiating things with him. For someone who had been described as a complete shut-in who feared the world, that meant she was either an extremely capable deceiver to convince everyone of such a thing or she was braver than most would give her credit for. Plus, if nothing else, she seemed comfortable with the young man in the same way he was with her. Even if her scooping him up to force the role of being a lap pillow onto him was a bit much, he didn't feel any inclination to truly object. As little interaction as they had, there was still a meaningful connection.

Finally, when it came to Yumi, the young man was sure that he would have a case to say he felt no love for her. Beyond all of their hostile interactions before her distortion was cured, he took notice of some of her less-than-ideal traits. From her lasting desire to control certain situations to her more scheming nature, like the plan she had in place to woo him at Gessen Academy, there were undoubtable aspects that the young man could cite against her so that he could say he didn't feel love for her. But just as he was about to come to a final decision about those said aspects among the several others, the young man knew he held none of it against her. Wasn't she a bit domineering in her interactions? Weren't her desires with the relationship moving too fast for comfort? Didn't it seem like she would be a source of hostility to aversions? To all of that, the young man would say, "Of course." But she was also one of the most caring people the young man found in the entire group. Her sisters were dear and loved by her, certainly, and there was no doubt in the boy's mind that she would give everything to defend any one of her friends. Just as there were elements of hostility, there were several more examples of her standing in as a peacekeeper. Plus, when remembering how she'd offered solace when the young man was at his breaking points, he knew there wasn't even a pebble's worth of animosity against her. There was no doubt he loved her too.

The young man sighed and rested his head onto the table, going over all of the points he'd just raised. He knew there were feelings for all five women involved. But, if that was the case, why couldn't he bring himself to be affectionate too? He'd just done a mental marathon on why the women were wonderful but why hadn't he, at the very least, offered a simple "I love you" to them?

Picking his phone back up, the young man considered looking for further answers on the forum. But just as he was about to search for more advice, he found a comment under the previous woman's post that read, "Maybe you're just an asshole," in response to one of her more defensive comments above. Without a doubt, it was a harsh comment that delivered a sharp jab not only to the woman in question… but also with the young man… There was a serious case against him.

The boy knew he loved the girls he had a relationship with but he didn't properly show it. At every turn throughout the day, his comments were actually more sarcastic, overly serious, or something of the like… What did the young man have to say for himself? The girls were literally throwing themselves at him, showing him love and affection that he'd never dreamed of receiving… and he could only offer head pats and 'smart' comments. No, there was no doubt in the young man's mind that he regarded himself as an asshole.

Backing out of the forum, the boy didn't completely know what he would do as time went forward. But, even as part of him wanted to focus more on the issue with Shin, which was a stressful subject he wasn't ready to confront at that moment, the young man felt there was a more immediate and important thing that he had to do first. Before anyone else could go to bed for the night, he would make sure they all knew how he felt for them. After that, he'd make a promise to himself to do better by them. For all that they'd done, it was the least he could do.

At around the same time of night, Asuka was laying on the couch within the off-campus dorm that she and the rest of the Hanzō elite shared. After another vibration of her phone, she picked it up and happily chimed, "Ha-llo~, Homura."

As she began chatting away about simple and sweet nothings, Katsuragi peeked her head into the room from the hallway and muttered to herself, "Six times."

Behind her, carrying a basket of freshly ironed clothes to her bedroom, Ikaruga sharply snapped, "You'll only drive yourself mad if you count."

Breaking her head away from Asuka's lovey-dovey conversation, Katsuragi trailed behind her best friend and raised her fists into the air, "We've been home for a few hours and I haven't been able to touch her once!" She split her fingers from one another and wiggled them creepily, "When all's quiet, I start to creep up from behind… I'm a wolf about to pounce an innocent rabbit with ve~ry grabbable tits…" The blonde then balled a fist, "Then," to smash it into her other hand, "WA-POW! Homura calls and, out of the kindness of my own heart, I don't want to interrupt the cutesy talk they're having. They prattle on for fifteen minutes to an hour and I'm caught out in the rain."

Without making eye contact, Ikaruga sighed as she walked into her room, "You truly are suffering."

On the verge of collapsing to her knees, Katsuragi mumbled, "The worst part is that there's no replicating the feeling of Asuka's tits…" Grasping into the air, she cried, "They're big, soft, squishy, and have the perfect little bit of sag to them when she's not wearing a bra! Perfection if you ever need to grab the fantasy tit you imagine those babes in old cartoons have!"

Placing her clothes into her closet, Ikaruga stated frankly, "Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect you to be allowed a grope anytime soon."

Though Katsuragi's rant could have gone on for while longer, she froze in place and asked in cracked voice, "Wait… what?"

"She's in an exclusive relationship now," said Ikaruga, who finally looked to the blonde, "If there's going to be any groping, it won't be by you. Though, knowing everyone involved, I'd say the highest risk with that would be Homura and even then she isn't that much of a risk to begin with."

"Wait, wait…" came Katsuragi's squeaky voice, "Just-, just give me a moment here…" before she spoke with a maddened and desperate smile, "You're just messing with me right now… right? Maybe you mean there's just going to be a period of time where I can't touch Asuka, right? She definitely won't mind if I give her a surprise grab in a few days' time?"

"It's not like she cared much for your groping to begin with," said Ikaruga, feeling a slight bit of pity for her friend, "But, unless your fancy yourself a homewrecker or a similar label in addition to a sexual offender, you won't be able to grope her at all-, where're you going?"

Not a second after the sentence was finished, Katsuragi had already sprinted out the door and back to the living room. In the back of her mind, she was thinking, "It can't be true! It can't be true!" She recalled every special moment where she surprised Asuka with a grope, especially loving the memory of the time she camped out inside a freezing snowbank to surprise the poor girl. But, just as the feeling of the brunette's breasts was in her fingertips, the blonde felt the memory fade away as she thought to herself, "She's exclusive now!? No more grabbing, slapping, or prodding!? NONE!?"

Just as the predator dashed into the living room on all fours, Asuka just finished up her short call with a sweet, "Okay, I love you too!" and looked over to Katsuragi without a hint of understanding the kind of danger she was in, "You know, she's been surprisingly open with her feelings since this morning."

"Can I ravage you?"

Upon hearing the guttural noise unbefitting of her friend's throat, Asuka tilted her head and asked, "What?"

In a normal tone of voice, Katsuragi asked desperately as beads of sweat began to roll down her forehead, "Can I touch you inappropriately…? Just a few seconds?"

Asuka's eyes widened in alarm before she pointed to the blonde and cried, "SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH KAT! SHE'S ACTUALLY ASKING TO GROPE INSTEAD OF JUST POUNCING ME!"

Yagyū and Hibari poked their heads into the room from the kitchen with the former asking, "Is she sick?"

Before Katsuragi could offer any rebuttal, the pink-haired junior pulled out her phone, "If she's sweating, she may need an ambulance," and asked, "What's the number for one-one-nine?"

Yagyū turned her head without any expression on her face, "Hibari…"

After a moment of thought, the girl shamefully lowered her head, "Oh. Whoop…"

"I'M NOT SICK!" cried Katsuragi before she turned back to Asuka, "Listen, I just need to know one thing! Am I still allowed to grope you!?"

Asuka pressed her back into the couch as she looked away, "I don't want to be mean but… I don't think you were allowed in the first place…"

"Then tell me this!" cracked the blonde, her face scrunching up in anticipation and fear, "…Just… tell me this… Can the status quo be maintained? If I get a grope in, can I just get the usual scolding?"

Asuka, putting a couple of the pieces together as to why her friend would be in such a mood, shook her head and shrugged, "I'm sorry, Kat… But, I'm in a relationship-," before she was cut off by Katsuragi's earthshaking scream of terror.

But, after an idea struck into her head, the blonde shinobi collapsed onto the floor with a forced smile and asked, "Alright, no groping…" before raising her eyes to lock onto Asuka's, "But… innocent touches. I'll ask and then you can give me a yes or no, depending on how comfortable you are with it. Whaddaya say?"

The brunette shook her head, "No. I think that would be cheating."

Katsuragi proceeded to throw a tantrum that made everyone in the room recoil away. She planted her face into the floor and was on the verge of kicking and screaming like a toddler. With the occasional shout of, "Bull! BULL! BULL!" and a frustrated face, she would angrily roll back and forth. When Hibari was about to approach to check on her upperclasswoman, Yagyū stopped her with a shaking head that feared whatever danger an intervention would have brought.

The fit only ended when Ikaruga yelled from her room, "Quit being a child! If the neighbors come over to complain, I'm going to make sure you apologize!"

At that moment, Asuka's phone vibrated and she chipped merrily, "Homura?" before grabbing it to check the notification. Much to her surprise, it was actually a text from the young man. After a moment of thought, she remarked to herself, "I don't remember him texting me before…" A few seconds passed and she jumped in panic, "Is it an emergency!?"

But, as Yagyū and Hibari watched, Asuka's face turned from an alarmed expression to one that was much more soft. Her mouth curled into a smile and her lower eyelids perked up with her cheeks. Then, after having gotten through what she read, Asuka turned to everyone in the room and said, "I received a message from – my – boy – friend~."

Katsuragi hissed into the floor, "He can go rot right now… That dickhead is one of two people who took a precious ritual from me…"

From where he was, the young man sneezed as he worked on his message to Homura. He mumbled to himself, "I suddenly feel like a dickhead…" before shrugging, "Eh, with my behavior, I am a dickhead. I've gotta work on that."

Meanwhile, Hibari was already right next to Asuka and gushing, "Oh, oh! What'd he say!? Tell us, tell us!"

"Knowing him," said Yagyū as she pinched her chin, "It's probably a simple 'thank you for today' or something?"

Ready to prove the girl wrong, Asuka merrily raised the phone to eye level and read, "Hey, Asuka. I'm going to speak frankly. Sorry if it's a bit stiff. I just want you to know that I love you. I didn't remember saying it earlier or at all and I wish I could say it in person. I'd call you to say it but I'm not sure if you're in bed winding down right now. Anyways, I know I wasn't very good at showing my feelings for you earlier. To make it up, name a date you'd like to go out and I'd be happy to provide as best as I can. Note: I'm sending similar messages to everyone else so particular days will be first come, first serve. But, if there's an activity you want to do, we will definitely do it. Or, if you'd rather I choose, that can be arranged as well. I'll also be sure to say that I love you the next time I see you. Please, have a good sleep and good night. Again, I love you." Finishing off her reading, Asuka said with a quaking smile of pure happiness, "There's also a heart emoticon at the end~…"

Hibari was about to say something but Yagyū grabbed her shoulder and said, "Wait. She's about to explode."

Suddenly, with a loud and happy cry, Asuka hugged the phone to her chest as she shakily laid onto the couch, "OH~! Him! Him and Homura! I love them! I love them both so much! I want to hug them! Next time I see them, I'll hug them both in a great and big whatever those hugs are call-, group hugs! It'll be a big and lovey group hug!"

Nothing would squelch Asuka's happiness for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, relaxing outside of the cave she happily called home, Homura was looking down to her phone and debating another call with the little brunette. She'd already had several and there was no doubt in her head that she was going overboard. Yet, when it came to the thought of expressing her feelings earlier that day, Homura couldn't help but feel an uncharacteristic giddiness inside her that was overflowing and demanding some kind of release. The best way to do so, in her mind, was to call Asuka and the young man to express her love for them.

When it came to thinking about the boy, Homura sighed and lamented his apparent lack of expressiveness. She remembered how he was when they met and how they were before her confession, already figuring that she didn't expect much change from someone who's manner of speech was more to-the-point. Still, Homura wondered how long it would take to hear the words "I love you" from him. After that, she thought about whether or not he'd be as enthusiastic as Asuka. In her mind, it would be some time away and would likely be barebones. It was a shame but also a reality that she was prepared to accept.

In the middle of her thoughts, Homura heard footsteps coming from the cave entrance behind her. Sensing a deadly intent, she jumped to her feet and raised her fists combatively just as Hikage casually strutted out of their home with a waving hand, "Hey."

Believing that her instincts were at fault, Homura blinked and nodded her head, "Hey," before lowering her arms. She then rubbed her head and thought aloud, "Why'd I get so defensive just now…?"

Hikage raised a finger, "Because Haruka sent me out here as a distraction. She's right above you."

"What?"

At that moment, a force crashed into Homura from above and seized her wrists. Before she could try to pull herself free, Haruka was already toppling her target down to the ground while wrapping her legs around the girl's waist. In a few seconds, it was done and Homura was pinned by a friend straddling her with a frightening smile, "I've got you~." Before any questions could be asked, Haruka then turned to face Hikage, "Thanks for the favor. I'll do your chores tomorrow."

"Thank you," came the monotonous voice before the girl turned to walk away.

"Hey!" cried Homura as her only potential rescuer retreated, "Hey, I'll do your chores tomorrow and the day after if you get Haruka off me!"

"Alright," mumbled Hikage as she immediately turned around and advanced to the pair.

"For the next three days, I'll do your chores!" shot back Haruka, who's eyes widened at the thought of an unexpected counterattack.

"Alright," mumbled Hikage, who was starting to get sick of the back and forth she was doing.

"A whole week!" yelled Homura as she finally began to push back against Haruka, "If you get her off, all your chores for a whole week will be done by me!"

"Deal," said Hikage a slight smile, her tone of voice sounding a bit more excited than it usually was.

"You took the nuclear option!?" yelled Haruka, "There's supposed to be more back and forth! Buildup! I'm supposed to add-, wait, Hikage! I can throw in some snacks-," but she was cut off. With a shrill scream, she was easily thrown onto her back by her once-ally and then pinned down. When Homura picked herself up and stood over the woman, the only thing Haruka could say for herself was, "Ah… I only wanted to talk…?"

"What about?" asked Homura, her voice sounding like she was on the edge of murdering someone.

"Oh… You know…" came the slowed response. Haruka's pupils bounced back and forth as she answered, "Boys… girls… both… Passionate hugging…"

"Break her arm," ordered Homura to Hikage.

"WHAT!?" screeched Haruka.

"I'll do your chores for a month."

"WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!?"

"There's a part of me that wants to refuse…" said Hikage, who was actively debating whether or not she was supposed to actually go through with the order.

Much to the green-haired girl's relief, Homura then shook her head and said, "Don't actually do it. I was just trying to put a scare into her."

"What the hell are you guys doing?" came Mirai's low-tone voice from the cave entrance, peeking the top of her head out from the corner to narrow her eye on the three participating women.

Yomi also peeked her head from around the corner, "Could we avoid the breaking of limbs? That sounds like it'll be too messy."

"I'm not breaking limbs," announced Homura as her attitude began to get testy, "I'm interrogating a potential threat! We'll be inside soon!"

"Your sprouts-lasaga will get cold soon. Please, don't let it go to waste," murmured Yomi before retreating back into the cave.

"It's lasagna," grumbled Mirai as she followed after, "Get it right. LA-SAG-NA!"

"La sag na…" repeated Hikage, "I thought the G and N were supposed to be combined into a snarly sound… Lasagna… Lasagna… Lasagna…" before she shrugged, "Fun word…"

Ignoring the discussion entirely, Homura kneeled down to where Haruka was being held, "Aside from you being you, why were you trying to attack me?"

Haruka sucked in the corners of her cheeks for a moment before answering, "I was going to ask whether or not you were sexually frustrated in a tempting tone of voice."

After some heat rushed to her face, Homura then answered, "I'm not all too frustrated."

As if she had a platform to stand on, Haruka then chipped with a smile, "But you're still slightly frustrated?"

"This discussion is over," growled Homura.

Resting her head against the ground, Haruka mumbled, "Yeah, in this position, I can't really pry… can I…?" before lifting it back up to face her friend, "Look, how about I just extend this offer: if you and the group are having troubles on the front of passion… call me. I can help… for a price."

"Consulting a predator for intimate relationship advice," grumbled Homura before giving a dismissive shake of her head. Then, after thinking about the times when her friend could actually bring some great advice to the table, she then added, "If we need to, we'll ask for your help." Then, catching onto the last words Haruka uttered, Homura turned and asked, "Wait. What price?"

"I'll save that for later. I don't want you to think of any counterarguments…" said the girl before shuddering, "Nor do I want you to look at me in the same way as Yumi did… Even for me, that was scary."

Homura was about to persist but then she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She let out a breathless squeal of joy before gushing, "Asuka~!?" and yanking the device out.

"What a shift of mood," commented Hikage.

"Could you let me go now?" asked Haruka as she turned back to the one who was still pinning her.

"Wait until Homura tells me to. I don't want to break the deal." When Hikage looked back to her leader for some kind of instruction, she found the girl smiling softly and staring longingly at her phone. Curious, the green-haired girl asked, "What'd Asuka say?"

"My little lover boy doesn't have much of a gift when it comes to words…" said Homura quietly before breaking her eyes away from the phone, "But, when needed, he can certainly say some nice things."

"What'd he send you?" asked Haruka, who's curiosity was also growing, "Some kind of poem?"

"No, no. Not a poem," said Homura as a different kind of heat assaulted her face. She pressed the phone against her chest and then turned back to retreat into the cave, "Between him and Asuka, I won't be able eat tonight… For both of those two, I'm lucky."

"I'm confused," said Hikage before she called after Homura, "What'd he say?"

Homura spun herself around giddily and thrusted her phone into the air, "Let's just say that someone calling themself a dickhead and offering a date at the same time has never been so romantic," before she continued her cheerful retreat into the cave.

"What a jump in attitude," commented Hikage before she released Haruka and held her hands up like a balance, "Was that love? Emotions?" before throwing them to her side, "Too confusing."

Haruka simply rested back against the ground, deciding she'd wait a minute before dinner to mull over the situation. While she was doubtful after seeing Homura's frightening reaction, she believed there would be an opening for herself on the horizon to proceed with her plot.

At around the same time, Ryōna was crying happily in a corner within the common room at Hebijo Academy, "I spent hours scouring the internet for that whole collection… In a few seconds, all of my hard work was eradicated…" After a shudder and a contented sigh, the blonde then lustfully moaned, "Such pleasure~! I didn't know something so simple could result in so much pain! I love it!"

Pinching the bridge of her nose and lamenting how she was cursed with such a sister, Ryōbi only muttered, "Would you shut up, you slutty dog who's cursed with unending heat… Just shut up."

Staring at a computer that was stationed in the corner of the room, Miyabi kept her unblinking eyes narrowed dangerously as she murmured to herself, "The threat has only been temporarily slowed… I must now purge the many creators of these atrocities." She then gripped her sword, "Though, I wonder if I'll be able to carry on with these visuals burned into my brain."

Standing beside her, Murasaki was shaking, "I'm tainted… Just by seeing those things, I've become a tainted maiden. I can never purely share my bed nor can I wholeheartedly promise myself…" After her self-pitying finished, which had been going on for minutes by that point, she curled up into a ball on the floor and moaned, "Please, ancestors… I know I've never prayed to you before… but forgive me for tarnishing your names with these sinful eyes of mine…"

Bebeby was bobbing her head up and down excitedly beside Murasaki, "You brought it on yourself! You should have taken charge!"

Imu, who'd been taking in the whole scene from the doorway, was watching everything unfold with a stupefied look on her face. Finally, she muttered, "Do I dare ask what happened here…?"

"Ryōna's research materials," answered Ryōbi, "Honestly, I don't blame them. She's into some of the kinkiest shit." The blonde let out a blissful whine next to her sister's feet.

"Those weren't horses…" came Murasaki's silent cry, "Those wooden things weren't horses at all…"

"I just wanted to get on Yumi's level…" shuddered Miyabi before she lowered her eyes into one hand, "I didn't like the thought that someone was more exemplary than me and I tried to take the cheat route… And now my hubris has done me in…"

Growling at the fact that it was their efforts for the young man that led to such a downfall, Imu had to bite her tongue before she said something extremely spiteful. Instead, she mumbled in a clearly irritated tone, "You know, it's still pretty early in your relationship… There's really no need to go that far so soon…"

Miyabi's body straightened into a plank as she stood up and threw a fist into the air, "But Yumi's already expressed an interest! She's moving forward with all she has and I need to match that!"

"Or… what?" asked Imu.

"She'll become the favorite…" muttered Murasaki, who reached out her arms from the floor and latched onto Bebeby. After nuzzling her head against the bear, her muffled voice cried out, "She's already got such a lead…! We can't fall anymore behind…"

"Damn it all," grumbled Ryōbi as she resigned herself to sit on a chair nearby, "Here they go again."

Ryōna happily chimed in, "I wish I could match their level of self-belittlement!" before looking up to her sister, "It would make me as happy as a sack of cuddly puppies!"

"Then skip to the part where you're thrown into a river," jabbed back Ryōbi before pressing her fist into the top of the girl's head, which brought out an extremely pleased moan.

While that was happening, Miyabi held up a finger to Imu and said, "I'll speak plainly to you. Yumi has already gone on an aggressive offense when it comes to affection. That much is obvious," before crossing her arms and shaking uncomfortably, "…And, from what she's told us, it appears as though she's planted herself as some kind of emotional support." Thinking back to the young man's initial experiences with Oda and a few later troubles, Miyabi said, "If she can comfort him during the worst of times and prove herself to be the most interested in advancing the relationship, he'll certainly hold her in a higher regard-," before she was cut off.

Murasaki pulled her face from Bebeby and let out an explosive cry before retreating back into the comfort of her bear. Imu and Miyabi stared blankly at her for a minute, wondering if there was anything more the girl had to offer, before they mutually shrugged. Then, before the latter woman could continue her rant, the former then said without thinking, "If you feel like you're going to be a third wheel, maybe it's time to break up?"

"No," came Miyabi's answer in an emotionless tone, "I deny that option."

Imu persisted, even though she hadn't even thought her argument through, "If you're not happy in a relationship or if you feel unsatisfied, why should you have to stay?"

"It's only a matter of me catching up," stated Miyabi.

"You shouldn't have to catch up at all!" cried Imu, bouncing her head up and down enough to almost knock her glasses loose. After catching and straightening them, she said, "I'll tell you now… if you don't want to get sexual, there's no need to get sexual…"

"Ah…" Miyabi made an uncomfortable noise and then averted her gaze.

Imu stared with narrowed eyes, "What?"

"Promise you won't call me a pervert…?" murmured the woman.

Imu slowly blinked, "…I promise…"

After taking a long breath and calming her nerves, Miyabi then said, "Truth be told… I'm not against the thought of sex at all…" Just as she turned away, Imu crumpled over like she'd just been punched in the stomach and made a breathless noise. Not taking much notice since her focus was elsewhere, Miyabi continued, "Honestly, the thought isn't what scares me too much… It's a normal thing, I believe, in a relationship… after all… It's just the execution. I don't know cues, positions, how it'll feel, whether it's something I'd actually enjoy…" Clicking her fingers, she said, "I think the short way to put it is… I'm afraid of what I don't know about it. After all, it's not like we have anyone to explain the more explicit details about this matter… aside from Jasmine, but Yumi's already utilized her. Who knows if she's willing to take on another student?"

While Miyabi continued to prattle on about the subject, Imu simply laid on the floor and wondered how far her best friend was willing to take the relationship with the young man. It was especially confusing since Miyabi was the 'play for keeps' type of person who shouldn't have been so willing to compromise with the other women in the relationship. To see her go on about competing for the position of favorite and not going for the "I want it all" option was like seeing an otherworldly being appear from a different plane.

In the middle of her pondering, Imu felt a tap on her head and found Murasaki staring at her. Before any questions could be asked, the girl grumbled in a low-tone, "You're jealous."

Imu immediately rolled over and answered, "So what?"

"It'd be best if you let those feelings go," said Murasaki, her tone unrelenting with judgment. When Imu grumbled something inaudible in response, the girl pressed, "Isn't that along the lines of what you encouraged me to do at Peach Beach Splash? When I was jealous of you always being with Miyabi? I was your favorite sister and Miyabi was your favorite friend. You said something along those lines and that was our compromise, right?" Murasaki narrowed her eyes, "Well, he's our favorite boyfriend but you're also my favorite sister and you're Miyabi's favorite friend."

Unable to hear anymore, Imu picked herself back up and took a few steps back from the girl. Her face was slightly twisted with a rising frustration and anger while pangs of hurt fluttered through her brows. Then, laying in the final punch, Miyabi paused in the middle of her ongoing rant to say, "Ah-, phone vibrated," and pulled it out to cry, "He texted me!?"

Not needing any elaboration on who it was, Imu turned away to leave the room while Murasaki picked herself up and asked, "What'd he say?"

The woman quickly began to skin through, "Miyabi, I wanted to apologize… I haven't been really been honest in showing my affections…" before her smile began to steadily grow, "I want you to know I love you and will do better going forward… Name a date and I'll do my utmost to arrange it for you… From now on, I'll do better. Have a good rest of your night…" Once she finished, there was a brief pause before Miyabi dropped her phone onto the desk and cupped her cheeks to yell, "He said he loves me! He said he loves me!"

Murasaki prodded at the phone, "How come I didn't get a message…?" before crossing her arms and slumping onto the floor as she reached into her pocket.

Unwilling to hide her rising and showy joy, Miyabi carelessly flaunted, "If I'm the only one he's sent a message to, then I must be the favorite…! Perhaps, despite Yumi's efforts, I'm the one he has the truest of true feelings for!" before letting out another squeal.

"Oh, my phone was off," announced Murasaki, "He sent me a message too." Just as Miyabi froze and her skin turned pale from having lost her parade, the girl then said, "Also, check the bottom of your message again. It says he sent one to everyone else too."

"Well…" started the white-haired woman as she tried to recover the immense joy that she felt moments before. Then, slapping her fist into a palm, she said, "Mine was the most lovey-dovey! I'm still the favorite-to-be!"

Murasaki scrutinized her message for a few seconds before saying, "Mine's worded a bit differently, sure, but it basically amounts to the same thing. He said he loves me and also wants me to pick a date. Same rule as you: first come, first serve."

As happy as she was to receive the text message, Miyabi wouldn't be able to remove the desire to do violent things to Murasaki until it was time for bed. While Ryōbi found great humor in the bickering that followed, Ryōna felt depressed that she wasn't involved in some way and schemed up ways to steal the show. Fortunately for everyone else involved, each attempt ended with her getting ignored.

While the night dragged on at Hebijo Academy, Yumi was sat down in a dark concrete room with a bright light flashing onto her. A deep and distorted voice called out to her, "You will answer our questions without hesitation. Is this clear?"

Yumi didn't blink as she leaned back into her wooden chair and replied nonchalantly, "Murakumo, how're you doing that with your voice?"

With a flick of a switch, the overhead lights came on and revealed Murakumo and Yozakura standing in front of the girl. Knocking the repaired oni mask on her head, the former announced, "I build a voice changer into this one. During my correction, I had a good time roleplaying the scenario I was in and I wanted to be able to do it again sometime."

Sighing quietly from the corner she was stationed in, Yozakura mumbled to herself, "This is so absurd and unnecessary…" before flicking the lights off again.

Murakumo's distorted voice echoed out, "Yumi, you will answer our questions without hesitation. Is this clear?"

Squinting her eyes to not be blinded by the floodlight that remained on her, Yumi answered, "Clear."

"QUESTION ONE!" boomed Murakumo before complete silence followed. After a few seconds, her normal voice echoed out, "…That was nice and dramatic, right?"

Yozakura could be heard saying, "I swear, this is going to kill me by the time we're done…"

"Sorry, sorry," mumbled Murakumo before the distorted voice came back, "QUESTION ONE…!' followed by another pause. She then asked with her voice changer still on, "Sorry… I got all hyped up and forgot the question."

Yumi flopped her head forward in a mix of amusement and hopelessness while Yozakura screamed, "IT'S THE ONE QUESTION WE HAVE! HOW DID YOU FORGET IT!?"

"I'm trying to be dramatic," retorted Murakumo before she finally switched off her voice changer, "Shut your mouth and handle the lighting!"

"You shut your mouth!" fired back Yozakura, "I was the one who wanted to ask the question in the first place! You said you'd help and brought in this… secret service… Whatever this chamber is supposed to be, you brought it in when we could have just sat down and talked like adults!"

Murakumo fired back, "Sitting down like adults sucks! This is the awesome way of doing it!"

"I never wanted to do it the 'awesome' way!"

"What was with that inflection in your voice when you said awesome!?"

Yumi raised her head and shouted loudly, "WOULD EITHER OF YOU, PLEASE, JUST ASK THE QUESTION!?"

The lights came on and the two girls were staring awkwardly at their sister. They then exchanged looks and said with mutual respect, "There's a reason she's the oldest sister… even if she isn't actually the oldest."

Murakumo nodded her head to the agreement, "No voice changer can do anything about that. Sorry that I brought it in and tried to sound intimidating."

Yozakura crossed her arms and said, "And I don't think I would have been able to ask her without you being here. Thanks for helping."

As the two sisters proceeded to hug their problems away, Yumi quietly mumbled, "I'm not entirely sure what's happening anymore…"

A door, which was hidden in the corner of the concrete room, suddenly popped open and Minori found her way inside while happily singing to herself, "Stash-y, stash-y… here I come for my chocolate cookies with… stuff…" before freezing on the scene. She first looked to the everyone else in the room and wondered about the strange scenario they were in. She then turned her head around and asked, "Isn't this the storage room? Where're all the shelves… the cleaning supplies… and my cookies…?"

Murakumo and Yozakura's faces tensed up in the middle of their hug and they tried to avoid Yumi's eyes, which were growing sterner as time went on. Then, realizing that it was time to deflect any questions the girl had, the latter of the pair spun herself around and asked, "So, how serious are you about your boyfriend?"

"Yozakura, is this the storage room?" asked Yumi, her face straight and humorless.

"Ah… maybe," said the girl with an awkward laugh and a scratch to her cheek, "Anyways, you expressed an interest earlier-," before she was cut off.

"Where are the shelves and cleaning supplies?"

Yozakura tried to overtake the discussion, "You mentioned training to be a bride with Jasmine-," but couldn't finish.

"I'm serious. Where is all the cleaning supplies."

Murakumo shrunk her head and shyly raised her hand, "I… moved it all…"

Yumi's gaze twisted to her, "Where?"

Murakumo shrugged her arms up, "Are details so important?"

"Where?"

"We're sisters, Yumi," murmured Murakumo as she innocently clasped her hands together, "Do you plan to let this come between us?"

"Where?"

Yozakura straightened her lips, "Even I'm getting a bit curious now…"

Murakumo cried with her voice cracking to a higher pitch, "Don't try to pin this only on me! You helped too!"

Then a hand gripped the masked girl's shoulder and she turned to find Minori staring at her intensely. A dark aura was emanating from her skin as she asked, "Where is my cookie stash…"

Then, having followed the chaotic sounds that had been echoing through the hallways, Shiki strolled in with her cheeks puffed out. As she spoke, crumbs flew from her mouth, "'orry 'o mi' an' interru' 'he mee'ing… 'hy's a' 'he 'ora'e 'uff ou'ide? An' where 'id 'hese 'oo'ies 'ome 'rom?"

At the very moment the crumbs lightly tittered against the floor, a killer instinct within Minori was awakened. She twisted her head around and let out a screech, "BWURAAAAAGH!" before launching herself after the blonde. Shiki, spitting out the one cookie she'd taken from the tens within the stash, screamed and fled the room as her sister chased after her. As Murakumo, Yozakura, and Yumi quietly remained frozen in place for a few seconds, the sound of overturned furniture began to echo out from several other rooms.

Then, before Yumi could retake the discussion, Yozakura asked in a defeated tone, "You had an interest in sex earlier…?"

Yumi ignored the question and faced Murakumo, "From what I understood from Shiki's mouth, you took everything outside?"

"Yup…" came the masked girl's shameful reply.

"Hundreds of kilos between the shelves and equipment? All of it? Outside?"

"Yup…"

"We're putting it all back before we go to bed tonight. Do you understand that?"

"Yup…"

"Yumi!" cried Yozakura.

"Sorry, go ahead," said the girl without much expression.

With her frustration fueling her words, Yozakura asked, "When Haruka brought it up, you expressed a sexual interest in your relationship. Correct?"

"Yes."

Thrown off by how brazen and straightforward the answer was, Yozakura's body shook for a moment before she slowly shrugged and asked, "Considering the fact that you've been in a relationship for a day, at most… don't you think you're going a bit too fast?"

"No."

Sucking in her lips, Yozakura went on, "Not even slightly…?"

"No. I'm comfortable. Is there a problem?"

"It's been a day and you're not even married!" cried the younger sister, gripping her hair and pulling at it, "Yet, you're going so far with this already!"

Letting out a tired sigh, Yumi nodded her head and said, "Because it's a commitment and everyone involved already agreed it's a serious relationship that we would like to pursue. What reason do I have to hold back if I want to move forward?"

"You've been dating for a day!" bellowed Yozakura, "That's why! Most people don't even say 'I love you' or kiss on the first date! I mean," before she quieted down and ran a hand across her forehead, "Kissing, making out… I can see that with you two. We've been through a lot in the past few weeks…" before raising her hands again, "But sex? That's a bit much."

"I disagree," stated Yumi.

"It might do well to explain," said Murakumo, who'd mostly just been keeping silent. When Yumi looked to her, she said, "I'm impartial. Your relationship, your business," before looking to Yozakura, "But she won't lay off until she understands."

Letting out a heated breath, Yumi grumbled, "I'll be quick and frank. I also expect you to drop this once I'm done." She then looked Yozakura right in the eye, "I don't see a reason to hold back. I love that man and have repeatedly expressed as such. It might be early to say so but I'm content to see the relationship through for years, taking it as far as need be. I'm prepared to give him my body and soul in exchange for his."

"Jeez," commented Murakumo after a whistle, "you sounded a bit scary when you put it that way…"

Kicking her legs around and clenching her eyes closed, Yumi cracked and yelled, "Look, maybe I'm not wording it right! The point is that I love him and want the relationship to go farther! End of story!"

"Is he willing to give you body and soul too?" asked Yozakura, who did her best to maintain a straight face, "I didn't hear any expressions of love from him earlier."

Murakumo held up a finger, "Ah, actually-, pardon me," before reaching into her pocket and unveiling a phone, "He sent a text earlier. He sends his love."

Yumi's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull before she reached down her pocket and patted it. Realizing that the phone in Murakumo's hand was her own, she snatched it away and cried, "What're you doing with this!?"

Murakumo turned her head away, "People who are interrogated don't get to keep their phones…"

As she went to her messages, Yumi was practically shaking, "Why would you read my messages though…? And how'd you get my password!?"

"One, I was curious," answered Murakumo, "Two… you need to clean your screen more often. I guessed based on your fingermarks…"

At that point, Yumi was already going through the message that the young man sent her. She was initially muttering under her breath, "Murakumo… I swear, you're cleaning by yourself… Invading my phone…" before her look softened as she read aloud, "I love you… date… Thanks for always being there…" After a moment, she let out a cheery hum and pocketed the phone, "I'll reply in a bit." When she turned back to Murakumo, Yumi said with a stern smile, "Thank him later… I'm still in a good enough mood to put everything back with you…"

"Yes, ma'am…" murmured Murakumo as she turned to the door, ready to return the storage room to its original state.

Yumi was about to follow after her but then she remembered Yozakura and said, "I appreciate your concerns but they're not needed… I can think for myself and will act accordingly."

"Understood," mumbled the blue-haired, not seeing much of a point in arguing. After a quiet sigh, she followed after her sisters and helped out with the cleaning process.

**April 27 – "Just because the world is often morally gray does not discredit the actual darkness that pervades each corner. Evil is a word we mock and play with often… but it exists and it will have no sympathy once it gets the opportunity to rip you down."**

Riding a midnight train to Kyoto, Kagura was soundly sleeping as she leaned against Naraku. They were still hours away from reaching the Seal of Shin but, in the scheme of things, it wouldn't be long at all. The world would soon tear itself apart and it would begin even before the Yoma's arrival. Either the infiltrators or the dignitaries would make the first move and every other piece on the board would move accordingly.

It only became a matter of responding to the chaos, which was a complicated issue that even Naraku couldn't properly understand or navigate. Chaos was violent but responding to violence with violence only brought even more. How could such a loop come to an end? It was a question that she didn't believe had a sure answer. She, Kagura, and everyone else who would be pulled into the fight would only do whatever they could to lighten the punches of the opposing force…


	51. Chapter 51: Onset and Alert

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 51: Onset and Alert

"**Kagura was met by officials and is on her way to the seal now. We should have a more exact estimate on Shin's arrival by the end of the day. Nothing else to report."**

"**Roger. Keep us posted."**

"**Has CIA intelligence located Kazami Kira?"**

"**Negative. Though, we've located one of his lieutenants this morning. We've dispatched land and air surveillance to watch for him."**

"**To confirm, you're referring to Cleaner?"**

"**Affirmative."**

"**Where is he? Our intelligence bureaus haven't been able to get a hint of him since the church bombing in the United States last year."**

"**The city in which that Yōma appeared the other day. He was spotted in the passenger seat of a sedan, blue in color, by agents we had on the ground. Both he, the driver, and the other passenger, from what our drone managed to see, are equipped with small arms weaponry."**

"**Have you informed local law enforcement?"**

"**Currently attempting. We're trying to get a quick-moving police station onboard but there's a lot of processing in place."**

"**We'll try to clear that on our end."**

"**Appreciated. We'll make contact with Bloodhound. They're currently posted eleven and a half kilometers in the air within an unmarked aircraft flying southwest of the relief areas. Get everyone in the PSIA to go on secondary alert. Depending on how this goes, we might be able to root out a big dignitary before dinnertime."**

"**Will do. Kyoto, signing out."**

There was a muffled rumble from the aircraft's engines as the camera operator continued to look through his monitor. Then, once the equipment was readjusted after a minor technical failure a few minutes earlier, he gripped the radio on his chest and calmly stated, "_One-One, this is One-Three. The camera is operational. Switching on the feed and ready to center on target area_."

"_Roger, One-Three_," came the crew captain's stoic voice over the headset, "_Check your monitor. I'm forwarding the map grid and last coordinates of the target. Be quick, it's been several minutes since we lost him_."

"_On it_," replied the operator as he pulled up his second monitor and took in the variety of letters and numbers. There were a brief few seconds of difficulty, causing him to click his tongue with slight frustration. But, after glancing up to the city map that he'd studied all through the night before, each big and little coordinate suddenly came back to him. Then, after cross referencing the numbers that his captain sent him, he placed his eyes up to the monitor and began the search, "_One-One, this is One-Three. Commencing the search_."

Through the advanced lenses sticking out of the side of the compact aircraft, the camera operator then proceeded to do a visual sweep of the area in question: a small neighborhood that was very near the destruction caused by the Yōma. Unfortunately, despite a firm and determined search over the course of a minute, the only thing that the operator could find were the local citizens and relief efforts. Some people were walking idly as though nothing was wrong while others were treating or being treated in government medical tents pitched in the park. The scene was hopeful but still a bit depressing for the Bloodhound Team, even as a group of Americans without much attachment to the foreign soil below them.

After finishing his brief search, the camera operator called over his radio, "_One-One, One-Three reporting. Too much activity on the ground to locate visually. Switching to thermal_."

"_Roger. Go ahead_."

After the flick of a switch, the screen turned into a grim mix of black, white, and various shades of gray. After readjusting his eyes, the operator then began a more thorough search of the area. Again, he only saw the same things as before. Then, peeking from the corner of his camera, he found a line of police vehicles driving adjacent to the area. He called over his radio, "_One-One, is that a PSIA convoy on the ground_?"

"_Just off the south side of the park_?"

"_That's the one_."

"_Confirmed, that's the PSIA's new arrivals. They'll be breaking formation pretty quick here to widen the search area_."

"_Roger_," said the operator before panning the thermal camera over the area again. He was about to switch himself back into a mental search mode before noting a frustrating detail about the newly arrived search parties. After a groan to himself, he called over the radio, "_One-One, just to be clear… We're looking for a sedan with three armed personnel_?"

"_Affirmative_."

Unable to hide the dread in his voice, the operator then stated, "_Could we make contact with the PSIA reinforcements? I'm counting ten-plus of their vehicles down there with three armed personnel_."

"_Say again_…" came the crew captain's equally frustrated voice, "_There are several vehicles with three armed personnel_…?"

"_Confirmed_," said the operator before shaking his head and resting it against his monitor. He then said over the radio, "_One-One, weren't mission parameters meant to keep search vehicles to a two-person limit_?"

"_Affirmative… Ah, Jesus Christ… Hold on. Looking to make contact with PSIA on the ground. One-Four, are you on station_?"

A woman's voice called over the radio channel, "_Roger, captain. You want me to send word_?"

"_Immediately_."

A light on the side of the camera operator's monitor, labeled as the "No Contact" alarm, began to flash red as the plane's translator and general radiowoman spoke out in Japanese on an open channel, "PSIA Command Station, this is Bloodhound in the air. Anyone read? Over."

From somewhere on the ground, a stern-sounding Japanese man's voice radioed in, "This is PSIA Field Command. Go ahead, Bloodhound… Ah, over."

"We've got a mass violation of mission parameters. We're counting ten-plus vehicles with three personnel. Is it possible to arrange ejections? Over."

While the two were speaking, the camera operator suddenly took notice of a vehicle being pulled over by one of the PSIA cars. As he watched the three officers step out, the PSIA commander began to say, "We understand that there may be issues with the aerial search but we need to provide for our men's safety-," before the operator tuned out the conversation. While the three officers began to get closer to the vehicle, he switched off the thermal and found that it was a brown station wagon.

Knowing that it didn't fit the target they were searching for, the camera operator radioed, "_One-One, I've got a traffic stop of a brown four-door wagon on ground by PSIA personnel. Just to be clear, we're looking for a blue sedan_?"

"_Confirmed, though they could be suspecting a vehicle-switch_… _or it could just be a regular traffic stop_." There was a brief pause before the crew captain stated, "_Regardless,_ _keep it noted but break off and see if you can't find that sedan_."

"_On it_."

Switching back to the dreary-colored camera, the operator then began to scan through the area for any sedan with or without occupants. Unfortunately, with all of the current relief efforts, the park was absolutely teeming with vehicles. There wasn't one corner of the block that didn't have a parking space taken. But, realizing that criminals wouldn't be likely to hide themselves or ditch their car in a public space filled with agents who were looking for them, he trained his camera to the surrounding suburbs.

Then, after a few quick sweeps, he found exactly what he was looking for. Parked in alley way between two houses, which he wouldn't have been able to see if the aircraft weren't at a such lucky angle in that moment, was a sedan that was heated enough on the thermal camera to have been running within the last half-hour. Upon switching back to the standard camera, the color could even be confirmed as blue. Without a second's delay, the operator radioed, "_One-One, potential target vehicle found empty in an alley between two houses. There's no one in the immediate area but it looks to have been running_-," but cut himself off after switching his view back to the traffic stop, having a sudden feeling of dread.

The three officers were trying to detain the driver, who'd exited the vehicle at some point, and they were all struggling on the opposite side of the street. Then, just as one of the PSIA officials began to break away from the scuffle to turn his attention onto the passengers that were still in the vehicle, one of the wagon's occupants reached underneath the seat and fired a couple of shots. The lone officer went down and wriggled on the ground as the other two dove away from the driver moved to unholster their pistols. But, as a few more shots flashed from the back of the station wagon, another officer went down and the other hid behind a nearby telephone booth.

Watching as the driver retreated into his vehicle and began to speed off, the camera operator called over the radio, "_We have shots fired on the ground. Two officers down at a traffic stop two blocks southeast of the park. One-Four, get ground units on the move_."

Just as the translator began to relay the situation to the PSIA, the crew captain then spoke, "_One-Three, what direction are the suspects going_?"

"_Further southeast, likely toward to a highway on-ramp half of a kilometer down the street if they want to leave the area_," said the operator as he watched the vehicle run its way through an intersection. The fortunate thing was that their target was a station wagon, which wasn't at all renowned for its speed. Even as it drifted its way to an escape, he could see the ground-level PSIA units speeding through the area like wolves descending on a wounded elk. Taking note of the suspects' bearings, the operator then read out, "_One-Four, the vehicle just crossed the intersection with the water tower and are still moving further southeast. Relay to PSIA that they may be moving to board the highway overpass_."

"_One-One, this is One-Two_," came the pilot's voice, "_Permission to change the flight angle? Veering so that we have an angle on or past the highway may be wise._"

"_Granted_."

Just as the plane began to tilt, the camera operator further stated, "_One-Four, be advised that suspects are passing onto boarding-, negative, they swerved back into traffic. They're going through the underpass. Are PSIA on ground moving to them cut off_?"

"_Affirmative, One-Three_," said the radiowoman, "_PSIA in pursuit should be in position to make visual contact within ten seconds' time while another group will be ready with spikes at the next couple of intersections_."

Watching anxiously as the station wagon disappeared beneath the highway underpass, the operator stated, "_Lost visual contact. Sweeping camera to the other side_."

The seconds went by and the wagon did not reappear. The traffic on the opposing side of the street continued as several police and PSIA vehicles zeroed in on the scene from multiple directions. At one point, the radiowoman aboard the plane asked, "_One-Three, just to confirm, you still do not have a visual_?"

"_Roger, still searching_," murmured the operator as he scanned every angle of the underpass, "_They may be trying to hide or dig in. Make sure everyone on the ground proceeds with caution_."

Watching as all of the flashing vehicles disappeared under both sides of the bridge, the man couldn't help but feel a cold sweat of anxiety run down the back of his neck. Even if gunshots were to be going off right that second, no one aboard the plane would be able to know a thing until it was radioed in or if he somehow caught a view of the action.

Then the radiowoman shared in a disheartened tone, "_Law enforcement found the station wagon parked abandoned off to the side of the road. There's no sign of any personnel or weapons_."

Groaning and slumping back into his chair, the camera operator pinched the bridge of his nose and thoroughly believed he'd be getting some kind of reprimand. Then, figuring he'd be able to find them if they were on foot, he leaned back to his monitor and continued to scan the area. In the meantime, there was a brief pause before the crew captain asked, "_Is it possible to trace the plates to a home address_?"

"_From what I've overheard during radio chatter_," replied the woman, "_the first car was stolen from a seller a few weeks back_… I'd guess it might be the same deal with the wagon."

Still mentally exhausted by the thought of failure, the camera operator mindlessly mumbled into his radio, "_A seller? Do you mean a dealership of some sort or is it secondhand_?"

"_One-Three_," came the captain's harsh voice, "_Keep scanning the area for foot mobiles_."

"_On it_."

"_I wouldn't expect to find them on the ground_," commented the radiowoman, "_Vehicle disappeared from sight and later found abandoned. It's the same thing that happened three minutes ago and the same thing as what happened in the states_."

"_Yeah, they're pulling this stunt again… damn_," commented the crew captain, "_One-Three, rewind the camera feed and see if you've got a clear view of all the vehicles that exited the bridge in the time the suspects were there. One-Two, keep us circling in the air. We'll be providing support until nineteen-hundred. One-Four, report to the ground that our camera will be offline for a few minutes_."

However disappointed the Bloodhound team was, they obeyed the orders they were given.While the pilot began to veer the plane to reset their viewing angle of the area and the radiowoman began to pass word onto the ground, the camera operator just stared at his monitor for a few seconds. He was hoping to find some kind of sign of alarm or urgency through one last sweeping view over the area but, in the end, there was nothing left to be found. Deciding to use the one word he'd properly learned in the Japanese language, he uttered, "Shit," and switched off the camera.

"**Is there any idea on where Cleaner has gone now?"**

"**No… Apologies. They pulled a disappearing act and got out from under us."**

"**We won't blame you if you don't blame us."**

"**Right, right… if nothing else, we'll shit-talk each other at the water cooler."**

"**Call it a deal… Anyways, we'll resume monitoring of the situation. Paramedics have stabilized the two men who were wounded and our patrols are setting up checkpoints through the area. Keep Bloodhound on duty until the end of the day, if their plane can provide for that long."**

"**Trust me, that thing can provide. Never let it be said that we screw around when it comes to the big guns."**

"**How very American."**

As the agencies of two nations continued to collaborate in their joint hunt, Genpaku could hear the sound of a vehicle screeching to a halt as a small sack was tightly wrapped on his head. He was roughly pulled up from his seated position by both of his elbows and was dragged across the floor as one of his two captors taunted, "This is the last day you'll be alive," followed by a cackle, "Make sure you smile for the audience when you get there."

"**THE OTHER DAY, WE SUFFERED A COSTLY AND EMBARRASSING DEFEAT! BUT IT IS ONE THAT CAN AND WILL BE AVENGED IN BLOOD!"**

The doors leading outside were loudly kicked open, to which a man with a quiet but firm voice could be heard reprimanding, "Keep it down. The government will be on our trail soon enough. Understood?"

The once taunting voice of one of Genpaku's captors turned meek, "Yessir, yessir. I'll be cautious."

"Good." Recognizing the voice to belong to the one that he knew as Cleaner, Genpaku straightened his neck and tried to pull away but quickly found a hand clutching his throat. The quiet voice quickly said, "In," and pulled the dethroned Hierarch of the Dignitaries forward. After tripping over the back bumper of a car and getting dragged in, Genpaku heard the doors slam as his infamous warden ordered, "Drive." The vehicle suddenly began to move and the sack over the captive's head was ripped off. Awaiting Genpaku's eyes was the sight of a cleanly shaven bald man, lacking even his eyebrows for hair, who had the darkest and most unreflective irises that he'd ever seen. Never once had he met Cleaner in person but his appearance lived up to the frightening voice that came through every prior phone call.

The van that Genpaku was dragged into seemed very standard. There weren't any backseats, which meant it was likely meant for loading some kind of equipment, and there was nothing protecting the driver from the rear, if the two other armed goons in the van didn't count. But, as if to prevent his prey from getting any ideas, Cleaner stretched out his arm and gripped Genpaku's shoulder harshly. Then, as if he didn't just silently threaten a man's life with an ungodly painful death with his eyes alone, he simply stared intently at the captive. The two other men in the back of van exchanged looks with one another before they anxiously shook their heads. No question was worth angering Cleaner, however innocent it may be. Thus, the silence stayed as the van pulled out into the streets.

"**Since our founding, we Dignitaries have only ever had a single striving and goal… To dedicate our lives to one government with the potential to install an order of peace and prosperity across the world."**

Looking through the back windows, Cleaner took his eyes away from his victim and looked outside. They were passing by a few relief sites and tents, close to the area where the Yōma had been slain after climbing onto and crushing a few buildings full of people. Yet, rather than remark on the miracle that only around thirty civilians were killed or the good of such a quick response on the people's part to volunteer their time to helping their fellow citizens, Cleaner instead eyed all of the entrances and noted, "Someone could…" before whipping his dangerous eyes back to one of the goons, "Oi. One of you two. Note the low security here. If Hierarch Kazami wants a place to send a message, this would be it."

Speaking for the first time since he was captured the day before, Genpaku murmured, "Dare I ask what you mean? What message?"

"We're dignitaries," stated Cleaner before ordering, "Take a guess."

Catching on quickly, especially since he'd also approved past 'messages' when requested, Genpaku made a sound with his throat and looked down to the floor of the van. Cleaner continued to make comments on the occasional place that they passed but, fearing for the fate of his soul after death, the older man simply began to pray for some kind of forgiveness for the uncountable amount of crimes he'd taken part in and overseen over the course of nearly thirty years. Perhaps it was the fact that he was nearing the end of his life but Genpaku's eyes truly began to reflect on all of the wrongs that he hadn't seen or recognized.

"**If we would have been successful in Russia a century ago, maybe this vision of ours could have been realized by now… But we failed back then. Then, when we came to Japan and tried to do the same thing, we failed a second time and were forced to go into hiding. The acknowledgement of our existence has been reduced to the occasional article online… One which notes old parties of extremists… That's what we are to the world. Extremists."**

Watching as the wizened fool before him folded his hands in prayer, Cleaner pressed his lips together in thought before commenting, "How hypocritical of you, truly." When Genpaku looked to him, he continued in a straight and emotionless voice, "The weight of thousands of lives didn't just crash onto you. Every person you killed or that you ordered to be killed, every school or church you wanted an example to be made of, and every government building or memorial that you had us deface with fire… Those things happened long ago and only now are you letting yourself feel guilty?"

"Is it so wrong to fear what comes after death so much that I reflect on my actions in the past?" asked Genpaku, who was trying to not be interested in hearing the man's opinion.

"Forgiveness isn't needed when you're doing the right thing," stated Cleaner, "Yet, it seems that you never believed those were right in the first place." After a bit more pause, he looked to the man before him and awaited some kind of retort.

Meeting the challenge to a verbal battle, Genpaku spat, "We've never done the 'right' thing. I've only done what I thought necessary for the dreams that were passed down to us." After a pause, he continued, "Yet, you believe that we've always been right?" as his face soured at the thought of the bald man's criticism, "From all the horror stories I've heard about you… I've heard that you're an eager killer."

"Eager?" questioned Cleaner before shaking his head and waving his hand, "No," before pointing into the air, "Prepared to do what is necessary, like you say you are, for the sake of a better future. Yes." He paused and closed his eyes, "However, unlike you, I see no problem in doing these things." In the man's eye was a dark look that chilled Genpaku down to his every muscle. Realizing that Cleaner believed in the bloody and brutal actions that he committed, the older man determined that he was looking into the eyes of a psychopath.

"**And now… the other day… we've lost several of our children in a heated battle against the shinobi and infiltrators. Several more were arrested during their retreat and, as if that wasn't enough, we've lost control of the one warehouse that has supplied us with material for years! We have almost nothing left and our own falls will soon be upon us if we don't act!"**

After a few bumps, Genpaku looked to the back window of the van and noted that they were pulling into a parking garage somewhere on the far end of the neighborhood which was closer to the city. When he gave the outside one final look, he just barely caught the sight of a few skyscrapers in the distance while citizens walked around without a hint of alarm. Then the car turned around a corner and all Genpaku could see was a concrete wall.

The vehicle repeatedly tilted and leveled as it ascended a few floors. Through it all, Cleaner's eyes remained absolutely fixed on Genpaku and any of the sudden movements he made, from every blink to every twitch of the wrist. Then the van came to a stop and the killer reached over to grip his once-leader by the collar. He extended his free hand to the backdoors and shoved them open. While the two goons and the driver also began to get up, Cleaner threw Genpaku from the vehicle and onto the asphalt. When the older man tried to get up, he was kicked in the face and his body up unconsciously balled up on the floor.

"**I will be completely honest with you all. It is likely that we are all going to die. But find freedom in this! If we're going to die anyway, what have we to lose by going all out!? Is there not a chance that we can leave a better world for the next generation!? If we can teach the people of today fear, will they not be looking to a deserving body to protect them from the next dignitaries to come!?"**

Genpaku was dragged up to a pillar near where the van was parked. As Cleaner's goons began to strip their captive down, the bald man spoke to the driver, "The exit should be open and clear. Do you remember what to do?"

The younger dignitary nodded, "Torch the van with the bastard's clothes, conceal our weapons…" but paused as his rattled mind tried to piece the plan together again, "…stick close to you-, I think that's what you said… and meet up with those guys you were with earlier."

Giving the boy a punch to the chest, lacking any affection as he did so, Cleaner simply fired back, "If you know the answer, speak quickly and don't hesitate," and turned away. But, before approaching Genpaku, he also commented, "Otherwise, correct."

"**Everyone! I'll have you know that our deaths won't be in vain! The future will know peace because of us! The world may suffer today but that is only because it will know bliss tomorrow! We will not see it, we will be hated, we will be called some of the worst monsters to ever live but it is all to realize the dream of a century: a world without borders and a world with absolute order!"**

Just as Genpaku began to rouse his consciousness, he found that one of Cleaner's goons was filming him on a smartphone. As he held the device, his expression remained blank and uncaring of what was about to come next. At the same time, the driver and the other dignitary were pouring gasoline all over and inside the van.

Then Genpaku slowly turned his head and found Cleaner loading a single bullet into a large handgun. His eyes only had a few seconds to widen in surprise.

"**To celebrate this occasion… I will show to all of you people, my fellow dignitaries… my sons and daughters… I will show you the end of our continuous failures."**

Several reports pointed the mass of PSIA and SAT vehicles toward the parking garage. From the description of a van in the area that was caught by aerial intelligence at the scene of the dignitaries' disappearance and the sound of a loud gunshot sending the locals into a panic. Then other reports came in of smoke coming out of the parking garage and, more disturbingly, that there was an online livestream featuring an old-looking man getting shot in the head for the whole world to see. As quick as the feed was flagged and shutdown, the impact was left and several disturbed calls were put in across the country.

On the scene, several SAT units made the approach and found what should have been a goldmine of evidence destroyed. There were no witnesses to the act that could point them in the next direction and anything digital or trackable was not on the scene. Perhaps fingerprints could be found, though the government already knew who it was hunting for so there wasn't much of a point.

For all the effort put in that day, there was nothing to show for it.

"**THIS IS IT! IN THESE NEXT FEW MONTHS, THE SEEDS OF THE WORLD THAT WE ENVISION WILL BE PLANTED! ALL OF YOU WHO SHARE THIS VISION WITH ME! LET OUT YOUR EXCITEMENT! LET OUT YOUR RAGE! LET OUT ALL THAT YOU'VE KEPT HIDDEN WITHIN YOURSELVES!"**

Having watched Genpaku's death through the screen, Miki could only stare wide-eyed as his father's desperate zealots cheered him on. His mouth was firmly shut and the horror that he felt could never be denied. The worst part, beyond the fact that a man was killed in cold blood, was that the one person he felt he could talk to was beyond his reach at that moment. Once the government raided the dignitary warehouse, Miki knew that anyone within the organization was already identified and wanted either prior to the operation or by all of the documents that were found. Their lives among the general public had been tossed away after the dignitaries' raid on the young man's apartment.

The worst part was that Miki didn't understand what it was all for. His father spouted on and on about a delusional vision that he could not see nor empathize with. At the same time, it was because of everyone's actions for said vision that he would be made to suffer the consequences of being born a dignitary. Even if Oda continued to turn a blind eye, the rest of the Japanese government would be mobilizing for a war that they would surely win… and it would end in Miki either being dead or in jail for the rest of his life.

Thus, turning away from the projector screen while silently cursing the hand he'd been dealt for his life, the boy began to wonder about how he would be able to reach the young man. After that day, Miki would no longer be able to return to school nor show his face in public, seeing as he was the son of an active and aggressing terrorist. So, just as anyone with a simpler head like him would, he wanted to reach out for help. Yet, without knowing where the young man was or any additional contact info beyond his phone number, there wasn't a safe way to go about meeting his friend that wouldn't result in leaving traceable evidence behind.

Then, as he left his father behind to spout more lunacy before a raging crowd within some decrepit location, Miki realized that he didn't have much regard for his own safety at that point. He would either go down with a heavy heart or he could go down at peace. For his own sake, he'd chosen the latter and pulled out his phone to make a call outside of the room. Even if the call was, by some bad luck, traced by the government, Miki felt there couldn't be any regrets going forward. Thus, he speed-dialed the young man and prayed for an answer.

Meanwhile, Kagura was cheerfully marching up a mountain and through a forest with Naraku and a group of four government officials behind her. She was cheerfully humming, "Breakfast in~… bed! Fun time at~… a place-, nope. Syllable count was off… Fun time in~… room…! No…" while the men and women, wearing hiking gear that did not complement their posh appearances, stared bewilderedly and whispered amongst one another. Naraku remained indifferent to it all, pleased only by the fact that her friend was trying to enjoy the afternoon.

Then one of the women called up ahead, "How much further to this seal?" and let out an exaggerated breath of exhaustion.

Breaking away from her humming, Kagura fired back with a smile on her face, "It's somewhere close," before turning her head back, "though, shouldn't you know? You guys are the ones in charge of tracking it."

"Yeah," retorted the woman in a sharp voice, "through a computer screen and emails with actual agents on the ground." There was a brief crunch and a small yelp from her throat before she groaned and muttered, "I did not take this job to climb mountains…"

"Well," said Kagura as she proudly raised her chin, "in my last life, the people who were watching it actually watched it. In person for years at a time without much else to do for fun." Covering her mouth as she grinned widely, the little girl then asked, "So, what does that say about you when you're put next to the last people?"

The woman said nothing, mostly due to the challenging look that Naraku threw at her. Yet, before Kagura could go back to her humming, one of the men questioned, "If you don't mind me saying, you don't seem to be terribly alarmed by the circumstances."

"Oh," murmured the girl before smiling innocently, "because I've already accepted the two ways that this could end."

"What's that?" questioned the man.

Raising a finger, Kagura announced, "We'll either be awesomely victorious after a lengthy and gruesome battle against ancient evil…!" before pausing for dramatic effect. Then, just as someone was about to ask her to continue, she said with a more straight and emotionless expression, "…or we die."

Everyone in the group behind her and Naraku remained silent for a few seconds, knowing that she was being wholeheartedly serious with her statements. Then, another of the men began to mutter to themselves, "Well… thank the heavens that we live in the age of today… Hell… A ton of tanks, a few jets, some bombs, and then Shin will be blown away, right?" When no one answered to his whispers, he asked again, "Right? This thing came in a time where that kind of technology was impossible and it was still beaten back. It should be easy to do so now, right?"

"If Shin wasn't growing in power during its dormancy," stated Naraku, "you would've had a small point."

"Yup, yup," came Kagura's cheerful murmur.

"Wait," asked the first man, who couldn't hide some of the alarm in his voice, "how do you know this thing's been growing in power…? And how would it even do that if it's been dormant this whole time?"

"Oh, I can smell that," stated Kagura with a small spin as she suddenly began to veer off the mountain path, "Kind of like when you can smell rain coming… Very small but noticeable change in the air, though I'm actually capable of measuring it… 'it' being Shin's power." Before anyone could question where she was going, she commented, "Fun fact I learned about shinobi: according to this one big guy I met the other day, some testing has found that other shinobi are also capable of smelling other kinds of weird things. It's really~ rare but has been found in about-, Actually, I have a friend-," before she was cut off.

"Where are you going…? You didn't say how would Shin be capable of growing in power?" asked the man from before, whose little exposure and tolerance for children's chatty nature was becoming more and more evident.

Irked at having been cut off, Kagura sucked in her cheeks and grumbled, "I'm going to the seal, idiot," and was about to continue her march before turning her head and answering, "And Shin grows in power because it's sleeping. When you're tired, you sleep and wake up with more strength than before. It's doing the same thing."

Before any of the other hikers could follow after the girl, Naraku gave them a cold stare and ordered, "Do not upset Lady Kagura. You'll only make yourselves problematic," before she also marched into the bushes.

While the little girl scolded her friend for using the term 'lady' and for her general protectiveness, the frontmost woman in the group turned to everyone else and grumbled, "This little brat is supposed to be able to save the world?"

"Believe it or don't," retorted another girl from the rear, "she's capable of it. Annoying as she can be, it was her abilities that completely demolished that Yōma a couple days ago."

"She could have been faster about it," grunted a man as he began to push into the bushes after the shinobi, "The whole public has been raging for a couple days now, demanding to know as much about the creature as possible." He clicked his tongue and mumbled, "Damn news outlets all around the world are having a go at us all the while."

"Preach, brother," grumbled one of the women as she followed him into the bushes, "Everyone back at the office has been stopped by a reporter at some point. A whole lot of cars have been getting keyed when we refuse too…"

"Hey!" came Kagura's cry from up ahead, "Hey, hey, hey! Don't fall behind! We're not far!"

With an exhausted look on his face, one of the men commented, "The great hero beckons us to come forth…" before moving forward.

"You'd better hurry," called the man furthest to the front, "She's taking off in a run," as he started to pick up in speed.

With a mix of grumbles and sighs, the rest of the group gradually started to unenthusiastically jog. Even if the matter in which they were dealing with was world-shaking, they still could not summon the energy to chase after a child who'd proven herself to be handful after a morning of wanting to play silly games. Only after they broke through the bushes and into a massive glade did they pause and feel their hearts thump up to their throats. There was a brief silence before a woman asked, "What the hell is that…?"

At the center of the clearing stood a tree that was as tall as any other. Yet, if its circumference were to be measured, it would be wider than the length of a semi's trailer. All along the bark were bright red veins that repeatedly pumped toward the top of the tree, where some of the green leaves were faintly and repeatedly flashing to an unreflective blackness. From above, with the way the branches umbrellaed no one would notice anything different without an especially keen eye among keen eyes. No citizen nor forest hiker would be able to find it by natural means, even with the tree being only nearly a meager hundred meters from the trail. Though, even with such a hidden presence, there remained the question on how no one had snapped a picture of the tree and came back for it.

"How long has this been here…?" questioned one of the men, "My brother has walked and explored these mountains… this particular area a thousand times and he's never told me about this."

"Oh, it moves," stated Kagura unenthusiastically as she kept her eyes locked on the tree, which seemed to breath with the way the red veins pumped from inside the bark.

"It moves…?" mumbled a woman as she began to approach the tree and extend her hand, "How-," before she was stopped by Naraku's firm hand grasping her shoulder.

"Don't," came the fierce order, "Who knows how many hikers this thing has killed with that kind of curiosity."

Yelping at the thought of death, the woman jumped back and cried, "That thing can kill me!?"

"Without leaving a body, it can do so quickly and abruptly," muttered Kagura as she began to step toward the tree, her childish demeanor gone and replaced by an air of complete cautiousness and resentment, "Quickly and abruptly…" She stared at it and, feeling emboldened by a feeling that'd been building for centuries, she began to take slow strides forward.

Without warning, a loud and roaring boom echoed from the tree and red light briefly enveloped Kagura. Naraku, as confident as she was in her friend, felt a brief eruption of worry within her until she saw that the ancient shinobi had remained on her feet. But, after another sound that mimicked a crack of thunder, the little girl eventually buckled onto a knee before bringing her hands up to her mouth to whisper her transformation technique. Then, just as another boom began to sound, her hair extended itself and she gradually gained the height of her adult form. By the time she was standing on her feet again, the innocent figure of a child was gone and replaced by a woman who'd witnessed the passing of millennia. Then, muttering a shinobi art under her breath, she flicked her hand forward and a branch on the tree was blown to into thousands of splinters.

Having witnessed it all, the four officials watched with astounded expressions as the woman of shinobi myth and legend, Kagura, pointed up to the tree and declared, "I know I cannot kill you today. But, just as such, you cannot kill me."

There was a brief pause before, from somewhere within the tree bark, a low growl could be heard. It made a few sounds that couldn't be described as words before it spoke in a language lost to the modern era:

"_**Nothing is immortal. When I come, my great armada and fierce battalions will see everything burned to glass. You will die along with everything else on this planet of mine. I've nothing more to say to the likes of you. Heed your final hours and begone."**_

Kagura wanted to spout a thousand things to the creature that she faced only once before. Yet, knowing of the being's stubbornness, she knew it would be the last time she heard its voice before the final battle. Shin was a prideful anomaly who barely recognized her as the victor during their first and only battle, though he'd always note the hundreds of thousands of lives that it costed to repel him back then.

Feeling defiant against the arrogant Yōma, Kagura strode forward and retrieved from the ground one of the pieces of wood that exploded from the branch she destroyed. While waving her hand over it and rubbing a thumb over the splintering body, the branch quickly regrew itself and remained absolutely stationary without further disturbance.

Turning to the four officials behind her, Kagura stated frankly, "He'll be here by late November." After taking in Naraku's gaze, one that conveyed unending support, the woman pointed in the direction of the city before anyone could question her judgment, "Go to every official you know of and tell them what you saw with your own eyes today."

There was a brief pause before one of the women commented, "To be honest, I'm not very sure how we would start to explain this."

Taking a breath and looking back at the tree, Kagura spat onto the ground and began to walk back toward the trail as she said, "Let them know that Shin is already convinced it's won and that it's beliefs are not far from reality. Let's go." She tried to sound commanding, though there was a part of her voice that still held an insurmountable amount of guilt and dread.

After all, Shin was only stopped once because she traded the lives and cultures of several early civilizations. With the creature having grown exponentially in power, the cost to defeat it could very well be unaffordable to all of mankind.


	52. Chapter 52: Companionship and Resolve

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 52: Companionship and Resolve

After a long afternoon and a soothing bath, the young man was thoroughly confused and wary of all surroundings within the apartment. Sitting atop the table within the dining area was a sloppily packaged box that wasn't there before and looked like the work of the world's worst mailman after a night of binge drinking. The cardboard was crumpled and twisted at various points, the tape was wrapped around and around without any hint of thought, and there were several holes punched into the top. Then, as if everything else about the package wasn't suspicious enough, there was also an occasional scratching sound coming from within it.

Having fallen asleep to watching a crime movie full of car bombs the night before, the young man immediately asked himself if he did anything that would earn the ire of any potential yakuza. Then, after taking a few more seconds to properly rouse himself and reevaluate the situation, the boy muttered, "There's only one way to know what it is…" and began to tiptoe his way from the bathroom, stepping onto his injured foot as gently as possible while biting back all of the resulting pain.

Treating the package like an explosive, the young man edged to the table and poked it with a finger. In response, the scratching sound started up for a few seconds before going quiet. The young man peeked his eyes over one of the holes on top but couldn't see anything, save for a ever so slight reflection of the overhead lights across a black surface. Unable to handle the suspense, he used his fingernail to scratch and prod at one end of the tape wrapped all around the box. After a few seconds, there also came the realization that the kind of tape in question was some superior form of duct tape.

Thus, unable to open the package by average means, the young man braced himself for war.

First, he grabbed the largest knife that he could find in the kitchen and hobbled back to the box. After a slow and calm breath, he pointed it at the end of the box and tried to dig it down. Unfortunately, the knife bounced right off the tape that awaited there. Staring bewilderedly, the young man held the box down with one arm and raised the knife up with the other. He muttered a line from the movie he watched, "Nothing personal, kid…" and plunged the knife straight for the tape. It bounced off but he moved to stab it again, again, and again. After nearly fifteen exhausting attempts, the young man let the knife fall to the floor and huffed for air a few times. The tape showed no sign of weakness.

Taking it up a notch, the young man placed the knife in the sink and then searched through the kitchen for a particular device. Having found it, he hid it behind his back and began to approach the box with a sinister look on his face. As his ankle swelled up and called to buckle under the weight of his walking, the young man only bit his teeth together and let out a growl as he closed the distance between himself and the table. He then produced an electronic bread cutter and angled it against the side of the tape at the end of the box. After saying, "I'll show you what happens when you mess with the wrong… ah… whatever role I'd play in the yakuza…!" and dancing his fingers along the 'On' switch, he pressed it and shoved the bread cutter into the tape. At that point, the young man realized that he forgot to plug it in when he saw that the blades weren't moving. He grumbled through his teeth, "Shit…!"

Having had enough of the nonsense, the young man kept cursing under his breath as he limped to an outlet with the bread cutter's cord. He plugged it in and immediately regretted it when he heard the blades start up to vibrate the machine back and forth across the table, meaning the switch was left on. The young man unplugged the device, angrily marched to the bread cutter, turned it off, did a mix of a hobble and stomp back to the outlet, plugged it in, and then made his way back to the table. With a crazed look in his eye, the young man raised the blades of the cutter into the air and remarked under his breath, "You came to the wrong house, bastard!" and clicked the 'On' switch. As the blades began their opposite slicing motions, the young man pressed it against the tape at the end of the box.

Remarkably, the tape did not give at all and the base of the bread cutter just kept jumping up and down in the young man's grip until he calmly clicked it off and stared intensely at the box. After taking a cooling breath, he pulled out the plug and limped his way to the sink. He abandoned the bread cutter and went back to the box to simply stare at the defiant fiend. Then, driven mad by the whole experience, the young man pressed his hands against both ends of the box and let out a furious cry of rage. Then, as he raised it into the air with the intention to shake it wildly, the bottom came undone and an inhuman screech, "MeeeREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH! was his response along with a few clangs of metal. Still, unable to look at the source of the new noise, the young man focused his eyes on a tiny bit of writing that which was no bigger than his thumb on the end of the box. In very sweet and delicately written letters, it read, "Little munchkin is very cute but too much for my allergies. Oda, please find a good, good home. Sorry for all the tape," and was followed by a cute heart with a kissy face.

Then, on one of the bottom flaps was a more cordially written, "You don't need to pay rent - You're in 'witness' protection housing, after all - but I do ask that you take care of Chomubach. She doesn't have a home. If you're allergic, let me know. Also, I managed to pry the tape off this bottom flap. Wife went overboard everywhere else. I'll reach out to you soon. Have a good day. Oda."

Remembering all of the frustration that he was going through minutes before, the young man stared blankly at the box before sucking in his cheeks and spiking it into the ground. Then, realizing that whatever was in the box had fallen out before, he turned his head back to the table and found a terrified black cat that he found to be very familiar. Then, as his mind flashed back to his introduction to Onoda and Shiori, all of the frustration in him was quelled and replaced by a sense of guilt.

Remembering the death of all the shinobi during their encounter with the dignitaries and Tsao, the young man extended his hand to the feline and allowed her to cautiously sniff his hand. When she found whatever smell that she was after, she rubbed her hand against the boy's hand and allowed for him to pet her. He gave a small smile and murmured, "You know, I didn't really think about what happened to you. Where've you been?"

Then, without the young man antagonizing her in any way possible, the cat suddenly sunk her teeth into his hand. Flinching his head back while straightening up, he bit the corners of his mouth to keep back the cry of pain he wanted to let out. Then, unwilling to be dealt a humiliating defeat by a cat, he raised his hand up into the air and watched as the slender cat dangled from it in the air. For a few seconds, she didn't seem to notice anything wrong. Then the cat opened her bright yellow eyes to find the young man staring intensely. As her irises narrowed in fear, she let go and landed onto the table before shrinking and shivering in place. Not dropping his expression, he picked the cat up by her scruff and raised her to eyelevel. The young man would have called her a few names but took noticed of her ears, which were flattened in fright.

As much as his pride called for a vengeance for his hand, which only suffered from broken skin, the young man lowered his eyes to the ground with a nod before gently placing the cat back onto the table. He then took notice of the some of the food cans that'd fallen onto the table along with a cute red collar with a bell on it. Unsure of whether or not the cat had been fed already, he reached over to one of the cans and slowly pulled the lid open before offering it to his new feline companion. At the moment her meal was cracked open, the cat's eyes went wide and her ears were raised. Once it was offered to her, she leaped onto the young man's arm, bounced off, landed onto the table to spin around with a happy, "Mer!" hopped onto the young man's shoulder, and then jumped back to her original position so that she could feed. Taking in her animated behavior with grace, the boy simply rested the can onto the table and watched.

His eyes then glinted over to the collar and he picked it up to read the name on the front, "Chomubach…" before turning his eyes back to the cat, "I have no idea where Onoda got that name from… but it works… kind of."

The cat paid no attention to what the young man had to say. There was a meal in front of her and she intended to eat.

The boy scratched at the back of his head and wondered to himself, "I wonder… did you get all of your shots…?" before looking to the hand she wounded, "If not… Urgh…"

The cat paid no attention to his distress as she continued to eat.

Putting his mind off of the bite, the young man turned to his bedroom and wondered to himself, "I should probably get some kind of bed for you together… A scratch post too…" before he grinded his hand against the side of his head, "Ah, crap. I'll be needing a job soon…"

The cat did not care at all. There was food.

Breaking the young man from his thoughts, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he reached to pull it out. He was about to swipe the screen to check who texted him but then he found Chomubach peeking out from the corner of one of her eyes. In an overdefensive tone, he asked, "What're you looking at me like that for?"

A haughty, "MeyAGHhhh," was his only response before the cat went back to her food.

The young man only blinked before looking to his phone to find a text from Asuka, "Homura and I are looking forward to seeing you Wednesday! Have a good time with Murasaki tomorrow! Love you~!"

In return, he sent back to her, "I love you too! I'll be ready to meet you guys then. Enjoy the rest of your night!"

While he was still on his phone, he looked back to the text that Miki sent him earlier and felt his face soften a bit. Then, knowing that he'd have to leave soon if he wanted to meet his friend on time, he patted Chomubach on the head and murmured, "I'm not sure if you're a good girl to leave alone… But I'll be back in a few hours. I need to go see someone." He turned toward the bedroom so that he could grab a jacket but was completely surprised when the cat leaped from the table and clung onto the back of his shirt, inadvertently stabbing him with her claws. After sucking in his lips and holding in another cry, the young man turned his head around and seethed, "…what're you doing…? off…" When he wasn't obeyed, he ordered the cat again, "Off!"

"Mer," replied Chomubach, who then proceeded to ascend the young man's back and perched herself on his shoulder. Content as a parrot atop a pirate, the cat raised a paw and kneaded the side of the boy's head, "Mer."

The young man wasn't all that amused. He faced the cat and stared right into her eyes and stated, "This won't end well for you. Get off me, enjoy your food, and I'll be back soon."

Without any visible change in expression, Chomubach simply raised her other paw and extended the claws before making a waving motion toward the bedroom, "Mer."

"There's an easy way to this that you're not picking," said the young man in a dangerous voice before he cracked his knuckles to threaten, "Do you want this to be the hard way… because, if you're picking the hard way, you're not gonna win. Pick the right option, little shit."

Chomubach's upper-eyelids lowered combatively as she retorted, "Mer."

"It's on then," stated the young man as the battle began.

There was also an inspiring war cry from Chomubach, "MEEERROOOOOOOOOOOWWW!"

Meanwhile, Asuka was looking down to her phone with a large smile and a quaking head while sharing the couch with Hibari. The pink-haired girl was enjoying a midday bowl of cereal after all of their shinobi training, expecting to play with Yagyū in an hour's time. Then, without warning, Asuka let out a giddy laugh and barely restrained herself from rolling around across the couch, surprising Hibari and almost making her drop her bowl.

As the brunette then began to rapidly tap against into her phone, Ikaruga peered from the hallway, "Asuka, if you're going to be making those sounds all day, I'm going to ask that you spend some time outside."

Without any sign of worry or unhappiness, the girl looked up from her phone with a beaming smile, "You don't understand. It's-," before she was cut off by Hibari's straight and humorless voice.

"It was another text from Homura. We know."

Turning to the girl, who'd been enduring Asuka's repeated outbursts since the night before, the brunette raised a finger, "Ah, ah! Not Homura this time!"

"Regardless," stated Ikaruga as she stepped into the room with a humorless expression, "you need to cool yourself down."

Finally realizing that she was being critically judged, Asuka asked with a tilted head, "What do you mean? It's only me being happy about some texts."

"That, by itself, isn't harmful," mumbled Ikaruga, who forced herself to take a calming breath. She then said in a firm and judgmental tone, "The problem is the fact that you've giggled through all of last night, through our lunch today, and since you've gotten home."

Feeling a bit sad that her happiness wasn't being shared, Asuka slightly hung her head, "Oh… Sorry, I'm just-," before raising her phone, "It's just that I've been texting Homura and… I'm so happy because she keeps saying a bunch of sweet things."

"We know…" grumbled Hibari as she hunkered onto the opposite side of the couch and ate her cereal, "You won't stop telling us about it…"

"Ah…" murmured Asuka before her expression brightened up. An idea popped into her head and she quickly turned to her pink-haired friend, "Maybe I just haven't been sharing the sweetest ones! Here! Homura told me how she's always liked my eyes-," but was swiftly interrupted.

"She's told you that four times already!" cried Hibari before pointing a finger at Asuka, "And you've shared it each time!"

Perturbed by the younger girl's uncharacteristic aggression, even Ikaruga took a moment to slow down and ask, "Is everything alright, Hibari?"

Setting her cereal onto a side table, the girl then crossed her arms and pouted for a few seconds in silence. When Asuka and Ikaruga's stares continued to remain on her, she eventually sighed and pointed to the former, "Aside from your oversharing being slightly annoying, you keep oversharing your relationship!"

There was a slight pause as the other two girls wondered if they'd misheard Hibari's second point. Then Ikaruga simply said, "You said that Asuka's oversharing twice."

"Because it's twice as annoying for me!" cried Hibari as she hid her head into the couch's arm.

As a maternal instinct kicked in, Asuka calmly patted the girl on the back and asked sweetly, "If you don't mind me asking, why's it so upsetting for you?"

Like a child in the middle of a tantrum, Hibari huffed up her head and sneered to the girl, "Wouldn't you like to know!?"

"Yes, I would like to know," retorted Asuka, not regarding the hostility in the girl's voice.

Shaking a bit, Hibari remained silent until she whined in a cracked voice, "I don't wanna be Christmas cake~!"

Ikaruga sighed while Asuka almost took the remark literally. Then, just as it clicked for the brunette that Hibari was referring to the slang of an old and unmarried woman, the older of the trio quickly noted, "You're nearly a decade away from that point, Hibari. There's no need to worry."

"But who am I going to find to love!?" cried Hibari as she began to weep. When Asuka patted her hand against the girl's shoulder, she was pulled into an embrace as the younger shinobi began to weep, "I don't wanna be alone! I wanna grow old with someone I love, then have a family, then start a candy shop, then do other happy things!"

Staring at the scene as Asuka remained in the awkward embrace, Ikaruga quickly stated, "Hibari, you're not even a legal adult yet. There is plenty of time to get those things sorted."

"But I'm at the most important stage in my life!" cried Hibari into the shoulder of her peer, "If I don't establish some kind of foundation now, I won't have anything in the future! I'm going to be all alone and grow into an old maid because my only social circle is with all of you!"

Wondering where Yagyū was at such a needed time, Ikaruga turned to the hallway and found the girl peering into the room with a blank expression. The older shinobi quickly mouthed to her, "Get in here and help us calm her."

Yagyū shook her reddening head and mouthed back, "I'm not good in these kinds of matters." Seeing the perfect opportunity that the girl had to express her feelings to Hibari, Ikaruga pointed to the couch, flattened her hand, and then clapped her shoulder. In response, Yagyū shook her head again and shied back into the hallway, "I'm not good at these kinds of matters…"

Hibari continued to cry into Asuka's shoulder before she bellowed, "I wanna see Yagyū~!"

Zipping past Ikaruga faster than light could shine, the white-haired shinobi had already shoved Asuka aside and was hugging her best friend and ushering her head towards the crook of her neck to cry into, "It's okay, it's okay. You'll never be alone."

Hibari clung closer as she said through her hiccups, "Never… never, never?"

"Never, never, never," remarked Yagyū.

Finally turning her head to look at the pair, Ikaruga stared blankly for a moment before trading a shocked look with Asuka. In a few seconds' time, they both came to the same conclusion: however much Yagyū was uneasy with the thought intimacy within her strange balance of romance and sisterhood with Hibari, she was one who would be ready when the time came. Deciding to enjoy the current calm that they had going, Ikaruga wondered if Homura was starting any similar trouble with the renegades.

At the same time, Homura was flipping Yomi over her shoulder and pinning her to the ground. After an excited, "ONE, TWO, AND THREE!" and a brief groan of pain from the blonde, the tanned shinobi stood up victorious and balled her fist in triumph, "I'M ON A ROLL TODAY!"

Piled on top of Hikage and Haruka off to the side of the forest clearing that they were all sparring in, Mirai was attempting to crawl away while pleading, "Mercy… mercy…" At one point, she turned her head back to look at Homura, "She's out of control today… It's too much…"

To everyone's horror, bringing a pained grimace even onto Hikage's face, Homura pulled out her phone and shook blissfully, "Asuka texted me back!" before letting out a breathless cry.

Knowing that she had less than ten seconds to escape, Mirai began to desperately pull herself toward the bushes with the hope that she could hide from her riled leader. She faintly her Yomi call, "No… don't leave us…" but knew that there was nothing that could be done. At the end of the day, it was either Mirai or everyone else and she was not the self-sacrificing sort in matters of horror.

But, even as Mirai finally managed to get most of her body into the bush, her ankle was caught by Homura's hand before it could be completely hidden. Immediately, the little girl let out a bloodcurdling scream, "NO! LET ME GO!"

With a red tinge on her face, Homura cheered, "It's okay! We'll spar quick and then we can take a quick break while I text Asuka back!"

"NO! NO, NO, NO!" cried Mirai as she dug her fingers into the dirt, leaving a small trail as she was dragged back into the center of the clearing.

"C'mon! We've gotta train," said Homura with a smile that refused to leave her face, "I'm going out on Wednesday and there won't be time then! We have to make up for it now!"

With tears in the corners of her eyes, Mirai casted one final pleading look over to Haruka and Hikage as they finally began to pick themselves up, "Please…"

The pair exchanged looks with one another on the ground before simultaneously sticking up their thumbs as Haruka said, "Your sacrifice means that we might have a chance to get away. Thank you and good luck."

Homura then cried Asuka and the young man's names into the air as she pulled Mirai onto her feet for another round of fighting, "FOR THE BOTH OF YOU, I'M GOING TO BECOME STRONGER THAN EVER!"

Mirai's cries echoed throughout the woods for a few seconds after. Despite everyone else using the opportunity to try and escape, their screams followed shortly after.

By the time the sun was setting, Miyabi had already made several attempts to communicate a request to Murasaki. Yet, after her father learned of the elites' return to Hebijo Academy, she knew that caution was an absolute must. They were fortunate enough to have been able to speak freely the night before but, being the spiteful man that he was, Jirō was sure to have stepped up his attempts to listen in on them to pick up on any information that he didn't know about.

Of course, there wasn't much information to be secretive with. During their training throughout the day, they openly discussed their issues between the Yōma and the dignitaries and would have had no qualms about openly speaking to the man about it. In fact, there was only one reason alone that they had to be wary of the occasional sentry who tilted their heads close during conversation: the relationship that Miyabi and Murasaki had with the young man. After all, upon finding out about his daughter's associations with an infiltrator, Jirō's response was to beat the stuffing out of the boy until he was black and blue. If he found out that the same boy was not only dating his daughter but also dating four additional women, the young man would be hunted down and killed in the most gruesome way possible.

Yet, there was one thing that Miyabi had to ask Murasaki in regards to the coming week. It wasn't urgent but it was something that she desperately wanted. Thus, just as everyone else left to go and train, Miyabi found a piece of paper and wrote five seemingly random words. Being the snoop that he was, Jirō quickly found his way into the elites' common room and found the open letter that was sitting on the table at the center. Knowing that Miyabi was one who would rather directly and personally bring an issue to a person's attention, he was immediately suspicious and read it over.

**Stride.**

**Prance.**

**Walk.**

**Odometer.**

**Seek?**

Immediately, Jirō was able to deduce the message's meaning. At first, he thought that it was some kind of request to travel, what with the first three words being a verb of that sort. Yet, with their being a multitude of others available, why would Miyabi include the last two words. He knew that she also wasn't good at being subtle in her motions and, while he would have considered the prospect with someone else, she wouldn't have construed a message using those words alone.

Instead, he took a simpler approach and looked for a literal message within the words themselves. If he took the simplest approach and lined them up, he made a new word by taking the second letter from them all. Under his breath, he uttered, "Trade?"

Deciding it would be best to wait for Murasaki's response before a direct confrontation, he backed off for the few hours that they took to train. When they all returned, he sent a more meager shinobi to offer them a few treats on a platter under the guise of snooping on the state of the letter.

When the shinobi came out, her plate emptied by the elites' grabbing hands, Jirō immediately pulled the poor girl aside and asked in a threatening tone, "What did the letter say?"

Immediately, the young shinobi squeaked, "No…"

Jirō's eyes narrowed at the perceived indignation, "You're refusing to tell me?"

"Wait, you misunderstood-, I poorly communicated it to you, sir…!" came the girl's quiet cry, "Murasaki wrote the word 'no' in response."

Slightly confused, Jirō released the girl and allowed her to scurry away. He repeated the exchange under his breath, "Trade? No," before shaking his head. At that moment, the only thing he could deduce was that Murasaki had some kind of item in her possession, one that couldn't be made known to anyone outside of their little social circle, and Miyabi wanted it. A bit unsure on how to proceed, Jirō debated the thought of directly confronting both of the girls and demanding to know if they were carrying some kind of contraband. But then he also liked the idea of catching them red-handed with the item in question, leaving no room for denial. Deciding to take the night to rest on the two options, Jirō left in a huff while muttering, "Ever since this infiltrator nonsense started… Damn it…"

Meanwhile, Miyabi was staring down at the letter disappointedly before giving a tired shrug. As much as she wanted Murasaki to trade the days of their individual dates, it would mean that she'd have more time to prepare herself. They almost decided to share the day, being comrades who were both part of the same relationship and all, but they both opted to have a bit more privacy and intimacy during their times with the young man. Plus, if nothing else, neither were drawing the shortest straw. No, Miyabi was perfectly content to let Murasaki have Tuesday while she had Thursday.

"Patience is a virtue…" muttered Yumi at Gessen Academy as she traced her finger along her bedcovering, "But why is that so…"

Sitting outside of the doorway to her sister's room, Yozakura was sitting with a hopeless expression on her face. Having seen the two in similar positions for hours at that point, Shiki eventually decided to kneel down next to the younger of the pair and quietly asked, "What's got both of you so down?"

Without blinking, Yozakura craned her head up and uttered in a low voice, "She's pouting because she waited to send in her date suggestion until this morning…" When Shiki waved her hand for the girl to continue, she finished by saying, "She wanted to arrange her date for today but Miki contacted her… how'd she say it…?" After clasping her hands together and closing her eyes, Yozakura pouted up her lips and said in a voice that imitated Yumi's, "Miki contacted my-," before taking a long breath and speaking in an exaggerated tone, "-BOOOooooyyyFRIEND-," and then spoke normally, "with something urgent and a date today wouldn't do."

Yumi's voice came in a sweet but also dangerous tone from the doorway, "Mocking me on this matter won't do you well."

Yozakura jumped and looked up to find that Yumi had gotten up from her bed for the first time in hours, hearing the mockery plain as day. As the two stared at one another, Shiki then asked, "You're upset because an emergency came up and you didn't get your date?"

Realizing how petty that came off as, Yumi quickly shook her head and pointed her finger at the blonde, "Of course not! I understand that emergencies come up and certain things take precedence," before crossing her arms and turning away, "It's just the fact that I have to wait until Friday…"

"Why so late?" asked Shiki.

Yozakura, having been through the runs of the conversation before, sat back against the wall and murmured, "Here it comes…"

Yumi immediately balled up a fist and grumbled, "Because Murasaki was so quick to the punch and answered that she wanted a date for tomorrow! Also, I have to ask, why is Murasaki so eager to go on a date!? She likes to keep inside and avoid contact with people as much as humanly possible! Why the change in heart!?" She then scrunched up her shoulders and shook as she said, "And then there's Asuka and Homura! They're both-, that's right, both! They're both taking him out on Wednesday and I'm afraid that, no matter what we do for a date on Friday, I'm going to be horribly upstaged!"

Taken aback by her older sister's frustration, Shiki was almost too scared to ask, "Why… are you so afraid you'll be upstaged…?" Yet, there she was asking said question with a cautious expression that was ready to flinch away at any hint of danger.

Yumi delivered by slamming her head into the doorway, making the other two girls emit small squeaks of surprise, and spouting in a slightly defeated voice, "Because what can one woman do exclusively that two women can't…!"

"Ah…" murmured Shiki as her head craned away. Her body was ever so slightly leaning to retreat down the hallway as she then asked, "So… well… What's important is that you make the date special between the two of you anyway. It's all good Yu – and – mi!"

Yumi was silent for a moment before lifting her head away from the doorframe, "I know…" After turning around and giving a few impatient kicks into the air, she then murmured, "This is just one of those times in my life where I really, really don't want to share…"

Seeing that the conversation was taking a new direction, Yozakura was quick to say, "I'm sorry to be the one to say it but you're in a relationship that requires sharing, a lot of it, without any breaks."

Yumi's head crumped down so that she could take a long sigh. Then she lifted herself again and grumbled, "I know…"

"And are you still willing?" asked Yozakura after crossing her arms, "You're willing to share it all with everyone? Attention, dates, intimacy, and everything else that comes with a relationship? Are you sure you can actually do it?"

"I am," stated Yumi without hesitation, albeit in a slightly hostile manner, "Really, I am." She raised a hand, "I mean, I know how I must look now… but…" After a few seconds, she took a breath to calm herself and stated, "When Sato suggested the idea, it wasn't like we dogpiled on it in happiness…" before pausing to add, "Well, Homura did and encouraged the rest of us to join in… But Miyabi, Murasaki, and I… even Asuka, kind of… We were slow with it but… we figured it was the easiest solution. We talked it over, addressed boundaries, and went around the necessary points." There was a slight pause for reflection before Yumi conclusively said, "I'm willing to share. I know I am and that I can deal with doing so."

"Oh?" murmured Shiki before she tilted her head and asked, "Then… what was with all the grumbling before." Before any defensiveness could be unleashed upon her, Shiki held her hands up in surrender, "Not to say you're not capable…" before lowering them and averting her eyes, "You just… seem a bit down, that's all."

"I can deal with it," returned the older sister, her voice quiet but firm.

"Not to be a jerk," remarked Yozakura as she slumped back down, "but you're not doing a good job of proving that with the way you've been pouting."

"I will prove it!" cried Yumi as she balled up her fists and thrusted them into the air, "I'll wait for Friday! I'll wait for Friday without a single complaint!"

Realizing that she made a grave error in riling the girl up, Yozakura surrendered herself back down to the floor while Shiki continued to make some efforts to calm their sister down. Of course, Yumi being as stubborn as she was, there was nothing that could quell her down at that point.

A short while before the sun was due to set, Miki was sitting on a bench just past the entrance of a particular cemetery. He anxiously fiddled with his fingers, waving and bending them in as many ways as he could without breaking them, while waiting for the two people whom he'd invited to be there with him that day.

In the front and back of his mind, the only thing that Miki kept thinking to himself was, "I hate death," and other like thoughts. His mind glazed over everything that he'd been a secondhand witness to over the years. From every call his father made to a loyal follower to have someone or a group of people killed to the battle between the dignitaries and infiltrators. Despite the tens of bodies that he'd overheard the deaths of, there was only one that he'd ever witnessed personally… It was the same one that should have caused him to hate the young man.

But, when considering both their experiences together and common sense, Miki had absolutely no resentful feelings for the boy. In fact, despite it only having been a mere few weeks since they met, he considered him to be a close friend. Beyond the few fun times they had together, the young man had proven his feelings on their bond when he separated Miki from the aggressing shinobi and vice versa when the dignitary sold out his own to save the boy's life. At that point, there was no doubting the presence and strength of their bond. Between an endlessly spewing chatterbox and a good listener with some thoughtful and sarcastic words, there were few better-balanced duos.

Still, if their experiences were only going to be getting tougher as time went on, Miki felt that something still needed to be said. He didn't particular know why, though it probably had something to do with the fact that he had no one else that would be willing to hear about it. Miki loved his mother and father, despite the monstrosities that'd been committed over time, but neither of them were good listeners. Perhaps, if he didn't say what he wanted to say and show what he wanted to show, there wouldn't ever be another time for it.

Interrupting his thoughts, Miki heard the young man say from close by, "I'm glad you're alright." With a small snort from his throat, the brown-haired boy turned his head with a tired smile before his eyes widened in surprise.

The young man's face had several scratches and even a few light bruises. Immediately, Miki said, "Geez… the battle took a hit on you, didn't it?"

"Kind of," murmured the young man as he gestured to his leg, "I don't really know what happened, but it hurts to walk…" before he lifted a finger to his chin, "Thinking about it now, I don't know if I twisted or broke it… no one told me."

Miki tilted his head, "Oh-, ah… sorry for your leg, though I was mostly referring to your face."

At that moment, a small cat popped its head over the young man's shoulder and let out a timely, "Merrow," to reveal that she'd been hanging on the boy's back the entire time. Just like that, Miki was immediately baffled into silence.

In the meantime, realizing that the boy had been referring to his facial injuries, the young man quickly shook his head, "Oh, no," and pointed up to the cat, "the current state of my face is thanks to this little asshole."

"Mer."

The young man turned his head to the cat and grunted, "Right, right," before waving his hand, "Miki, this is Chomubach," and spiraled his hands elegantly, "Chomubach, this is Miki."

"Merrow."

The brown-haired boy simply stared for a moment before tilting his head forward, "What was his-, her-, their name?"

The young man replied straightly, "She's Chomubach."

"…One more time…?"

"Chomubach."

Miki gave the most judgmental look he'd ever casted onto the young man, "That is quite the name. Like something out of a… wonderful cartoon."

In return, the infiltrator pointed his finger straight at Miki's face, "Don't you give me that face. I didn't name her."

"Regardless," came a new voice as a few footsteps gently thundered over, "I hope you'll take good care of her."

Both of the boys jumped and turned to find that Oda had also entered the cemetery and was looking down to both of them, his eyes lighthearted with a small tinge of steel to them. With his heart still thumping from the surprise, the young man commented, "Ah, I didn't realize you were called here too." Then a few thoughts sprung onto him and he quickly asked, "By the way, were you in charge of packaging the cat into the box? Because you're an asshole if you are."

Without blinking, Oda quickly said, "While I wasn't the one who taped the box, you'll take back that 'asshole' comment if you know what's good for you."

"Oh," grunted the young man, "why's that-," before he remembered the written messages on the box.

Before any apology could be offered, Oda lowered his face to level with the boy's, "Because you'd be calling my sweet and loving wife an asshole for trying her best."

Feeling as threatened by Oda as he did during their initial confrontation, the young man swallowed his saliva and murmured, "Comment retracted…" Seeking to change the subject, he turned over to Miki and asked, "Anyways, you told us to meet you here. What's up?"

"I imagine it has something to do with the news," remarked Oda. When the young man gave him a confused look, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "You had to of heard by now, right?"

"I try to not watch the news," answered the boy, "It tends to get me more angry or depressed with things that are beyond my control."

Not one to debate the importance of knowing what was going on around the world, Oda shook his head and stated plainly, "A renowned dignitary was executed on a livestream on a few popular websites. Couple this with the battle and Yōma…" Oda took a breath and shook his head, "Everyone's either scared or angry…"

Miki nodded his head, feeling a bit guilty for Genpaku's death despite his lack of control in the matter, before answering, "While that prompted me to call you guys… I just wanted to… say something in person and… let you guys do as you do."

The young man, while shocked by the thought of a live execution, turned to the boy and nodded, "Go ahead."

Pressing his lips together, Miki struggled to say the next words that he urgently wanted to say. Then he clenched his eyes closed and let out a groan of pain and exhaustion before relaxing his body. Once his shoulders and head began to slump down, he answered by saying, "I want you both to know that I hate the thought of anyone else dying…"

Oda made an affirmative sound with his throat, "As would anyone sensible-," but was halted when Miki held up a finger.

After sucking in a long breath, Miki said, "…And… I don't want to be part of the reason anyone dies anymore… which is why I won't be taking part in anything regarding of this conflict."

The young man's first thought was, "What's wrong with that?" before he figured there was more to be implied from his statement. Upon turning over to Oda, it appeared that the shinobi had already caught on.

"You mean to say that you won't be reporting anymore dignitary activity?" asked Oda, his voice frank and unreadable. Scrunching up his face, Miki nodded his head and awaited the expected belittling. It came when Oda said, "You realize that will only cause more preventable deaths than it will stop, yes?"

"I know," murmured Miki as he turned around and gestured for everyone to follow him into the cemetery. When the trio began to walk, albeit with Oda's scrutinizing eye not showing any sign of softening, the boy continued to speak in a low and quiet tone, "You're free to do whatever you want with me because of it… I know I was let go in that alleyway back then for the purpose of being your informant."

"That was the deal," stated Oda.

"And because of the leaks I gave you… the numbers and direction of the dignitaries who were sent to attack you…" Miki's voice cracked and he was forced to take a shaky breath, "Because of me going as far as I did, twenty-eight people, whom I knew by name, are dead now. All of them, young and inexperienced… As my father said, they were doomed to fail from the very start." He was quick to add, "Mind you, I don't blame anyone for it but him."

Making a small sound of understanding with his throat, the young man's eyes were still sharp and critical of his friend, "So… when the next attack comes, you won't give us any warning at all? You'd sit idly by while we got shot in the back of our heads?"

Biting his lower lip, Miki continued his walk into the cemetery unabated. He clenched his eyes for a moment and answered frankly, "If I know you're going to be killed, of course I'll give you a heads up… That's what friends do," before turning his head around, "It'll be the same thing for any of those shinobi-friends of yours. I'll give you notice if I know there's trouble because I know you'd all do the same." While Oda and the young man exchanged a brief look of confusion, wondering if they misunderstood Miki's original statement, the boy finished by saying, "The only thing is that I won't be keeping my head down to listen for it. If I hear of it, I'll tell you… But I won't be going out of my way to find anything."

While the shinobi beside him remained silent, the young man simply made a sound, "Ah." At the same time, Chomubach began to knead the back of his head soothingly.

Eventually, Miki came to a stop and pointed to a grave, "I know this makes me a horrible person. I'll be a bystander when I could be actively doing something to fight a genuine evil…" He then bared his teeth and spoke as tears ran down his eyes, "But what of those in the dignitaries? How many of them are desperate children who are caught in the crossfire of their grandparents' war? Why should I contribute to their deaths…" Miki let out a sob and turned to the young man, "Call me every name in the book! Hit me or kill me…! Do whatever you want…" before firmly saying with a defeated voice, "But don't make me go out of my way to pull the trigger on anyone else…"

Almost everything within Oda was begging him to coerce Miki into changing his mind by any means. If the movements of the dignitaries could not be predicted, it only increased the likelihood that other people were going to die. If even a single line of information could save tens of souls from a horrible end then, if Miki put his nose to the ground, the number of lives saved would vastly outweigh whatever guilt would come from killing terrorists, whether they were brainwashed from birth as such or not.

Yet, there was one powerful emotion within Oda that overpowered all of the others when he saw the name on the gravestone that Miki pointed to: complete and utter sympathy which slowly drifted toward guilt. Images from the shinobi's past came back to haunt him, taunting him as he remembered the great hatred that he felt for one particular infiltrator. He remembered the gruesome scene of a small boy missing half of his head, the powerless feeling as several criminals made their escape… and the chilling look within the pair of eyes that matched the young man's.

Thus, in a decision that was charged wholeheartedly by his emotions, Oda sucked in a breath and said to Miki in a tone of complete inner-conflict, "I won't be allowed to meet you again in the future…" He then straightened himself and said in a more even tone, "As far as I and the government are concerned, you're a dignitary with precious information that could save many lives." Oda then turned away and began to make his exit but, when a different thought occurred to him, he turned around and faced Miki to say, "But, for whatever it may be worth, I'm sorry for everything… and, if it's any relief, you're not on some kind of special hitlist… so… no need to worry about a personal hunt for you."

The brown-haired boy simply stared at the shinobi before giving sad but knowing smile and nod. The young man watched with a blank and unreadable expression all the while before turning back to face the grave. As Oda disappeared, he quietly stated, "I was told about this when it happened…"

Unable to force his voice into his usual cheerful tone, Miki turned to the young man and responded softly, "How familiar were you with your brother's activities?"

Without missing a beat, the other boy responded, "I stopped idolizing Tsao when I realized he wasn't fighting the Saturday morning cartoon villains I thought he was… That was around age nine." After a slight pause, the young man continued, "At ten, I detested him for all of it and didn't want to be an infiltrator anymore." Though he tried to suck in some air, his breathed hitched and he lowered his head to murmur, "I feel like you should hate me."

"I thought I should've too," remarked Miki with a defeated grin, "After realizing you were an infiltrator and looking at those familiar eyes of yours, I thought that I was supposed to hate you." A genuine grin followed right after, "But I don't. You're not a demon or a devil, as some dignitaries would say. You're also not Tsao, even with the blood relation." Facing the grave with a mind full of clarity, he then stated, "You're like me. Someone who was born into a meaningless conflict that we have no faith in."

"I suppose that about sums it up," said the young man as he also stared at the grave.

There was some silence between the two as the sun finally began to disappear over the horizon of buildings all around them. Yet, before the light was fully gone, Miki then asked as his eyes remained on the grave, "Hey, I've got a weird favor…"

"I'm all ears," returned the young man, who turned to his friend.

"Every time I'm here…" started Miki before he stopped to let out a nervous and hushed laugh. After regaining some confidence, he tried again, "Whenever I'm here, I sing a song for him and-, Don't worry, I'm not asking you to sing along but…" before his voice cracked and fell flat again, "Could you… stick around?"

The young man didn't hesitate, "For as long as you need."

Feeling a wave of relief pass over him, Miki clenched his eyes shut and took a breath. Then, just as the sun disappeared with all of its light, he sang a slow and quiet lullaby.

"**Lute of the Street, **

**Hope-bringer of the weak,**

**Strumming for joy within the night."**

Familiar with the tune, the young man clapped his hands together and bowed his head in prayer. Still clinging to his shoulder, Chomubach eventually jumped for the ground and began to run her head against Miki's shin as he continued.

"**Small lute of wood, **

**Have you found time to rest?**

**A place of calm from all your fun?"**

Miki's voice finally cracked and his eyes began to tear up. Yet, he still fought against himself to keep his ever-wandering mind on track.

"**Bright little lute,**

**Are you yet to find peace?**

**Nay, you still smile… even now."**

Unable to hold it in any longer, Miki let out a sob and covered his mouth as all of the hurt came back and hit him all at once. He tried to power through the next few verses but struggled with every syllable.

"**My… cradled lute…**

**Though visitors are gone,**

**The wood of our tree… feels your loss."**

Eventually, between the grief that still ate at him so long after the time had passed and the recent events which would actively prevent him from visiting for the near future, Miki fell to his knees and was unable to get another word out. Were it not for the young man offering up his own soft and empathetic voice, the song would have gone unfinished.

"**Dearly missed lute,**

**We look to you all night,**

**Pining to hear your tune once more."**

Finding strength in having his friend join him, Miki got back onto his feet and wrapped his arm over the young man's shoulder. Though the tears continued to fall and were accompanied by several sobs, the song met its end with both of their voices conjoined into one.

"**Lute of the street,**

**After your song passed on,**

**We're cold and wish you could come home."**

By the time it was done, Miki was burying his face into the young man's arm and crying without any reservation. The two stood there for several minutes, standing over the grave of Kazami Sora, who didn't get to live past the age of ten. When they would part ways, no other words would be exchanged.

In the place of anything vocal, the two boys each raised one hand into the air clasped them against each other. They then shared a hug befitting of brothers and parted ways, unsure of how they would be meeting in the future. The only real thing that they knew was that they were brothers who would meet again soon enough to enjoy life with one another again.


	53. Chapter 53: Suspicions and Comfort

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 53: Suspicions and Comfort

**April 28 – "Even when coupled with complete silence, a single action can say all that is necessary."**

In the Hebijo Elite's common room, Miyabi was sitting on the couch and folding her hands over her face while bouncing her knee up and down. Imu had already taken notice of it about ten minutes before and had been watching intently with sad eyes, already believing that she knew what was eating the woman up. The spectacled shinobi was considering the prospect of breaking the ice, slowly moving from chair to chair and getting closer over time, before she was eventually seated right next to her best friend.

Swallowing the saliva that had built up in her throat, Imu debated herself on what to say. In accordance with the angel on her shoulder, she wanted to say something comforting and soothing to alleviate Miyabi's fears. The devil, on the other shoulder, wanted Imu to capitalize on Miyabi's worries to try and become a dependent figure in case anything went wrong with the woman's relationship. One option would be fine but didn't make any progress for her own strivings while the other was predatory to a scummy degree. Thus, trapped by indecision, Imu instinctually reached her hand out to Miyabi and began to pat her back.

Immediately upon contact, the stronger shinobi let out a brief yell, "Gu-WAAAGHHH!" and huffed a breath before noticing her friend, "Ah…" Once she took a moment to calm down, all while Imu was staring with wide and alarmed eyes, Miyabi then asked, "Are you alright? What's up?"

Pressing her lips together so as not to say something along the lines of, "I should be asking you those questions," the spectacled girl had to pause for a few seconds to plan her response. After a few more subconscious pats to Miyabi's back, she then quietly replied, "…I just wanted to see how you're enjoying your day."

"Oh," remarked the woman, "it's going pretty well…"

When Miyabi turned away sheepishly after the complete lie that she'd told, Imu had to refrain from letting out her own yell. But, after calming down, she then began to plot her next approach. Figuring that Miyabi was filled with jealous feelings over the date that Murasaki had left for earlier, Imu knew she had to choose between the angel and devil on her shoulders: either to be a comforting friend or a scheming romantic rival. Still unable to choose, she murmured, "I… actually can tell that you're upset about something…"

Miyabi sighed, "I suppose I'm not doing too well at hiding it…" before dropping her hands to her legs and thinking hard for a moment. When her face briefly brightened up, she turned to Imu and asked, "Hey, I'm not sure how acquainted you are with matters of romance… but could I ask for your advice?"

The devil on Imu's shoulder let out a merry yell and repeatedly cheered for Miyabi to break up, citing the misery that she must have been experiencing as the 'other woman' for the day, before it got tackled by the angel and beaten into a gruesome pulp. Once the fight was over, the blood-stained angel then beckoned Imu to say instead in a falsely enthusiastic voice, "I'm happy to help."

"What do you think I should do for my date?" asked Miyabi, her voice weighted by both stress and uncertainty.

Imu froze and the angel on her shoulder suffered a sudden heart attack from the shock. With both of her moral alignments effectively out of the picture, she could only narrow her eyes and ask, "Repeat?"

"Well," started Miyabi with a fidget of her fingers, "Murasaki's already going to be spending a day with him watching movies and shows in his apartment… and I have no idea what to do for my own date in a couple of days."

Imu's thinking capacity was still crippled by the thought that Miyabi wasn't consumed with jealousy over the fact that her boyfriend was most likely with another woman at that very moment. Throwing in the fact that said woman was her very own sister and the spectacled girl couldn't bring herself to say much beyond, "Did he suggest anything…?"

"A few of the basic things," groaned Miyabi before counting up her fingers, "going out to the movies, a picnic, arcade, and all that kind of stuff… Though he said he would be okay with any suggestions I had." Quickly catching onto her own disgruntled-sounding tone, Miyabi raised her head up and shook it back and forth, "Not to say that I don't like those options it's just…" before sighing, "there's so many choices and only one day."

Once her head was finally screwed back on after the blindsiding mental hit that it took, Imu finally asked, "Aren't you jealous?"

Still caught up in what she was talking about before, Miyabi began to say, "Well, I was thinking about a… cinema…" before her voice died in her throat and she turned to ask, "Wait, where did that come from?"

"The guy you love is on a date with my sister as we speak," stated Imu, barely keeping herself from shaking at the thought. Unable to believe that the woman she, herself, loved was so infatuated with someone who was with four others, the girl asked in a cracked voice, "How aren't you jealous…?"

"Ah…" rumbled Miyabi as she tried to peddle her thoughts away from the previous subject. She scratched her neck a few times, thought out her answer, and then said, "Well, I suppose I am a little itchy over the matter… But, even back when Sato initially suggested the polyamory route, I knew what I was getting into." Just as Imu was about to say something else, Miyabi waved her hand, "Plus, I'm dealing with it… healthily, I might add."

"Oh…?" came a grumble from the spectacled girl's throat, "…And how're you doing that…?"

Miyabi answered frankly, "Telling myself that he has as much love for me as he does for everyone else… in addition to the fact that he's been transparent with all of us… He even sent a loving text offering to recite whatever happens between him and Murasaki at the end of the night, which she was also okay with."

"…Whatever happens between him and Murasaki…!" repeated Imu with a wheeze, reading too far into the implications.

"You know, if they kiss and stuff," stated Miyabi, not entirely sure about what had riled up Imu so much.

Then, cutting off the banter with the abrupt slamming of a door, Jirō stomped his way into the room. Moving much more on instinct than actual thought, Miyabi slyly pulled her phone from her pocket and set it beside her. By the time she formulated a plan with it, her father was standing over the couch and asked with a growl, "What is this I hear about someone telling you that they love you…? And what about this kissing and stuff…?"

Were it not for Jirō's past violence against the young man, Miyabi would have shriveled up and surrendered everything then and there. Instead, upon remembering the image of the bruises across the boy's face and the fact that he was almost killed later that day, the woman only felt a rage welling up within her. It did not help that it was first time he'd actively spoken to her about something personal since then, not at all asking how she fared through the battle against the dignitaries. Barely keeping herself contained, Miyabi returned with her own growl, "It's nothing. Get out of here."

"Don't you dare think you can say that to me," hissed Jirō, "Never mind being your parent, I am the principal of this academy." After delivering a solid kick into the side of the couch they sat on, breaking through the fabric and leaving a gaping hole, he shouted, "Now, answer my questions."

Deciding to take a gamble, Miyabi wrenched her arm toward her phone and unlocked it. She found herself on the last website that she had been browsing, one which listed all of the movies that would be playing at a cinema throughout the next couple of weeks. After giving a sly flick of her finger, the page scrolled down to a certain movie and she held up her phone, "I was talking about this…" before adding in a spiteful, "sir…"

Jirō stared at the phone for a moment before his angered expression gave way to complete confusion, "Pollie-Ollie's Friendship Ponies-, what is this?"

While subconsciously controlling the same rage that was instilled back into her by the young man after her correction, Miyabi proceeded to blatantly lie with only a few stumbles in her words, "It's one of those kids movies and-, while I was watching a few videos, I found the trailer and decided to watch it because I was curious." She waved her hand back and forth, "It's full of these horses going on, on, and on about talking directly to me-, any viewer and professing their love-, talking about kissing and stuff. It's stupid and I was saying as much."

Despite knowing fully well that Miyabi's interests and curiosity weren't with such a show, Jirō didn't bother to question why she would have looked at such a trailer in the first place. He only knew of two things. One, if what she was saying was true, Miyabi had to spend more time focusing on her training and not on whatever the world was producing for 'entertainment' in recent years. Two, he could check her story by using the listening devices that were planted both within the room and throughout most of the academy. It'd been a while since Jirō thought to use them and he knew he should have done so long ago… though, in his defense, they had been deactivated for a few straight months until someone finally managed to deliver the necessary maintenance and he'd completely forgotten all about them due to their lack of necessity.

With a small rumble of his throat, Jirō nodded his head, "Get some more tasteful interests," before turning away. He was about to head for the door before he took notice of the time and murmured under his breath, "…Different…"

Having not taken her eyes off the man, Miyabi then questioned aggressively, "What, is there something else?"

Displeased as he was with her tone, Jirō decided to drop it and stated, "I'm just saying that today's a change of pace. All teaching sessions are finished and, usually, the rest of the elites gather in here."

Putting a deliberate and annoyed groan out of her throat to make it seem as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, Imu covered for Miyabi and spoke for the first time, "We don't know where Ryōbi and Ryōna are and Murasaki is having a shut-in day."

Not thinking twice about the reclusive girl, considering that such antics were the norm for her, Jirō instead turned on his heel and said as he walked away, "I'll be finding the twins then."

Miyabi angrily called after him, "What're you so investigative for?" The man didn't answer and closed the door behind him with his foot, giving it a defiant slam. Frustrated by her father's antics, the woman leaned back into the couch with a groan and then set her eyes on one of the corners of the ceiling. She knew very well that each room in Hebijo Academy had a listening device and that she would soon be exposed by Jirō's paranoia. Fortunately, based on her own snooping when they were installed months before, Miyabi knew that their data was stored on each local device and that backing up said data would require the help of a call center, which her father hated, and would take a few days. The problem wasn't going to be solved altogether but she could, at the very least, buy some time. Miyabi stood onto her legs and asked decisively, "Imu, could you give me a boost for a minute? I need to do something."

Considering the fact that it was about the size of a fire alarm, the smashing of the device that echoed from the room a few seconds later was loud enough for the still snooping Jirō to hear. Stepping away from the door, he confirmed his suspicions that something was obviously being hidden and went straight to his office to begin the backup procedure… which would, quite unfortunately for him, require plenty of calls to a tech support. In the couple of days' worth of struggling that would follow, he detested every second of it.

Meanwhile, after a short day of cleaning and preparation, the young man was giving himself a mental pat on the back within his apartment while adjusting a pair of spectacles onto his face. Standing beside him for a brief period of time was Chomubach with a confused expression on her face before letting out a yawn, "Meowr~," and sluggishly making her way to her food dish.

After giving his hands a quick clap together, the young man then said to himself, "Checklist… checklist…" and eyed every detail that he'd set aside for Murasaki's day in. First, he looked to the fridge and noted the pizzas that were in the freezer drawer before turning back to the cleanly dusted couch with its neatly arranged and fluffed pillows. Then, after making a small sound of concern, he marched toward the movies sitting on one of the side tables and ensured that he had at least one movie from every genre readied up, "Three Kingdoms in China… The Fantastical Journey… Monday, A Thirteenth Late Night Killing-, is this a reboot…? Just Us Guys and Gals… Agent Jayden-, you know what, I've got enough."

From the kitchen, Chomubach raised her head from her food dish and let out an insulting, "Mrur…" before digging back in.

Though he took nothing of value out of the meow itself, the young man narrowed his eyes on the stack and began to feel a shred of self-doubt. As if the cat had the answer to all of his questions, he called over, "Chomubach, are you saying my selection is too small? There's like fifteen total movies over here."

The magnificent decree came, "Mer."

"Wise words," stated the young man before he shook his head and wondered about what to do next.

Just then, a few knocks echoed from his door and the boy was thrown into a brief panic. But, after freezing himself to do some quick thinking, he was assured that he'd set up the date that Murasaki wanted as best as possible. She only briefly explained that she wanted a day in to watch movies and play video games with some pizza. While he had no access to the latter, he had certainly arranged for their options. Not only that, he had ensured maximum comfort in the form of a clean couch and pillows along with a gentle waxing of the living area's floors.

Smoothly and confidently, the young man approached the front door of the apartment, opened it wide with as much swagger as he could possibly muster, and said as his glasses gave an elegant glow, "Your day is ready ma'am-," before cutting himself off in wide-eyed horror to find a little old woman staring down at a piece of paper in front of her.

Then she began to recite, "Good day, fine sir. As you know, the attack from that strange creature from a few days ago has caused significant damage-," before she looked up and made eye contact with the boy. A few seconds passed and both of them recognized each other immediately. She pointed up to the young man, "FOUL MOUTHED HOODLUM!?"

The boy pointed right back at her, "LADY VICTORIA!?"

Chomubach meowed unenthusiastically from the kitchen, "Mer."

Adopting a sudden and violent expression onto her face, the old woman stated, "Alright, listen here… I don't like you and you certainly don't like me," before thrusting a tin can in the boy's direction, "But donate to a good cause and all past actions will be forgiven."

Knowing that he wasn't standing in her butler café or territory anymore, the young man felt no urge or threat to appease her, "I don't have money to spare. Go away," and was about to slam the door before the woman inserted herself into the entrance frame. Unwilling to cause any damage against what looked like a frail-bodied woman, the young man simply adjusted himself to block her and stated, "Go on your way."

"It looks a little too spacious in here for you to be lacking money…" came Lady Victoria's suspicious growl.

The young man stated frankly, "And my finances are none of your business. I have not one yen to spare for the time being. Go away."

"Are you so selfish that you can't make a small donation!?" yelled the old woman, thwapping her tin can against the boy's chest, which had little to no effect.

"Yes."

"Well, as your elder…" started Lady Victoria as she turned her head away with a showy smile. Then, with a pointed finger that practically glimmered with confidence, she boomed, "I ORDER YOU TO DONATE!"

"I don't respect my elders," stated the young man as he straightened his glasses, which came loose after a bit of the verbal bout.

Not breaking her pose, Lady Victoria then cracked with a low and harsh voice, "Well, you should!"

"I won't."

"But you should!"

"I still won't."

"You're going to…!"

"No."

"…Eventually…?"

"No."

Slumping her pointed finger down to her side, Lady Victoria clasped the tin can within both of her hands silently for a moment. Then, just as the young man was starting to regret his coldness, she let out an inhuman hiss and pitched the can straight for his head and grinned evilly as the boy recoiled from the surprising strike. After recovering, he turned his eyes to the triumphant-looking woman again as she prattled, "Someone as immature as you obviously needs a lot of work before you can be a model citizen like myself."

Without giving another word in response, the young man swept his hand down to the floor and retrieved the tin can before reaching into his back pocket and producing a one-thousand-yen note. Then, just as the woman's starving eyes locked onto the money like a fish finding water for the first time, the boy proceeded to stuff the note into can and then thrusted it into the woman's chest with a menacing, "Go away…"

Completely unfazed, Lady Victoria pleasantly smiled, "I'm glad that you're starting your recovery-," before the door was slammed in her face. Though she let out a few angry cries and yells from the other side, she did eventually leave.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the young man silently lamented the fact that he gave in to the woman's demands. Yet, when he considered the prospect of Murasaki arriving onto the scene to find him aggressively refusing to donate to charity, he figured that it wasn't a hill worth dying on.

Then, from behind him, he heard a soft but threatening voice murmur, "I would have stuffed the can down that crone's throat." Jumping with an unmanly cry, the young man spun around and found that Murasaki was waiting behind him, dressed casually in pajama pants and a sweater while Bebeby was safely set on the floor beside her. Dropping the frightening expression on her face, she then raised her arms to reveal that she'd picked up a confused-looking Chomubach at some point and asked, "By the way, when did you get this?"

Still rattled by the girl's sudden entrance, the young man remained still for a moment before his heart was beating normally again, "Oda… dropped her off yesterday."

Chomubach let out a quiet and unsure, "…Mow…?"

Then, after a small smile found her face, Murasaki then cooed, "She's cute," and hugged the cat into her chest.

The young man smiled, "She was Onoda's cat. Her name's Chomubach."

Without dropping the smile on her face, Murasaki nuzzled the feline with her nose as she whispered, "Pretty kitty with a weird name…"

For a few seconds, it was an extremely relieving sight. Then the young man noticed that Chomubach's head was being buried into Murasaki's breasts and that she likely wasn't breathing. He calmly but also worriedly stated, "I think you're hugging her too tightly." As though she were completely familiar with the issue, Murasaki let out a squeak and then offered Chomubach to the young man. As the boy took her into his arms, the cat let out a gasp of air and looked like she'd been drained of all her energy. After ensuring some care and resting her down to the floor, the young man then asked Murasaki, "So, how'd you get in?"

Without any hesitation, Murasaki then pointed to the bedroom and stated, "The window, like everyone else did." Then she tilted her head and asked, "Would you prefer the door?"

The young man was about to offer a definite answer for the latter before stopping himself and barring any words that could be deemed harsh. He knew there was no ill-intent and that others had done the same thing without any correction. So, keeping his gut-reaction in check, he then stated, "The door is preferable but, if it's urgent, go ahead with the window." Then, also remembering the advice that he'd given to himself earlier to be proactive in showing affection, the young man cut off Murasaki as she was about to speak by saying, "Which, in this case, it must have been pretty urgent…"

The girl tilted her head in confusion, "What…? No, no. I was just coming into-," before she was cut off by the young man advancing toward her.

While Murasaki stared and wondered about what the boy was doing, he then wrapped her into his arms and gave a gentle squeeze as he finished by saying, "…because I definitely needed a hug." Having never seen such a blatant act of affection from the young man before, the shinobi could only stand frozen for the duration of the embrace. Then, figuring that she was uncomfortable since the hug wasn't reciprocated, the boy quickly stepped away with a red face and murmured, "Anyways, sorry about that. I've got everything set up this way," and was about walk toward the living area.

Then, suddenly and decisively, Murasaki lurched her hand out and grabbed the boy's wrist, "Wait, wait!" before pulling him to her and giving her own embrace. As she dug her chin into his shoulder and rubbed the side of her head against his, she then added, "I need a hug. A big one." When the young man, after a brief lag, wrapped his arms around her too, she let out a content sigh. Then, as if something had just clicked, the girl's eyes opened wide and she jumped away from the young man and pointed up to his face, "I just realized! You're wearing glasses again!"

"Yes," remarked the young man in an inconspicuous voice.

Troubled by the fact that she didn't notice it initially, Murasaki stared blankly for a moment before asking, "Where did they suddenly come from?"

"I fixed them," stated the young man, trying not to smirk as he was being deliberately ambiguous.

Murasaki would have none of it, "I want to know the details… I heard that they should have been done a while ago. Why so suddenly? Why now!?"

Seeing as he was repeatedly jerked around and forced to ask questions due to riddling speech on numerous past occasions, the young man wanted to say something defiant. But, after a brief few seconds of consideration, he decided to take another route by explaining, "Well, after I repaired the frame and uploaded the necessary data to the electronics within it, I had to take separate journey to fully complete ithem. A side quest, if you will."

"A side quest…?" came Murasaki's hesitant voice before she raised a hand, "When did you have time to do that?"

"It was a fantastic outing, I must say," continued the young man, completely disregarding the question, "I had to go into the woods and use a random sword I found to beat the hell out of some bushes to get these green, blue, and red gems. After that, I went to a store and bought a shield and journeyed into this big, big tree to defeat an ugly spider-looking bastard wannabe with a dusty slingshot I found… And in his corpse was the final component to the glasses that I needed." Taking a sigh of relief, the young man held a hand to his chest, "It was unfortunate that the big tree, which could talk and give me advice on my taxes, died… but I managed to complete these glasses."

By the end of the story, Murasaki was staring at him with a lifeless expression on her face. Then, without any warning, she reached up and took the glasses off the young man's face and proceeded to gently thwap him over the head with them, "If you think I don't know video game plots, then you know very little of my capabilities…" before placing them back on and using her other hand to pinch the boy's cheek, "Tell me, tell me. Why are you so suddenly wearing your glasses?"

With his head being wiggled back and forth by Murasaki's grip, the young man stated, "I forgot about them after they were fixed since there was so much going on. In all actuality, Chomubach must have gone through my bag this morning because she was carrying them around in her mouth."

Upon being mentioned, the cat purred as she pawed at Bebeby on the floor. Having been silent the entire time she was in the apartment, Bebeby commented, "This cat is both annoying and soothing."

Though her face tried to hold its stern expression, Murasaki suddenly smiled and released the young man's cheek, "Well, they suit you," and then gestured to the apartment, "Shall we begin our…" and shivered pleasantly as she said the last word, "date."

"Certainly, milady," said the young man as he pointed to the lower drawer of the fridge, "I have the requested frozen pizzas in there-, they're a nice brand too. Different sorts." As he tried to maintain his cool and composure, the thought that he was on an actual romantical date suddenly began to eat at him. After taking a split-second breath as Murasaki turned to face him, he flipped his hand to the couch on the far end of the apartment, "Over there, we have an assortment of movies set aside. Some I've seen, others I haven't. Can't vouch for the latter but they looked to be worth a try."

"And the video games," chipped Murasaki with grin that sucked the soul out of the young man.

Unsure of how to break the news, the boy turned away and murmured, "Well… unless you'd like me to download some phone apps… I don't think that's within my budget-," before he was cut off.

"No, no," said Murasaki before she reached behind her, produced two portable devices, and added with a cheery inflection, "And~ the video games."

Seeing as the girl had no backpack and the pajamas she was wearing didn't seem to have large pockets, the young man promptly questioned, "Where'd you get those?"

Letting her smile turn mischievous, she answered, "The store, some months ago."

Quickly catching onto her subtle vengeance, the young man nodded his head and raised his hands in surrender, "Alright, alright," before pointing a finger at her, "Just now, from which place did you produce those two devices." Just as Murasaki was about to answer, he continued, "And I mean the word 'produce' to be synonymous with 'unveil'… Not which factory it came from."

The girl stared at him before saying, "Well, for that attitude," and edging one of the devices forward, "you get this one, which has a sticky button and all of my evil character saves." Once the boy accepted it, offering a gracious nod and lighthearted smile, she reciprocated the gesture and then used her free hand to point around to her back, "Also, my hair is long."

"Really long," affirmed the young man.

Murasaki continued, "…And, if it's not something sticky, I tend to store random things in there."

"Ah," murmured the boy before giving a thumbs up, "Efficient." A few seconds then passed in silence before the boy straightened and pointed, "Anyway, to the couch we go then."

The two began a march mixed with both giddiness and anxious inexperience. Yet, upon sitting themselves onto the couch, the young man asked, "Do you have a preference for how we start? Games, movies, food…? Though, do note, we'll need fifteen minutes to preheat the oven and another ten to cook each pizza."

Murasaki quickly raised the device in her hand with a loud, albeit softly toned, cheer, "I wanna beat you in Spectacular Teleporting Warlords!"

Not a second passed by before the young man said with a toothy smile, "I have never heard of it but let's do that…!" After a few seconds, he added, "Except the part where I get beat." A surprisingly confident smile found its way onto Murasaki's face before she covered her mouth and made a snicker-like sound. The young man was gravely offended and proceeded to spout, "Hey, hey. I'm pretty good at video games and have a few titles up my belt."

Raising her lower eyelids judgmentally, Murasaki sneered, "Ho~… You smell like the sort who only plays story-based games on the easiest difficulty…!"

"I've played multiplayer games too!" cried the young man, feeling like he was being severely attacked, "Shooters, hack and slash, fighting," and raised his finger with a rebellious look in his eyes, "Hack and slash mixed with fighting!"

"Then come into my domain," said Murasaki as she spread out her arms, her hair waving through the air as though she were a demon of some sort, "Come into my domain and see just how little power you have on this plane of existence!"

Powering on the device, the young man said in the manliest tone he'd ever spoken in up to that point, "I'll come into your domain and make it my own, wench…!"

Breaking the evil aura around her, Murasaki covered her mouth as her eyes began to water. Just as the young man's heart began to break, she squeaked out, "Wench…?"

In a panic, the boy raised his hands to his head and proceeded to assure in a panic, "Sorry! SORRY! We were in the heat of the moment and I thought we were in some kind of intense battle roleplay!"

"Oh," said Murasaki. After clearing her throat and giving her arms a stretch, she continued, "Anyways…! I'd like to see you even try to take my domain from me!"

Getting back into the combative atmosphere, the young man continued, "I'll do exactly that and more."

**Not five minutes later…**

The young man was staring at the screen, frozen by the fact that his character laid in a bloody mess of mangled limbs. He then turned his head to Murasaki, who was waving her head back and forth in a strange sort of victory dance, before saying, "Do note, I am new to this. It'll take me time to adjust and adapt."

Murasaki raised her device, "Want to try again?"

The young man pumped his fist, "Definitely!"

**About two minutes later…**

"I died faster that time!" bellowed the young man while Murasaki was shuffling her arms back and forth.

"Again?"

"Yes!"

**Roughly one minute and a half later…**

"DAMN IT!"

Murasaki did another dance with herself.

**One minute and forty-five seconds later…**

"Hey-, HEY! I lasted longer that time!" cried the young man in a desperate voice that wanted so badly to be victorious

Of course, Murasaki simply retorted, "You still died."

With a quaking body that was being ruined by disappointment, the young man began to cry, "Again-," but the same result came quickly after.

**No more than fifty-two seconds later…**

The young man's voice cracked as he let out an airless sound of rage from his throat as he barely prevented himself from spiking the device into the floor. He then turned over to Murasaki and growled with his teeth clenched together, "What cursed game have you brought before me…?"

The girl stared at him before smiling, "It may be because that button I mentioned is sticking. It's pretty essential if you want to continue an aerial combo."

Unable to believe that he didn't think of that idea, the young man sucked in his cheeks before extending his device, "Care to trade-…"

**Then, one minute later…**

With steam pouring out of his ears, the poor boy was on the verge of a mental breakdown as he shoved his face into one of the pillows on the couch. As Bebeby continued to suffer the adorable wrath of Chomubach's paws on the other side of the room, Murasaki was smirking victoriously in a way that offered no mercy to the boy's pride. Though her eyes still looked as tired as they did normally, there was a glint within them that forced the young man to keep his eyes away and buried in humiliation.

Having officially asserted her dominance in the digital world, Murasaki took both devices and laid them onto a side table before happily clapping her hands together, "I would like a prize for my many wins."

With his head still in the sweet and nonjudgmental embrace of a pillow, the young man's muffled voice came, "w't 'h't…?"

Sniffing her nose into the air, likely to bask in whatever scent she found in the boy, Murasaki stretched her arms up to give her back a crack before sliding herself closer to the boy. While he remained completely motionless, she proceeded to flop her upper body onto him and perched her arms atop his back so that she could give a comforting rub. Unwilling to resist, the boy resigned himself to soothing suffocation.

"Kill the philanderer, Murasaki," ordered Bebeby as Chomubach thwapped her head back and forth, "Kill him and then claim this ugly ball of fur."

"Mur?" questioned the feline as she continued with her playful pawing.

In the meantime, having been comforted by the embrace of one of those whom he loved, the young man let go of his many defeats and patted Murasaki a few times on the head to be let up. Upon pulling herself away, Murasaki noted the complex expression on his face as he lifted himself from the pillow. On one hand, he looked exhausted with the way his eyes were dark on the bottom and in how his smile wasn't nearly as large as it could have been… On the other hand, he seemed to have a bit of peace running through him in the way his cheeks remained leveled and his pupils wide. Plus, his eyebrows were raised in such a way that she couldn't help but think that he was relieved of something.

Interrupting her line of thought, the young man said, "Sorry for the tantrum."

Keeping the smile on her face gentle, Murasaki simply said, "Neither of us likes losing, so I understand," before poking him on the head, "…And, if you keep your angry moments funny, I'll never have a problem at all."

The young man snorted, "I'll be sure to make my displeasure your pleasure…" After a brief silence and humored huff of air on Murasaki's part, the boy then muttered, "You know, that didn't sound as smooth as I was hoping…"

"You're not the smoothest person," said the shinobi as she closed her eyes merrily.

There came a lamenting groan followed by, "I'll work on it."

"No need, no need," hushed Murasaki as she tilted her head down to the young man, "You're fine."

Making a sound that wasn't too displeased, the boy thought for a moment before fully facing her, "You know, I must say, you're not as quiet as you come off." When Murasaki tilted her head in confusion, he continued, "I mean, I saw that you were quiet before… and I know I've remarked that you've been pretty active and vocal in the relationship…" before counting his fingers, "but, as far as I've seen today, you haven't trailed off, you're not shying away… you've been actively goading me on…"

Reeling her head back a bit, Murasaki's face shrunk with uncertainty, "I mean, in public-, while I'm here-, I don't like to be out in-," before letting her eyes fall and shivering, "You're not… upset with how I am, are you?"

From the corner, Bebeby yelled, "He totally is! He totally is!" before Chomubach proceeded to sink her teeth into the bear's nose, producing a brief howl of pain.

"Not at all," said the young man as he extended up one of his hands and assuredly grasped the girl's shoulder, "You're you and that's what's important." He then shot a glare to Bebeby, who was still being savagely pulled around by a wise cat. But, as much as he disliked the bear's words, he was worried that Chomubach's teeth would rip through the fabric and he promptly stood up and gave pursuit.

"Down!" ordered Bebeby as the cat clung and pulled for dear life, "Down, down, down!" Fortunately for her, the young man arrived and grabbed the cat by the scruff to set her aside. Then, retrieving the stuffed animal in one hand, he marched straight back to Murasaki and offered the bear.

As Murasaki silently took Bebeby with a smile, Chomubach leaped onto the couch and proceeded to smoothly cuddle up right next to her. While the bear shivered in fright of the feline, the young man circled to the other side of Murasaki and stated, "Which ever side of you that you show, I'll be more than happy with."

The girl looked up to him before patting the couch for him to take a seat beside her. When he did so, she leaned her body into him and stated, "Well, I could already smell every side of you from the start… So, I can happily say the same."

Blinking as his mind still failed to process such a sense, the young man murmured, "Well… I still have no idea how that works but, if you're all good, then we're all good." He was planning to say something even more uplifting but his focus was tarnished by Murasaki suddenly rubbing the side of her head into his shoulder. Rolling with it, he was about to ask if she wanted him to turn on a movie or heat up the oven. Then a new thought occurred to him and his eyes widened with a bit of brightness. After taking another second to savor the moment, the young man mumbled to himself, "…can't believe I didn't think to ask this earlier…" before turning his head into the girl, "Murasaki, how much do you trust me?"

"Very much," said the girl with a relaxed sigh, "Very, very much."

Hesitant to disrupt her moment, the boy almost considered backing down from his proposal before giving his head a shake and reminding himself of the issue at hand. So, wary of the fact that the girl was in a peaceful mood, he then asked her, "Do you mind if I mix some business into our date here?"

Murasaki's eyes opened a bit wide and proceeded to narrow on the boy. After a second, she mumbled suspiciously, "Depends on the business…"

Seeing no room for backing out at that point, the young man continued, "Would you like for me to check your distortion and see if I can correct it?"

Straightening herself a bit, the girl paused in thought before pressing her face toward the boy's, "Can you really do that right now? I thought it would take time?"

"Well," started the young man as he turned away under the girl's unrelenting gaze, "usually it would because… I mean, again, it would take a whole lot of trust to get through-, the same kind of trust that'd be placed in superheroes or something similar…" After scratching his cheek, he turned back to face the girl but accidentally bumped his nose against hers, "Whoop, sorry…" before sucking in a breath and explaining, "But, if Asuka's quickness to trust and your relaxed demeanor have anything to say, you might just be good to go."

Excited to relieve herself of the distortion and all of the troubling thoughts that came with it, Murasaki was prepared to jump straight into action. Then, as though she'd just caught herself from walking into traffic, she paused then said, "One moment," before sniffing the young man again. At first, the boy figured it was all usual. Then she got closer and taking harder sniffs, pressing her face into his cheek, his forehead, and then his cheek again. As the young man began to shake uncomfortably, unsure of what Murasaki was doing, she then pulled away and smiled.

Unsure of what to say, the slightly violated boy just asked in a quiet voice, "…Did you find what you were looking for…?"

"Yup," nodded Murasaki before she raised a finger, "You're still a bad liar."

Feeling a volt offense shock his back straight, the young man could only bring himself to ask, "You were checking if I was a liar?"

Murasaki nodded, "Anytime I feel uncertain about something, I do it to make sure someone doesn't have ulterior motives." She lowered her hand and patted the boy's arm, "Fortunately, all the deception in you has a sweet smell to it… which usually means you only do so for the sake of being funny, like earlier. If there's any other reason, you're doomed to fail miserably… like when you tried to deceive Oda a couple of weeks ago."

"I suppose that's good to know," murmured the young man before asking, "though… I won't lie, it worries me that you felt the need to check at all, seeing as this whole process depends on trust and all…"

"I do trust you," stated Murasaki before prodding the boy's cheek, "though I'm also a firm believer in the term 'trust but verify' and that sort of thing."

The young man still felt a bit of offense, "I suppose I can see that," before shrinking a bit, "though what would I have to lie about?"

Seeing the issue. Murasaki leaned herself into the young man and said in a straight voice, "I don't believe you, personally, have anything to lie about at all… It's the rest of the world and all of its liars who have me afraid." She hardly blinked as she used her hands to make the young man look into her eyes, "People will lie about the biggest and smallest of things… Even if there wouldn't be any consequences otherwise, people will lie and keep to those lies until they're dead." She then pressed her lips forward into the boy's cheek before pulling back and saying conclusively, "For me, it's instinct to check for those kinds of people… Those same people who I find everyday…" and smiling, "which is why I'm glad I only have to worry about your silly tales and stupid jokes…"

The young man, not once breaking his eyes away from the girl, took a moment to think on her words before nodding his head and smiling resolutely. He craned himself forward and gave Murasaki a kiss on her own cheek and whispered, "Personally, I don't my jokes are too stupid… but I'm happy regardless," before he rested his hand against her forehead, starting the correction.


	54. Chapter 54: Faith and Hostility

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 54: Faith and Hostility (Murasaki)

Not a second after the young man pressed a hand onto the girl's forehead and pulled out her distorted aspect of personality, Murasaki proceeded to shove the boy off the couch while Chomubach let out a surprised screech, "MUR-AAAAAAAGGHH!" and sent Bebeby into the air. Having been basking in what was a warm and soothing atmosphere between the two, the boy was in no position to catch himself and his head crashed into the floor with a painful thud. At the same time, Murasaki scurried over the couch's arm and proceeded to dive toward the bathroom.

After overcoming the dizzying damage to his head, the young man pulled himself up, "Ngh~…" before he spotted the retreating girl and jumped to his feet to give chase. Unfortunately, before he was even a quarter of the way there, she'd successfully entered the bathroom and locked the door. The young man threw himself shoulder-first at the door with all of the momentum that he could muster, letting out a war cry as he did so, "AAAAGGGGHHHHH!" before slamming into the stalwart door and taking a moment to seethe, "Ow…" as he crumbled to his knees.

There were a few squeaks inside the bathroom followed by a bunch of chitters that sounded similar to the Japanese language but were actually gibberish, "Doo'! Dow! Go, go! Win-or!"

Hearing the girl's panicked state, the young man began to knock on the door urgently, "Murasaki, it's me! Open the door!" The room went completely silent on the other side and no response was given. At first, the young man started to try again, "Murasaki, please! Remember, this is a correction! It can be fixed-," before recognizing the futility in a tired voice, "This won't work."

After taking a moment to think, the young man laid out his problem in full: Murasaki was in the bathroom, which had no other exits due to the layout of the apartment, and he had to get inside. Such a problem required either brute force or trickery, the easiest solution being the former. Ready to break his way through the door, the young man was about to scour the apartment to look for a heavy tool that he could use. Then he thought about the kind of life where someone didn't have a functioning bathroom door, where privacy was almost as essential as the facilities… plus, the young man wouldn't be able to afford any means of repair. Certainly, he could contact Oda but he did not want to explain to the shinobi why he felt it was necessary to smash through a door when there were other options on hand. Thus, the young man settled for using trickery.

After considering what must have been going through Murasaki's mind at that moment, the boy knew that she must have been in flight mode and would want to leave both the bathroom and apartment as soon as possible. While that would mean he would only have one shot, he did have a striking advantage in that she could be funneled into his grasp. With a tight frown on his face, the plan that'd been brewing in his head was broken into three steps: deceive, feign, attack.

Needing to let Murasaki believe that he wasn't all that bright when it came to offensive tactics, the young man proceeded to halfheartedly throw his shoulder against the bathroom door. Repeatedly and without pause, he kept calling out, "C'mon, time to open the door! Let's go, let's go! Murasaki, get out of there!" while Chomubach and Bebeby stared in confusion from the living area. Then, for the sake of further cementing the idea that he was inept at coercion, he went into the kitchen to retrieve a frying pan which he began to slap against the door by its flat end. A few marks were left but no real damage was sustained. Letting out an exaggerated breath of exhaustion, the young man muttered loudly, "This is too tiring…"

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he went back toward the living room and proceeded to gather up some of the movie cases that he'd set aside. After muttering a silent prayer that none of the discs would be damaged as a result of his next action, the boy began to run himself around in a circle. After a reaching a solid speed, he then darted straight to the bathroom door with all that he had. Then, while fighting every instinct of self-preservation within, he tripped himself by freezing his legs mid-stride and let all of the movie cases fly into the air. For the sake of theatrics, he cried, "SON OF A BITCH!" and landed with a bounce on the floor. Then, with one desperate eye, the young man watched as one of the movie cases slipped beneath the door crack and into Murasaki's view. After hearing a shout of fright, he knew that step one had been accomplished. While the girl would have no idea what the movies were intended for, especially since the young man didn't either, the impression that he'd been trying to break in was successfully delivered.

At that point, it was time to feign surrender. Forcing an irritated tone into his voice, the boy proceeded to collect all of the clattered movies. He grumbled incoherently and stomped his feet around loudly to make it seem as though he were frustrated. Then, starting from right beside the bathroom, he began to thunder toward the living room. Then, as a slight bit of distance was built, he gradually softened his steps to make it seem as though he'd walked further away. Knowing that a single error, the quietest creak in the floor, would shine a light on his trickery, the boy was extremely cautious at how he distributed weight between his legs as he made slight steps. Then, stopping after a short point, he gently sat down the movies he collected onto a side table and waited to see if any fruit would be brought out from his plan.

Then, fully believing the boy had stormed away, Murasaki slammed open the bathroom door and made a mad dash straight for the bedroom, where the window to freedom awaited. By the time she realized that the young man had duped her, she was already a quarter of the way to her destination and he'd launched himself straight at her like a heat-seeking missile. Knowing he only had one shot, the boy collided into the girl's back and wrapped his arms around her waist to try and pull her down. Before he could slide down and bind her legs, Murasaki proceeded to spin herself around at a speed that put jets to shame. Unable to hold on, the young man let out a cry as he was flung away and into the dining table, flipping it and all of the chairs over, while the girl took off again.

Fortunately, having lost her environmental awareness during the scuffle, Murasaki found herself running headfirst toward a wall. Though she would have adjusted her angle to head back to the door, Chomubach was innocently sitting in the way without any sign of potential maliciousness. Completely unwilling to stomp over the cat and potentially cause irreparable damage, Murasaki resigned herself to fate. Then, just as an idea popped into her head and told her that she could just stop and use the front entrance way or any other window in the apartment to escape, she slammed her head into wall and crumpled onto the ground with a pitiful groan.

At the same time, the young man was picking himself up from the tables and chairs. Though he had a hard time regaining his balance, his body managed to wobble its way to Murasaki, who was too busy seeing cuckoo clocks and circling swans to take notice. Just as the boy finally stood over and was reaching toward her forehead, she finally took notice and proceeded to throw a crazed fist forward. In an unfortunate turn, the young man took the strike straight into his groin with a sickening pop and proceeded to scrunch up both his face and body. The only good thing that came out of it was that he managed to lay his hand against the shinobi's head as he collapsed and barely managed to focus enough to neutralize her.

Thus, in the end of the great scuffle, Murasaki sat completely motionless with slight awareness while the boy was balled up on the floor and silently crying for relief. But, wiping away the tears that were glimmering in the corner of his eyes, he knew that there was still work to be done and proceeded to try and pick himself up to finish the deed. Yet, when his legs didn't comply in the face of the still rising pain between his legs, he resolved himself to wait a minute and then continue the correction after.

Soon, one minute of rest turned to five and the young man knew that he couldn't leave Murasaki hanging any longer. Even without mobility in his lower half, he pulled himself to her and pulled her away from the wall to lay her flat. After murmuring a silent prayer to the heavens for their bodies to not be moved at all, the boy rested his forehead against hers. Right after, the world all around them began to glow brightly.

Already getting used to the ritual that followed after, the young man watched with interest as the room proceeded to morph in shape. Having easily found a safe place within Murasaki's memories to place the correction in, he found both himself and the girl standing in what must have been her room. It was dark and messy with games and music CDs strewn about across the floor with several books spilling off a shelf. The only source of light was the computer sitting on its login screen.

Turning his attention away from the environment, the young man faced Murasaki and asked, "How're you feeling?"

She was staring around blankly in confusion before turning to the boy and shrugging, "Not very different." Having felt the affected part of Murasaki's personality when the correction began, the young man rubbed his chin and gave it a scratch as he danced with his curiosity. In some way or another, everyone else's behavior changed drastically within their minds when they had their aspects separated from them… yet, Murasaki was staring at him just like when she greeted him earlier in the apartment. Interrupting his thoughts, the shinobi quickly asked, "How are your nethers? Are they sore?"

Though startled by the fact that Murasaki was the one who'd asked him such a question, the boy answered frankly, "The good thing about corrections is that bodily damage doesn't follow me into here. Don't worry, I'm good. How's your head?"

"Painless," she said with a smile before letting it fall, "What about when we're done? Will we be hurting then?" The young man kept his face unreadable and maintained silence for a moment. She asked again, "What about when we're done?"

"We'll worry about that later."

Though she was guilted by the thought of bringing harm to the boy, as he was for the there was a part of Murasaki that wasn't too worried by any of the potential consequences. Then, being aware of the slight coldness within her, she internally felt around herself and noticed that a great part of her thought process, something that some people never really took notice of within their life-times, was very much different. More surprising to her, rather than feeling her chest sink or panic strike her, Murasaki was mostly just curious about the matter. Just before paradoxical emotions began to take her over, she asked the young man in a forward voice, "My head's feeling kind of jumbled right now. What part of me was affected?"

Nodding his head and feeling the dots come together, the young man held a palm to the air and answered, "Your feelings of fear." After a quick huff from his nose, the boy clicked his tongue and noted, "Knowing you, this may be part of why you're so…" before pausing and tilting his head, "Frazzled…? …Dizzy…?" A moment passed and he raised his hands into the air, "Regardless, it may be why-," and clicked his fingers, "Disoriented, there's a good word. It may be why you're so disoriented at the moment." 

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Murasaki murmured, "I… kind of get it…" before shrugging, "…Eh…?"

There was a brief pause before the boy asked, "Want me to break it down?"

"Quick version, quick version."

After clearing his throat, the young man held up a finger, "This is you," and held up another on his other hand, "and this is your fear." After pressing both together by the sides, he further stated, "You're both very buddy-buddy." Giving his fingers a little bounce to mimic a merry walk, he continued, "Based on your behavior and how you've been described in the past, you often consulted your fear and would take its advice whenever faced with making a conscious or subconscious decision." There was a brief pause as the young man froze and wondered how to elegantly explain the next part. He then continued with a humored hitch to his voice as he pulled away one finger, "Then I, just now, came in and kidnapped your fear since it needs to get treated for distortion at the psych ward, leaving you all alone with all those same decisions you relied on it for and, since you're so used to consulting it, a part of you is still reaching out to it."

Still looking slightly bewildered, Murasaki slowly nodded her head, "I think I get it."

Slightly skeptical, especially with the way the girl's pupils were trailing back and forth from side-to-side, the young man asked, "You do?"

Holding up a finger, Murasaki explained, "I get the logic to it and I understand the process," before slumping her upper body over, "but I'm having a bit of difficulty sorting out how I feel about it." She raised one hand, "Should I be concerned with how reliant I am on fear…" and then another, "Should I be grateful…" before dropping both, "Too confusing…" She then raised her head a bit and said with a surprised face, "Wait, I sound like Hikage…" After a brief moment of thought, she asked herself loudly, "Is this how she feels?"

Extending his palm to her, the young man asked, "Here, take your fear back. The distortion has been starved out and it should clear your head." Knowing that the aspect had a stigma of negativity to it, the young man anticipated another confrontation like he had with Murakumo. After a brief reminder to keep his temper in check and to be as understanding of any resistance as possible, he looked to Murasaki and braced for whatever defensive remarks she had in mind.

Much to his surprise, the girl immediately clasped onto his hand and said, "I wanna be me," and accepted back her sense of fear. Staring at her bewilderedly for a moment, the young man just watched as she closed her eyes and reopened them again. Then, while Murasaki was blinking and regaining her bearings, he figured to himself that she must have just wanted to be brought back to her old mindset to avoid the current confusion she was feeling. Just as he was about to ask after her, she stated, "It's strange… I feel like me…" before taking a few steps closer to the boy, "…but I'm not afraid at the moment…"

Pressing his lips together thoughtfully, the young man slowly raised his shoulders and dropped them, "That's… good."

Adopting a warm smile onto her face, Murasaki sniffed into the air as she craned her head forward to rub it against his shoulders. She briefly paused and heavily inhaled as she tried to find the same scent she often found on the boy. Then, with a bit of uncertainty, she mumbled, "I can't smell you…?" Before the boy could go on to explain that they were still in her head, where most physical aspects of reality didn't apply, she smiled again and walked herself into him, "Oh well…"

Deciding to drop the explanation that he was about to offer, the young man hugged her and asked pleasantly, "Want to head back to real life or should we savor the moment…?"

Closing her eyes as warmth continued to hold her, Murasaki whispered, "Do you have a preference?"

There was a brief bit of silence before the young man reluctantly mumbled, "Real life…" The girl turned her head up to him with confusion and a tinge of hurt, wondering why he would want to break away from such a precious moment between them, before she spotted the slightly exhausted look on his face, "…I can feel that our real bodies have been separated from each other…"

Remember his violent coughing in the past, Murasaki quickly stated, "Ah! End the correction then! Quickly! Quicker!" After taking a second to appreciate her rapid understanding, the young man severed the link between them and the bedroom around them began to break away into light.

**A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud…**

**With the correction of fear being brought into a meeker body, you have saved a young woman from a life in which she'd succumb as prey to her internal misgivings of the world… more so than she already has.**

**For this, she looks to you and sees the same trustworthy young man who has been open with her since the beginning. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the already prospering seeds of love will further blossom.**

Having had their connection severed, the young man's consciousness awoke in Murasaki's body and guided her into a seated position to look around for wherever his own could be, fighting her own instinctual mental urgings to have absolute control of herself. The first thing he realized was that she was laid onto a couch for a reason he didn't see yet. Then, just as a pair of voices began to speak up and reached out to her, he found his body laying on the floor with a pillow and blanket. Without a hint of hesitation, he used what control he had to throw Murasaki off the couch and slammed her head against his own.

Feeling as though he was a drowning body that'd been pulled from the ocean, the young man let his vision transition back to his own body and forced himself up against the girl's weight. It was fortunate that the correction was so quick since it offered less time for saliva and bile to build in the throat, though it didn't eliminate the issue entirely. While doing his utmost to not cough into Murasaki's face, the young man tried to pick himself up and roll over but was still pinned down by her body and unable to move due to the immobilizing pain between his legs. Unable to even get on his side to dislodge the blockage in his throat, he could only cough and heave against the blockage as the confused girl struggled to get herself up in the seconds that followed.

Then, reacting at the perfect moment, a giant hand reached down and pulled the young man out from under the girl and proceeded to clap him on the back. "Hey, hey!" came the identifiable voice of Oda, "Don't go dying now. Get it all out." Finally, just as Murasaki finally reoriented herself and understood what was happening, the boy managed to spit out the vile glob which had been caught in his throat. As he finally began to take long and desperate breaths, he was pulled back up and guided to the couch, "There you go, that should do it."

Murasaki was quick to launch herself up right next to where he was being laid, "Are you alright!?"

Unable to summon any words as he continued to focus on breathing, the young man raised a palm to ease her and thanked the heavens for the good fortune of Oda's timing. As only the sound of his own hard breathes filled the room, he gave a thumbs up and began say, "I'm good-," before his words were caught on another couple of coughs. Once he was sure it was all out, he started again, "I'm good." Feeling a sense of relief, he pressed himself into the couch and closed his eyes to relax as he mindlessly jabbered, "…I neglected to think about this part when I suggested the idea… Not my best plan for a date…"

Tightening her lips and hunching her head down in response to the young man's banter, Murasaki stood up and closed the distance between her and the couch. Without any warning and a few confused but also curious looks from Oda, she proceeded to lift the boy's body and sat herself down. She then laid him beside her and rested his head into her lap as she began to gently stroke it with her fingertips. At first, Murasaki seemed extremely comfortable with the action, though it slowly gave way to unease as the young man remained absolutely silent. Looking for assurance, she asked, "Is this… alright for you? Are you feeling better?"

Though still taking heavy breaths after his previous ordeal, the young man didn't blink at all after the side of his head was pressed into Murasaki's thighs. It even took a few seconds to register her words, to which he would finally answer with, "More than comfortable. This is heavenly."

Relieved that her lap hadn't failed the trial she'd assigned it, Murasaki blew out some air of relief and continued her hand's motions on the side of the boy's head. She then looked up to Oda and started to say, "Ah… thank you for showing up when-," before noticing the cowering figure behind the man. Realizing that Murasaki's gaze found the person behind him, the larger shinobi stepped aside and greeted a girl with long dark brown hair tied into two pigtails on her shoulders. Though, of all the features on the girl's face, it was neither her blue eyes nor the anxious expression which took away the attention. Rather, it was the very recognizable glasses which were large and round in shape. Feeling her eyes narrow dangerously, Murasaki asked in a low tone, "Sato…?"

Quivering for a moment under the girl's scrutinizing gaze, especially feeling the urge to cower when a darker aura emanated from her, the spectacled ex-dignitary straightened herself in uncertainty. But, knowing she'd have to brave the next step if things were going to be amicable in the future, Sato gave an awkward bow and asked with a crack to her voice, "How do you do…?"

"You," came the young man's straight tone as he pointed a finger at Sato. The girl made a sound with her throat and gave a nod of acknowledgement. He then continued, "If I remember correctly, you saved-, contributed to saving me during the battle with the Yōma, yes?" Remembering her panicked attempt at a rescue, she nodded. The boy made a sound with his throat and added, "Plus, if what I've been told is true, you're the reason why the idea of polyamory came up between I and my five wonderful lady loves?"

While Sato reeled her head back in the face of the string of words he used, Murasaki craned her head down to the young man and asked, "Wait… I thought the word was polygamy… Is there a difference between the two?"

He raised a finger, "I use them pretty interchangeably, though there is a difference. Polyamory is when everyone in the relationship loves everyone in the relationship or some combo along that lines, which is what we're technically practicing since Asuka and Homura obviously get along pretty closely. Polygamy is when there's one person at the center of the relationship…"

Opening her mouth and nodding, Murasaki asked, "So… it's a bit of both?"

"A bit of both."

"I…" began Sato before the two other teens' gazes fixed themselves back onto her. Then, figuring that she wouldn't be on the receiving end of any harshness, especially since things seemed to have progressed well, she adopted a shaky smile and continued, "I was, indeed, the one who suggested that."

"Cool," said the young man as he gave a thumbs up and smiled, "I still hate you."

"Wait-, what!?" cried Sato before she flipped her hands toward the air, "But I suggested the harem route and got you with your lady loves! Those are your words!"

"Which was very nice of you," said the young man before his expression turned sharp and hateful, "but it doesn't excuse two counts of attempted murder." As if to emphasize his point, he flipped her his middle finger and said, "Go away."

While Oda pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that the introduction he'd originally planned for the two would have been much smoother if he didn't have to save the boy from suffocating, Sato was too busy shrinking herself and murmuring, "…I suppose that's a fair point…"

"No supposing about it," chimed the boy.

"Though," started the girl as she tried to raise her head, "perhaps you could understand that I was desperate… on both occasions?"

"Desperate to utilize a terrible system within the dignitaries?" questioned the boy as he fought the urge to spit. He finished by saying, "I understand very well," before burying his face into Murasaki's lap.

The girl let out a high-pitched noise of alarm and chittered, "I… I love you and all… but isn't your face supposed to be upright with lap pillows…?"

"Is this uncomfortable?" came the boy's muffled voice.

"…A tad…"

Immediately lifting up his head, the young man said, "Sorry about that," and moved to bring himself into a seated position.

Before more distance could be placed between the two, Murasaki simply pulled his head back down and laid it back against her lap as she murmured, "This is fine… just face upright or sideways."

The young man lifted a thumb and affirmed, "Upright or sideways. Boundary established," before turning to Oda, "So, why'd you bring Sato here? Did she want to say goodbye before sentencing?"

Based on how the interaction had gone so far, Oda knew that the next bit of news that he was going to offer wasn't going to be received well. He scratched his neck and turned away before grumbling something under his breath and stating, "Well, I thought I should bring her by since she's… going to be living in the building now."

The young man remained silent for a moment. After blinking, he asked, "Come again?"

Oda faced him, "Sato will be living next door to you from here on out."

The young man made a face and was about to roll himself over into Murasaki's lap again, though he managed to catch and stop himself in time and settled back into position. His voice came out as a dissatisfied grumble a few seconds later, "And are you the smartass who decided that was a good idea?"

Giving his head a shake, Oda stated, "Look," and gave his foot a thump, "this building is dedicated entirely to witness protection and, whether you like it or don't, Sato is someone whom I've had labeled as a witness." He held up a finger, "It was mostly for Murakumo's sake since she was so adamant on defending the girl in the past," before crossing his arms, "though keep in mind that Sato could be a critical source of information on dignitaries in the times to come."

The young man remained silent before asking, "This entire building is dedicated to witness protection?"

"Yes!" cried Oda in frustration before giving the floor another stomp, "Why do you think no neighbors came up to complain during your little party the other day?"

Not acknowledging the question, the young man continued, "Alright, the whole building is for witness protection… and, by the sound of it, you decided that the apartment right next to this one was the best for Sato out of all the others?"

Throwing his arms into the air and almost colliding into the ceiling, Oda sucked in a heated breath and stated, "That would be what's most convenient for maintenance and general organization…!"

With an incoherent grumble of his throat, the young man threw a stink eye at Sato and remained silent. The spectacled girl sharpened her gaze in return before looking up to Murasaki, "…And what's your take on all this…? Passive-aggression?"

"I abstain," returned the shinobi with an expressionless face as she continued to pat the young man's head. With a slight look of betrayal, the boy turned his eyes up to her and raised his brows questioningly. Murasaki simply said, "I know what she did in the past but she smells a bit more like you now."

"Alright, this is getting weird," stated Sato in a low tone before circling around on her heel and making for the door, "I'll keep out of your way."

Though curious about what Murasaki had just said, the young man quickly turned back to where the ex-dignitary was retreating and called, "Wait, I know I was aggressive a moment ago but I still have a question."

"I have an answer," retorted Sato as tilted her head back toward him. After a second, she then shrunk anxiously, "…Probably…"

After cleaning his next sentence of any potential jabs or hostile remarks, the young man asked, "Why'd you recommend to everyone that they could take the polyamory route?" Against Murasaki's patting, he sat himself up and rested his hand on her shoulder to give an affectionate squeeze, "It's ideal and I appreciate it… but why?"

Feeling her expression lighten a bit, Sato made a sound, "Erh…" and scratched her cheek as she answered, "Well, to be frank, I was hoping to even the score a bit…" and let out a very forced chuckle, "…you know, for trying to kill you… twice."

"Ah," murmured the young man before he said without blinking, "well, we're not even. Polyamory is nice but attempted murder is still a pretty shitty thing to do."

"Yeah," mumbled Sato as the smile steadily slipped from her face, "…yeah, that's understandable…" before offering a slight wave, "See you around."

"I hope not," shot back the young man. His neighbor said nothing more and proceeded to walk towards the front door of the apartment, closing it gently behind her as she left.

Once she was gone, Oda narrowed his eyes on the young man, "You couldn't have been a little nicer?"

"No," came the immediate response, "Between her making me grumpy by default and the throbbing pain between my legs…? No."

"I mean," started Murasaki from beside him as she averted her eyes and tried to not think about the fact that she caused said pain, "not to excuse what she did in the past," before facing the boy, "but… we shinobi tried to kill you in the past and… you're now dating five of us…"

"It's two different matters," stated the young man. In order to raise a strong wall in his defense, he raised one finger, "When she attacked me, it was both unprompted and her own decision. She dug that hole for herself." He then raised his other hand with all five fingers extended, "When everyone else attacked me, it was not only my goal but also a decision that was affected by distortion. In other words, that hole was not dug by yourselves."

Remembering his originally hostile interactions with the young man, Oda tilted his head, "Am I on the latter list…?"

"You're somewhere in between," said the young man as he pointed a finger, "While you very nearly led me to my death and were advocating for my imprisonment… which were all not cool…" before letting a huff out his nose and offering a slight smile, "I'm sympathetic to your reasonings, particularly your distaste toward Tsao and his actions, and you're obviously trying to make up for it… even if you're still failing at it."

"Alright, now you're just being mean," said Oda.

The young man dropped his smile, "You placed the person who tried to kill me next door," before crossing his arms defiantly and grumbling like a child, "In addition to all of your past blunders, I think I've earned the right to be a bit pissy." Murasaki proceeded to flick him on the side of the head. After staring blankly for a second, the boy turned to her with an irritated look. She retorted by flicking him on the forehead. He furrowed his brow and asked, "What're you doing?"

"You're free to be angry but don't be too antagonistic," said Murasaki before she pointed over to the corner of the room, "or else you'll end up like Bebeby."

Having not moved at all since she was launched from the couch, the stuffed bear was lying on her back with Chomubach curled into a ball on her tummy. With a few seconds of delay, she lazily fired back, "Don't disturb me, I'm resting… Keep firing at the philanderer though, he deserves it."

Though making a face at Bebeby in response to her comment, the young man turned back to Murasaki and said, "While her evident comfort at the moment serves as a bad example…" before giving a shrug and sighing, "I know what you mean and I want to affirm that I will not go out of my way to harass Sato." Before the shinobi could thank him, he held a up a finger and said, "Note, I still do not like her and will not respond kindly to her prodding."

Oda opened his mouth and began to say, "Quit being stubborn-, never mind," before shaking his head and making for the apartment's front door as he grumbled, "Telling you to not be stubborn is like telling a fragile eggshell to not crack." He waved his hand and called, "Enjoy your date, keep safe, and I'll inform you all if anything comes up," before leaving.

After hearing the door click shut, the young man turned to Murasaki and asked with a straight face, "Did he just call me a fragile eggshell or am I just reading to far into his analogy?"

"Oh, hush," said the girl before she smiled and reached over to retrieve one of her games, "Shall we continue?"

"Hell no," came the immediate denial, putting a frown on the girl's face, "I've learned my lesson already. All hail Murasaki, Queen of the Games." While Murasaki smiled with pride at the acknowledgement of her skill, he then proceeded to retrieve the stack of movies he'd set aside earlier and offered them to her, "Here, feel free to pick one you're interested in. I'll preheat the oven."

At first, the shinobi let out a sound of interest, "Oh~," before promptly setting them all down, "while these seem nice," and grabbing her game systems again, "these seem better."

Already wobbling toward the oven with his thighs crooked together, the young man turned around and pleaded, "Murasaki…"

Then, with a smile complemented by her wide and adorably baggy eyes, the girl blinked to him innocently and shook the devices rhythmically. The boy mustered his resistance to her charm, raised a finger, and shook his head… But the girl responded by scrunching up her arms and widening her smile even more, so much so that it dug into her pinchable cheeks. The young man took a heavy breath and let his arm fall in defeat while he slumped his head forward.

Fortunately, the rage that he felt in playing losing battles with Murasaki wasn't nearly as intense as it was before. Plus, since she spent more time nuzzling her shoulder against his than showboating, there wasn't much that could egg him on any further in the first place. They took the time to enjoy each other's company and make light of what was, for the young man, a very frustrating digital experience. When the time would come for Murasaki to go home hours later, the two of them would be fine with the fact that they'd skipped their movies altogether. After all, where some would see it as a day of cranium injury and testicular manslaughter, they had a close moment of clarity that needed no expression of words.

Even with the great fear within Murasaki, she was comfortable around the young man. There was no need to lack confidence in her words because she knew that there wasn't an expectation for her to do so. There was no quaking or cowering in her steps because she knew that there was nothing to fear in him. The two of them could be themselves around each other without fear of judgment and that's what kept her from feeling any fear through the day and her correction.


	55. Chapter 55: Evasions and Gestures

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 55: Evasions and Gestures

**April 29 – "Some days have so many twists and turns that trying to map them is like trying to give shifting water in a basin consistent shape… only with less infuriating rippling and more unnecessary insanity."**

"Hibari, are you sure this is what you want?" asked Yagyū in her quiet voice as she finished doing the girl's hair in the Hanzō Academy locker room.

Glimmering with anticipation and hopefulness, the pink-haired shinobi closed her fists and leveled them into the air, "Of course!" and said with a twinkle in her eye, "Like I said the other day, this is the most-, let me rephrase that." Once Yagyū released her, Hibari stood up and turned around and sternly stated, "This is…" before loudly emphasizing, "…THE~…" and continuing normally, "most important time of our lives to lay the foundation for any future relationships."

With only a blink, Yagyū nodded her head, "I see."

"Now, we may not be successful tonight," said Hibari in a grim tone as she lowered her head, "and perhaps we'll be left crushed by how many boys-,' before she was suddenly interrupted.

"Or girls," interjected Yagyū.

"Wha-," started Hibari before she nodded, "Right. Perhaps we'll be left crushed by how many boys or girls reject us…" raised her head to face the ceiling and pumped her fists out, "But, in due time, we will find someone for ourselves and we will not grow up to be sad Christmas cakes!"

Yagyū threw her hand into the air too and cried unenthusiastically, "Yay."

"Now then…" murmured Hibari as she slowly pumped her fists downward, "I want you to show me," as her tone steadily turned peachy, "what you've done to my hair," with a cheery clap of her hands at the end.

Proud of the work she did for the girl, Yagyū gripped the girl's shoulders and turned her to the mirror and said with a tear in her eye, "I did my ultimate for today… I feel like it's even better than the last time I did this for you."

Hibari stared blankly at the locker room mirror with her unbreaking smile. Then, in a soft and sweet voice, she asked, "Yagyū, isn't this my same hairstyle as always?"

"Yes," came the determined answer, "but I feel like I've tapped into your cuteness a bit more than I ever have."

"Have you?" asked Hibari as she raised her hand and gently ran it across the side of her head, "Honestly, I don't think I look any different than usual."

Without any hint of self-deception, Yagyū rested her hand onto the girl's shoulder and said, "Listen, you've been stuck with facial features greater than the brightest jewels for all your life and, as such, have grown accustomed to them…" before craning her face closer, "…but, even still, its radiance has not died down for the rest of the world. Trust me, your beauty is more prevalent than ever before."

Letting her mouth shape into a giant O, Hibari clapped her hands to her cheeks and cried, "You really think so!? Oh~," and reached out to pull her friend into a bone crushing hug, "Yagyū, you're the best, you're the best, you're the best!"

Though there were a few cracks from her back at the very moment she was embraced, Yagyū smiled and embraced the warmth she felt from her best friend. Even if she was self-sabotaging herself in her future romantic endeavors with her, she would honor whatever wish or desire Hibari had. Thus, she would also accompany her and be the wing-woman on their date night out on the town.

In the meantime, Asuka and Homura were both sucking in their lips and gesturing their arms to the side with guilty-looking eyes. As their legs quaked and their forms remained unsteady, the latter of the two said, "Well… we're glad you arrived!"

The young man slowly blinked, "Yeah… Is there-," and was cut off.

"And hey," continued Homura, "True to what Murasaki said, looks like you're walking normally again."

The boy struggled to find the interrogative words that he so badly wanted to throw out, "Mhm… It's pretty swollen still but it didn't hurt too much yesterday-," but was cut off again.

"Nice glasses! Glad to see you're wearing them again… Come on, let's go admire them outside. Quickly."

Standing at the train station platform with the two of them, who were both dressed in their usual outfits, the young man narrowed his eyes to something behind them and asked in an unphased voice, "Is there anything you guys want to explain before we get going?"

"Something we want to explain?" asked Asuka before shaking her head fervently, "No, no… I think we should just… you know, go into a busy crowd and come out without getting spotted on the other side."

Before the young man could press further, Homura rounded him and began to push his unmoving form to the station's exit, "Yes, I agree. Wonderful idea, Asuka. Let's all go and have fun today."

The boy dragged his feet with determination as he was guided along and remained silent for a few seconds before asking frankly, "Guys, seriously, could you explain?"

"What's there to explain?" asked Asuka as she rounded behind him too and began to push, "Come on, let's go do date stuff."

Without opening his mouth, the young man pointed his finger to one of the kiosks on the far side of the station. Crouched and hunched over in a predatory manner while hiding most of her body behind a fort of newspapers was Katsuragi with her eyes wide and irises scarily narrowed. Both Asuka and Homura paused in their efforts to push the young man away and exchanged looks with one another. Then, hoping to toss out the discussion, the latter asked, "So, Murasaki told us you have Onoda's cat now."

Asuka nodded brightly, "Yes, tell us about Mister Kitty-Kitty," before resuming her efforts to guide the boy along, "Explain while we walk away from here… quickly."

"First," said the young man as he crossed his arms and was pushed along, "Chomubach is a she."

Homura noticeably faltered as she squinted her eyes, "Chomubach-, oh right, that was her name-," but was cut off.

"Second," said the young man, "will one of you two explain why Katsuragi's perched herself out like a serial killer on the hunt?"

The girls sighed together before Asuka grumbled, "There's been a… strange development…"

At the same time, Katsuragi was watching as the three of them left the station from beside a kiosk. Rolling the fingers of one hand and holding them just off from her eye like a telescope, she muttered dangerously under her breath with a bit of steam creeping from the corners of her mouth, "Yes… feel free to flee for now…" before laughing loudly to herself, "…but, by the end of today, I will feel your wonderful fatty flesh again!"

An older man, who was the owner of the kiosk, rolled his eyes and approached her, "Young lady, I'm content to let you sneak around my stall but, if you're going to yell, you'll need to go."

Katsuragi defiantly stomped the ground and wiggled her shoulders as she snarked, "Yeah, like I'll need to go," and immediately began to leave. The kiosk owner was left very confused.

By then, Asuka was already walking along the sidewalk outside the station and explaining to the young man with Homura flanking him, "So, a couple hours after I rejected her groping, Katsuragi had a… bit of a meltdown."

"Alright…" said the young man as he was piecing together the encounter, "I'm following you so far… Also, you rejecting her advances is appreciated."

"I mean," murmured Asuka, "she's not… together with us so it would be cheating otherwise…" before she shook her head and urgently faced the boy, "But, anyways, now she's recently tried to escalate matters."

The young man tilted his head, "By stalking and plotting to kill us?"

Homura let out a snicker and covered her nose while Asuka then began to shake her head violently, "NO! No, no, no!" before scratching her cheek anxiously, "But… she's approached us two about…" and shrinking her head down to her shoulders, "…well, joining into the relationship."

The young man stared with an unreactive face before craning it closer to the brunette, "I don't think I heard that right."

"Katsuragi's getting desperate," said Homura with a cheeky grin, "so she's trying to exploit the loophole of joining our relationship to grope Asuka."

Fearful of the thought of being the blonde's sole target, the shorter girl squeaked and pointed to Homura, "She'd probably grope you and everyone else too! There's no reason Katsuragi would hold back in those circumstances."

Though the smile on Homura's face didn't go away, it did falter and shake at the thought of such an assault, "Ah, there's a point."

Having been thinking through the whole process, the young man raised a finger and asked, "Wait, even if she were in the relationship, couldn't you just turn her advances away like you're doing now?"

Asuka and Homura answered simultaneously with steeled looks on their faces which befitted only the most hardened of war veterans, "Trust us when we say that she won't accept no for an answer."

Quirking a brow for a moment, the young man then asked, "But-, hold on. Isn't she… not groping you because you said no?"

Sighing loudly with an unbreaking grin, Homura gave her hands a clap and murmured, "It's hard to believe that you're still so new to us…" before clicking her fingers, "Though… I suppose it has only been about a month since we all met." Shrugging and turning to the boy, she continued, "Well, you should know Katsuragi is an unrelenting machine of sexual harassment. If she sees breasts or butt, she'll do anything in her power to get both…" before suddenly stopping and loudly saying, "UNLESS…!" After a few seconds for dramatic effect, the young man waved for her to continue and she further explained after clearing her throat, "Unless Katsuragi finds out that her would-be target is involved in a relationship. Despite the joy she takes in her activities, she is principled enough to not be part of an affair."

Finally taking notice to the fact that the tanned girl hadn't stopped smiling since the date began, the young man questioned, "So, we're safe?"

Homura nodded and gave her hands a clap of finality, "Safe as can be."

"Alright, next question," said the young man before tilting his head curiously, "Is there a reason you're so cheery today?" Then, reading too far into the implications of his own words, he sputtered and quickly added, "There's nothing wrong with it, absolutely nothing-, in fact, I encourage it…" before calming down and noting, "It's just that you haven't stopped smiling since we all met up."

Smiling even more at the thought of what happened before she left for the date, Homura closed her eyes and remembered the sight of the other renegades standing in a line to send her off. Even after what was a brutal couple of days of sparring and training in-between their part-time jobs, they seemed to be just as excited as she was… though, when she thought about it, Homura did realize that they were a bit aggressive in getting her to leave the cave. In particular, Mirai's words stuck out to her:

"**Go now! Be with your man and lady! Stay with them for hour and hours! Maybe even spend the night with either of them! Just… stay away for a while…"**

Suddenly feeling a loss of momentum as she suspected there were alternative reasons her friends wanted her gone, the young man was waving his hand at Homura and murmuring, "Are you alright?"

The girl jumped and said with a crack in her voice, "Fine! I'm fine, how are you?"

Dropping the question about her still unyielding smile, the young man simply noted, "I'm good… albeit a little concerned since you were just standing there with your eyes closed for a solid minute."

"I was deep in thought," cracked the girl before she stuck out her arms to link elbows with the other two, "Regardless, come on! We've got a date at the arcade!"

Though he allowed himself to connect with Homura's arm, the young man was jerked forward as he tried to ask, "I thought we were going to the park…?"

Asuka peeked around Homura, "I know that was the original plan but, since Katsuragi's following us, we agreed that we should try to lose her somewhere else. We did some talking and agreed that the arcade would be the next best bet."

"Ah…" grumbled the boy as he wondered about whether or not he brought enough cash in his wallet. Watching closely from far behind, Katsuragi and her second pair of eyes continued their enthusiastic pursuit.

Eventually, after a few blocks of travel and sly maneuvering through the crowds as their arms remained linked together, the trio arrived at the arcade. But as they were about to enter, a sudden question popped into the young man's mind and he turned to Homura and Asuka, "So… what's Katsuragi's goal then?"

Having not spoken on the subject since a bit after they left the station, Homura murmured, "Say what now?"

"Katsuragi's stalking us, right? What's her goal in doing so?"

Homura remained silent for a moment, unsure of how to answer without self-inflicting damage to her pride. Unfortunately for her, Asuka peeked around again and answered in a straightforward manner, "Oh, we have no idea. But she is scaring us… so we thought it best to avoid her for now."

Homura crumpled a bit and her smile very nearly fell away for the first time, "…She's not scaring me…"

Asuka turned her bright eyes up to her, "Didn't you let out a yelp when you saw Katsuragi making motions at you when we met up?"

"They were just a bit inappropriate, that's all…"

The young man chimed in, "Inappropriate in what way? I'm curious."

"Set aside that curiosity for now."

Asuka answered grimly with a shiver, "The lewd kind…"

"Hey, hey!" yelled Homura as she forcefully kept the smile plastered onto her face, "Aren't we on a date!? Let's go! In, in, in, in, and in!"

Though she'd initially lost the three of them during her hunt, Katsuragi heard the tanned girl's yells from afar and muttered under her breath, "Ah, they're that way," and continued her pursuit. She then motioned to her partner and they zeroed in on the arcade.

The most immediate thing that Asuka noticed upon entering the arcade was the prize shelf on the far side of the massive interior. Standing at the very top of the pyramid of other stuffed animals and toys was a life-sized mountable pink unicorn, pink in color and soft to the touch if its plushy texture had anything to say. While she, herself, had no personal interest in the prize, she remembered seeing it circled in a catalogue of Hibari's Christmas gifts from the prior year. When remembering the distraught look on her underclasswoman's face upon learning it was sold out for the year and the fact that she seemed down for the last few days, Asuka felt a new goal ring loudly within her heart.

Quickly, the brunette broke her linked elbow away and faced the young man and Homura, who were surprised by her suddenly separating from them. While huffing and puffing desperate breaths from her mouth, Asuka then pointed to the prize shelf and said, "Do you two see that unicorn?" The other two spied the prize shelf from afar and nodded their heads. Asuka then pumped her fist and quietly said, "We need to win it…!"

While the young man lamented how many tokens they'd likely need to buy in order to collect the necessary number of tickets, Homura smirked and pointed to the smaller brunette, "You want it-," but was immediately cut off.

"It's for Hibari!" cried Asuka.

"Right~…" muttered the young man as he pulled out his wallet.

"I'm serious!" came the girl's high-pitched whine.

The boy's eyes then narrowed on the cash he had inside. He subconsciously responded, "Right… right…" and proceeded by doing finances in his head while Asuka pleaded for Homura to believe her. He pinched his chin and went over everything in his head, knowing that he'd bought plenty of cheap ramen and cat food in bulk the other day. So long as Oda didn't surprise him with any other expenses like rent, he would be fine to spend all that he had left… yet, he knew that wouldn't be smart.

Asuka was crying, "I swear, it's for Hibari! It was on her Christmas catalogue last year and we couldn't get it for her!"

"If you want the prize," said Homura, "you don't need to make up excuses… especially since Christmas was about four months ago." Against the smaller girl's protests, she then turned to the young man and said, "If nothing else, we should spy how many tickets we would need for that thing."

The boy nodded, "Right," before he slyly smiled, turned to Asuka while saying, "Don't worry, we'll get you that unicorn," and reveled in her cries of defeat.

Unfortunately, despite all the joy that was gained from their teasing, the three teens would find their jaws hitting the floor when they approached the counter and read the cost of such a bountiful unicorn. Their pupils narrowed to tiny little dots, their skin paled in silent horror, and foam could be seen building from their saliva. After a solid thirty seconds of absolute silence, Homura then cried out, "TEN THOUSAND TICKETS!?"

The kindly old salesman behind the counter nodded his weak head, "Yes, ma'am. A mountable cushy-fluff of pure joy all for the…" but quieted himself to murmur, "…economically feasible…" before speaking in a normal voice again, "…price of ten thousand tickets."

While Homura murmured the word, "Cushy-fluff…?" under her breath, the young man and Asuka were turning their attention to the games around them. While ten thousand appeared to be a steep price by its appearance, it could have been extremely doable if the machines were of the giving sort. So, as a small group gathered around a little girl who was shooting hoops at one game, the two of them put their focus on the ticket slots and waited for the game to end. Once the final hoop went down and a bell rang that the child in question got a perfect game, the slots began to print out a grand total of ten tickets. The little girl took the tickets and ran off with her family while not offering even a dissatisfied remark, leaving both the young man and Asuka to stand frozen in place at the stingy reward she'd just been dealt.

The boy then turned to the brunette and said in a quiet voice of resignation, "There's no way we're getting that unicorn. I'm sorry but it's time to accept our losses."

Homura, who hadn't been paying any attention, quickly whipped her head around and asked, "What happened-, why're we giving up so soon?"

"These machines are fixed with low rewards," uttered the young man, "There's no way we can accomplish this."

Seeing the glaze of defeat within his eyes, Homura couldn't help but let out a defiantly haughty laugh, "Oh-ho, what? Just because you've seen one game's cheapness doesn't mean they're all like that." She even shrugged and crossed her arms, "Besides, even if it'll be a slow accumulation, it's not impossible. Just think of it as a kind of challenge."

Pressing his lips together dully for a moment, the young man turned to a couple passing by and murmured gently, "Sorry to bother but I have a question," before asking frankly, "What is the average reward of tickets here?"

"Ten tickets at most for each game," said both the man and woman at the same time before they bowed and walked on their way.

The young man proceeded by crunching the numbers allowed, "So, let's say that every game is one minute long and that there's no time in-between… Six hundred tickets… Eighteen hundred for the three of us-," but cut himself off to say in a horrified voice, "God alive, it would take us five to six hours to get this done…"

Asuka and Homura both jumped at the number before they both proceeded to scratch at their heads. After a moment of shrinking down her ego, the latter then muttered with her hope lingering by a thread, "Well… I mean, it may still be possible… We'd just need to double down for a while and… you know, work for those tickets…"

Delivering the final blow to all of the confidence that she had in their goal being doable, the young man proceeded to pull out his wallet and showed how little it was filled, "And… who'll be funding this activity…?" He then pointed to a sign that said it was five hundred yen for twenty tokens.

With a bulb popping in her head, Homura slowly pulled out her own wallet and nearly cried when a fly flew out of the completely empty space. She miserably turned to Asuka, who had significantly more cash in her wallet. Yet, instead of relief, both Homura and the young man felt an extreme reluctance to mooch off the girl, especially since it would undoubtably be an costly day if she were the only one paying. Under his breath, the young man muttered under his breath, "After this week, I'm finding a part-time job…"

"How much would we need to spend?" asked Asuka, who was seriously considering the prospect of funding the whole process. While she could see how much it bothered the other two, she knew that it was her idea to go after the unicorn in the first place and was prepared to honor the steps that it would require from her to achieve such a major goal.

After peeking at a machine, the young man noted, "It's a token per game… fifteen hundred yen per person per hour…" and slumped over before noting, "It would be about twenty-seven thousand yen."

Homura immediately shook her head and clasped onto Asuka's shoulder, "It's too much… Let's just go and play some games for fun."

Asuka, who was quivering at the thought of spending so much money, still proceeded by stumbling under her breath, "But… Hibari wanted it…"

"And she can get it," came the bold and brash voice of Katsuragi from somewhere around them.

Immediately jumping into combative positions, the trio pushed their backs together and looked to every angle where the blonde could be waiting to pounce from. Even as an odd number of people watched them with baffled looks, the young man commented in a hushed voice, "Be wary… Only Heaven knows where that dangerous creature could come out from."

"I'm actually standing right next to you," said Katsuragi from the blind spot between the boy and Asuka. Her arms were crossed and, while she seemed a bit annoyed at being referred to as a creature, she had a knowing smirk that said she saw all of their troubles and held the necessary solutions.

Without moving a muscle for a few seconds, the young man remarked quietly, "Alas, now we are dead…"

Asuka immediately broke from the formation and waved her hand cheerily, "Hi, Kat."

While the blonde responded in kind, Homura said in a more serious voice, "Whatever mood you're in, could you put off whatever loophole molestation you've got planned? We're a bit busy right now."

"I know," retorted Katsuragi as she crossed her arms, "I heard all about it and I have a solution… both to funding and to how long it will take."

Still very suspicious of the girl's intentions, the young man nodded his head and asked, "Alright… let's hear it."

"Now," started Katsuragi as she pressed her middle and ring finger onto the ring of her nose, as though she were wielding the spectacles of absolute truth, "For three people, as you said, it would take about five to six hours to get enough tickets at least…" and snapped her fingers, "…but what if I told you that there are actually a total of five of us who could bring that down to three or four hours."

The young man quickly raised his hand, "Question," before noting, "I assume you'd be the fourth member but who would be-," but cut himself off. His eyes suddenly went wide and his voice went dark, "Sweet Mother Earth, Gaia… It's not Haruka… is it…?"

Homura turned and narrowed her eyes, "What's wrong with Haruka?"

The boy responded rapidly, "We have one deviant here already, we don't need a second."

"It's not Haruka," answered Katsuragi before she flicked her fingers, "thought, and I do warn you now, the person in mind is also the touchy-feely sort."

Asuka answered before either the young man or Homura could object, "Please! We need all the help to get the unicorn for Hibari!"

"Could we maybe discuss this first…?" asked the boy, who went completely ignored.

"Those are the magic words, Asuka," said Katsuragi before she turned to the corner of one machine, "Come on out, Ayame."

The trio looked to where the blonde's attention was focused with Asuka and Homura's faces lighting up in recognition. But, when they found no one waiting by the machine, they paused and adopted confused expressions. Just then, popping her head between the two girls, the renowned Head of the Hanzō School Store, a self-designated title, appeared and loudly greeted, "How're you doing!?"

"…Sneak attack…!" hissed the young man as he stepped back warily.

On the other hand, rather than be surprised, Asuka quickly smiled and hugged the girl with a cheer, "Ayame! You're back from," until she separated and her voice came to a sudden and depressing low, "the corrections… Ah… How'd that go…?"

Not dropping the smile on her face despite the apparently dreary subject matter, Ayame bobbed her head up and down, "Oh… it was corrections. Still, I'm glad to be back."

At the same time, the young man craned over to Homura, "What exactly is the corrections?"

Homura looked to him, "Think of it as juvenile hall for shinobi," before she waved her hand at the boy's surprised face, "Don't worry. Ayame was only placed there because of some crappy circumstances that happened after Peach Beach Spla-, wait, you don't know about that. I'll explain a different time." She then tilted her head to Ayame, "When were you released? We didn't even know until just now."

"Well," murmured the red-eyed girl as she fiddled with her fingers, "it was technically the day before yesterday but I wasn't able to arrange for my enrollment at the academy again until today." She shrugged and rested her hands to her sides, "It's better than the alternative. Originally, corrections was expected to last until late May…" before gesturing her hands to the three shinobi, "…but then everyone started going on about some trouble caused by a Yōma, which I hear you guys were related to, and they figured that every shinobi who is capable had to be released."

Asuka's eyes went wide, "So, everyone in corrections was released?" before rubbing the back of her neck, "Geez… I know the situation is serious but… I didn't think it was that serious."

Deciding to end his silence, which he maintained since he figured it was a reunion of sorts, the young man interjected in a gentle voice, "It's nice to meet you."

Unfortunately, he spoke too softly and Ayame went on to continue, "Oh, it's not so dreary. For one, they allowed me to reach out to Lady Kat," and leaned toward the blonde, "and she arranged for me to surprise you here!"

Shocked by what was implied to be immense and great foresight on the part of Katsuragi, Asuka and Homura turned with gaping faces to ask her, "How did you know we were going to come here!?"

Then, with suspicion shivering up her back, Homura snapped her fingers and pointed, "Unless…! You somehow knew about the fact that we intended to go to the park today… So, in turn, you decided to stalk and scare us while making an unworldly gamble that we'd arrive here!"

The older shinobi just waved her hand back and forth, "Actually, Ayame just misworded it. I arranged for us both to stalk and follow you guys until we had a good opportunity to surprise you."

"Oh," went the two brunettes.

The young man took the opportunity to try and introduce himself again, "It's nice to meet you, Ayame. My name is-," but was cut off.

"No!" cried the girl, "You can't say your name!"

The boy recoiled and felt his eyes widen, "What-, hold up, what? Why?"

Ayame innocently prodded a finger back to Katsuragi, "She told me that it's kind of a running gag that everyone hardly says your name and that I should disrupt said gag as little as possible." Right after she was done speaking, she stuck a thumb up, "Don't worry. She's filled me in on all of details… eh…" before scrunching her face up in embarrassment. She then turned back to Katsuragi, "Pardon me… but what was his nickname?"

"He doesn't really have one," answered the blonde with a smirk and crossed arms, "We just say the words 'he' or 'him' and know exactly who we're talking about. It's pretty easy since he's the pretty much the only boy in the group."

While the young man was narrowing his eyes in the face of the conversation, Ayame tilted her head, "Oh, but what if you're talking to him directly?"

Katsuragi nodded her head, "We need nothing more than the word 'you' for such a circumstance."

"Or you guys could be normal and just say my name," uttered the young man.

"Regardless of this discussion," cried the blonde shinobi, "that is not why we've approached you today…!" before pausing to add casually, "Especially since we're putting off meeting with everyone else for this kind of thing." She clicked her fingers and pointed, "As originally discussed, we know that you guys want that unicorn and, in accordance with how awesome we all are, we're going to help you get it."

The young man turned his head toward the prize stand and felt his eyes bulge from his skull. In the meantime, Asuka pumped up her fists and asked, "So, you'll both do it? You'll help us win that for Hibari!?"

"If it means playing arcade games," said Ayame, "it sounds like fun."

"But our services are not free…" came a sinister laugh from Katsuragi as she turned away and covered the lower half of her smiling face.

Though she almost forgot the fact that the older shinobi likely had an ulterior motive, Homura quickly caught herself and pointed an accusing finger, "No! We're not going to cave to that demand!"

Katsuragi's eyes blinked in confusion and she faced the group again, "I… didn't even name a price yet…"

Catching onto Homura's aggression, Asuka also pulled herself back and said aggressively, "No, we already know what you want… and I was stupid to think you wouldn't try for it again…" She also pointed an accusing finger, "You'll only help us if we let you into our relationship, which would allow you to remorselessly grope us without ever needing to stop!"

Katsuragi jumped back and said, "No, no…!" and faltered, "I wasn't going to ask for anything like that…"

Homura took a mighty step forward, "Well, what's your price then? Come on, quickly now."

As she tried to think of something else with a slight stutter to her voice, "Well, as a matter of fact, I was-, I am-," Katsuragi stated with a steadily slowing voice, "I'll help you… only for the simple price of, you know…" and pushed the ends of her fingers together, "…for the meager price of pinching your butts…"

It took all of the restraint within both Asuka and Homura to hold back an instinctually defensive uppercut that would have obliterated the underside of Katsuragi's jaw. But just as they were seething at the girl's advance, Ayame raised her hand and cried, "Question!" and gained the two's attention. They both looked to her and tilted their heads as she asked, "Is it true that you two are in a six-way relationship?"

Hoping to take the attention off her blunder, Katsuragi chipped in with a crack in her voice, "It's a sexagon!"

"Hush your face," ordered Homura, which quickly quieted the older shinobi, before facing Ayame, "Yes, we did," before proudly presenting the young man with a wave of her arms, "and here's the guy that's at the center of it." When he didn't say anything, she prodded her fingers at him, "Oi, say something."

"I think there's a problem with our arcade plan…" uttered the young man.

Blowing off his remark, Homura put her smile back on and declared, "He has his moments, rest assured."

Ayame pressed her lips together and scratched the side of her head, "So~… both of you, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi… are all with him…?"

"Yes," came the simultaneous answer from the two brunettes.

"And… no one's trying to kill each other… There's no violent rivalry?"

"That is also a yes."

Ayame looked the young man, who was still focusing on the prizes, with a scrutinizing eye before shrugging her shoulders and saying, "It must have been something that he did… because I honestly don't see it."

Katsuragi gave an awkward wave of her hands to Asuka and Homura, "I didn't fill her in on the infiltrator stuff yet."

"Infiltrator what now?" asked the younger girl.

"But, never mind all that," declared the blonde with a pointed finger, "let's go win some tickets and get ourselves a unicorn… and, later, I'll claim my butt pinches."

"No!" came Asuka and Homura's loud and immediate answer.

"There'll be a problem claiming the unicorn," said the young man in a low voice.

Everyone questioningly looked to him, thrown off by his statement, before they followed his eyes and looked up at the prizes. A few quiet seconds passed and their faces remained absolutely unchanged. Then their eyes narrowed in frustration and several sighs of defeat were let out. As fate would have it, the little girl who was playing with the hoops machine earlier was a part of a larger party and they all accumulated their tickets together to claim the unicorn. As everyone was clapping their hands together and letting out reserved cheers of celebration, she was smiling brightly and dancing giddily as the old man at the counter struggled to lift it over to her.

Katsuragi, having been deprived of her opportunity to extort butt pinches, cracked her knuckles together, "New plan: we sucker punch the kid right in the nose, snatch the unicorn, and run."

The young snapped his head toward her, "Good lord-," but was quieted when she raised a hand.

"Kidding! I was kidding!" assured Katsuragi before she bit her cheek and crossed her arms, "Take a joke when I'm trying to cope with my loss."

"I mean," started Asuka as she offered a slow shrug, "it could be worse… we could have spent hours saving tickets only to have someone else claim it at the last second."

"Plus," chipped Homura as she dropped her frown of disappointment, "we're still here at the arcade. Never mind the prizes, let's just play something and have fun."

Ayame's head perked up at the idea, "Do you mind if Lady Kat and I join in with you three? We'll keep our hands to ourselves."

Just as Asuka was about to merrily agree, Homura clapped a hand over her mouth and answered, "We don't mind but," and lowered her voice to a loud whisper, "make sure to give us space. We three are still on a date after all."

Ayame let out a sly, "Ah~," before scooting toward Katsuragi, "In that case, we'll be somewhere else and meet up later."

The blonde relented for a moment before straightening herself and pointing to the three lovers, "I'll still be getting my butt pinches, one way or another."

"Not today," responded the young man.

Katsuragi then suddenly cried, "Let me into the relationship! Just for an hour so I can get some groping in!"

"Oh no…" rumbled Asuka before she turned on her heel and began to walk away with Homura in tow. The young man also was about to follow after her but she determined that he was going to slow and reached out her hand for his, "Come on." When the boy, surprised by what would be their first affectionate act beyond linking arms that day, stuttered in his movement, she continued more rapidly, "Come on, come on, come on."

"This isn't over!" cried Katsuragi as Ayame guided her away. Making a satisfied sound with his throat, the young man clasped Asuka's hand more firmly and followed after her.

Beyond that, it mostly became a matter of following his two girlfriends around. In the beginning, Homura led the trio from game to game while suppressing her excitement to be rid of the two plus-ones and to be on with their date. Asuka quickly matched her speed and would later guide them to the more physically demanding games like air hockey and hoops, which led to several losses to Homura and a fair amount of wins against the young man. Overall, the two of them were getting into a cheerful mood extremely quick.

On the other hand, the young man was struggling to find a way to take the lead like he'd promised. After all, it was the very same reason why he'd offered to take them out in the first place. Yet, for all the preparation and hypothetical questions of the things he'd do and say in the park, he didn't have much material to work with in the arcade. There were, of course, ways for him to maintain par and keep the atmosphere lively and convivial. He still commented on games, made several jokes that were either awkward or witty, and dropped his sarcastic attitude from earlier in exchange for a more calm and friendly one.

But, unlike his previous day with Murasaki, the young man didn't feel as though he were giving much at all and he couldn't help but feel self-conscious as he was led from game to game. Of course, the overall solution would have been to take charge and take the lead but, as fate would have it, he was very nearly drained of the tokens he paid for less than an hour into playtime and he didn't have much cash to work. So, if he did decide to take the lead, the date would either be over or he would have to resign to simply being a third wheel to Asuka and Homura's good time… that or he would have to become a leach to their tokens but his pride threw that thought out quicker than a cuttlefish could catch its prey.

As the two girls finished competing over who had the strongest hit at the punching bag machine, the young man was lamenting the fact that he wasn't in a more controllable environment like his apartment. His mood was quickly caught by Homura, who'd turned out another victory and faced him with a showy smile on her face, "Why do I feel like you're sulking a little?"

The young man froze and straightened himself. Not wanting to sound like crybaby for his shortcomings, he started by saying, "Oh, you know. Just some jealousy that you guys hit harder than I-," but was immediately cut off.

"You suck at lying," stated Homura as she prodded a finger into his shoulder aggressively, "Get to the truth."

Pressing his lips together and debating whether or not he'd ever be able to afford an acting course, the young man made a sound, "Ah…" before facing her guiltily, "Question."

"Answer," said Asuka, who closed the distance by bumping her shoulder into the boy's other side.

"How do I make today special like I said I would?"

The two girls' felt their mouths open for a moment as they processed what the young man said. Then Homura proceeded to widen her grin and asked, "Is that a serious question?"

"Yup."

"You're actually worried about making the date special?"

"That's also a yup."

Homura let out a snicker and covered her mouth, "Don't tell me that you used up all of your original ideas during your date with Murasaki yesterday?" before she made a kissy face, "Was her correction such a romantic moment that you used all the lines you had saved up?"

"First off," started the young man as his face began to heat up from the heavy layer of teasing, "I didn't really have ideas in the first place. So, ha!" Then, after dropping his will to be defiant, he continued, "Second, I had plenty of… you know, gestures and words for the park until we changed plans and came here." Realizing how mopey he sounded, he raised his palms, "Not that being here's the problem," before scratching the back of his head, "but… I'm out of my element with dating as it is… and I can't really think of any grand gestures to do here on the spot. Yesterday, I had frozen pizza and a correction to offer… Today, I don't have many cards in my sleeve."

Feeling the aura of shame that was radiating off the young man, Asuka raised up her hands and clasped onto his forearm, "Well, what did you have planned?"

"Nothing terribly special," said the boy, "just… simple stuff. I read up on a few of the nearby parks, since I wasn't sure which one you two were interested in going to. There were flowers either on sale or, with a few exceptions, for picking." He swung his head to one side, "There were a few ponds that I could have used to provide a nice atmosphere," and then to the other, "and there was a shrine at one of them that could have been used to pray for good fortune in our relationship." Once he was done, he looked down to the girl, "Nothing special. Again, it was just simple stuff."

"Then do something simple here," said Asuka with a smile. Then, before the boy could question what she meant, she stuck out her cheek to him and murmured, "There's actually a pretty simple way to make me feel special." Rolling along with the smaller brunette, Homura also stuck out her cheek but held her silence. As excited and smiley as she was for the day, public acts of affection were something new to be experienced.

Ignoring the dirty looks that some of the adults in the surrounding area were giving the three, the young man caught on quickly and leaned himself forward. Just before contact, he shied back a tad and considered the prospect of whether or not he was being faced with some kind of trick question. Then, knowing that he was overthinking the matter, he pressed his lips forward into Asuka's cheek and held for a second before pulling back. He then leaned toward Homura and did the same for her. When he pulled away, both girls proceeded by beaming smiles to his face. The boy let out a sigh of contentment before he remembered that they were in public and shrank his head down.

"That wasn't hard, right?" asked Asuka.

The young man responded, "Not at all, once I passed the thinking portion of it."

Homura chuckled, "If you need to think when you're kissing someone then you may need some work."

"Can't deny it." Feeling a bit uplifted, the young man felt his brows rise and hesitantly mumbled, "And… just so you both know…"

Feeling that he was either going to make a sappy remark or going to ask for some kind of reassurance, Homura sighed through her smile, "Here it goes…"

"I'll do better by both of you in the future," finished the young man, "and I love you two."

While Asuka made a thoughtful sound, Homura scratched her forehead and asked, "I don't really understand what you mean there."

Realizing how forward he was about it, the young man turned away for a brief moment, "Oh… um…" before blinking and nodding to himself solidly. He then faced both girls and said in a straight voice, "Right now, I'm not going to be very good at providing things beyond physical gestures like hugs or kisses. But, when things calm down and I start bringing in cash to actually afford things, there'll be an improvement and I'll make you both feel doubly special, if not more."

Not expecting a passionate rant or promise, Homura stood by while Asuka quickly jumped up and hugged the boy's neck, "You don't need to do that! I love you now, then, later, and beyond!"

On the other hand, the tanned shinobi held her shocked look for a bit longer before taking on a softer smile of her own. She rounded to the boy's back, rested her fingers against the side of his head, and watched as he turned his gaze over to her. She quietly murmured, "You know, for a while, I was a bit scared that Murasaki was going to get the more romantic date of this week. From your guys' text explaining your video gaming, correcting, sitting comfortably with pizza-, heck, she was even there to keep your head screwed on when Sato show up." After a brief pause, Homura continued, "But, accidental or not, if you keep timing your words like that… I concur with what Asuka said," before promptly kissing the back of the boy's neck.

Between having one girl hanging with her arms around his head and another giving him a very ruthless kiss to the neck, the young man wasn't able to find words. Even as surrounding adults were pulling children away from the scene, all of the processing power within his mind went blank. Even when he was eventually released, he was on left on auto-pilot for the rest of the day. Whether it was from how loved he felt or the fact that his neck wanted to shiver from the lingering tingle that was left on it, he didn't really know. All he could was walk the arcade with the two until they'd all eventually meet back up with Ayame and Katsuragi to go home.

At around the same time, Sato was lying in bed and texting into the phone that Oda had left her. As she pulled the blankets over her head and received another reply from Murakumo, which was somewhere between both encouraging and cautious, the girl wondered about her surroundings. She was all by herself in an apartment with the status of her family unknown. No light was seeping into the room and the only source was from her phone. If she wanted entertainment, she only had said phone or the television in the other room to work with and nothing else.

Letting out a cheery sound as she flopped herself flat onto the bed, "Bwaaaaggghhh~…" Sato sucked in a breath and unironically remarked, "…this is the life…"


	56. Chapter 56: Volatility and Severance

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 56: Volatility and Severance

**April 30 – "There's a severe difference between family and blood relation."**

Miyabi was caught within a strange mix of giddiness and anxiety. Though she was pleasantly smiling to herself through a mirror in her room, she knew that there was something off about the last few days. For one thing, her father had been completely ignoring her very presence during the training drills each morning and afternoon. It was terribly unusual, since he had to treat Miyabi like any other student in the first place, but he didn't turn his head to observe her even once. By itself, she wouldn't have been so much on edge and would have attributed to some kind of paranoia.

The real thing that'd put Miyabi on edge was the fact that she had no information on what he'd been up to since he confronted her a few days before. There were no questions prodding about her, the other shinobi, nor the young man. There were no accusations regarding her sabotage of the listening device nor any relationship that he would deem inappropriate. He simply showed up to watch over Hebijo Academy's drills before disappearing off to someplace else.

Figuring that a bomb of some sort would be dropped soon, Miyabi sighed and shook her head before facing the mirror. She pumped her fist and silently resolved herself to enjoy the day she would have with the young man. Whatever happened the next morning, whether it was her father revealing his knowledge of her relationship or some other obtuse thing, she would face it then.

In the meantime, the young man was having a serious argument. He pointed to a tin can of cat food in one hand and yelled, "You were fed! You didn't starve and you're being overdramatic!"

Chomubach, sitting on the table in front of him, let out a loud and lengthy, "Re-yaaaarrrrggghhh!"

"An hour!" cried the young man as he threw his hands into the air, "I was late by a single hour last night! You were just fine and you still got fed!"

"Meraaggh."

"Don't you sass me," uttered the young man in a dangerous tone of voice, tightening his grip on the tin can with violent intent, "I may have lost our last scuffle but don't even think for a second that I'm going to let you have your way now."

"Mer."

Unable to take the catty insult, the young man spiked the tin can into the ground and boomed, "SAY THAT AGAIN!"

There were a few thumps from the other side of the apartment wall followed by Sato's alarmed voice, "What the hell are you doing over there!?"

"THIS IS A DOMESTIC ISSUE!" came the retaliatory roar, "YOU'RE NOT NEEDED!"

"Mer-hern-hern~…" laughed Chomubach.

The young man rounded his finger prodded it against the cat's face, "You listen here, little shit…" before pausing in place and taking a moment to think. He then looked down to Chomubach and said, "Wait, what the hell am I arguing for. You're a cat and what I say goes."

As though she were waving a fist at the boy, the little feline raised a paw into the air and shook it with a strangely menacing aura, "Mow~…"

"Damn you and your spells," uttered the young man before he began to scratch the underside of Chomubach's neck, emitting a purr of pleasure.

"Mur-mew-magh~…"

"I need a cat to Japanese dictionary…" murmured the boy before he stepped back and said, "I should be back much earlier today, so don't worry. Miyabi and I are just going to see a movie at the cinema."

"Mer?" came Chomubach's extremely perceptive question.

"Well, it really depends," responded the young man before he raised one flattened hand, "If she just wants the movie, I'll be good to go since I've got just enough money to cover two tickets," before raising the other, "But, if she wants snacks…" and shook a bit, "…I may need to be a bad date-provider today."

He was immediately met with a soothing, "Mew."

"Thanks for the comforting words but I offered to take them on dates," said the young man. In the face of Chomubach's scrutinizing gaze, he added, "Believe me, I'm not the sort to believe it's all on me just because I'm a guy. In this case, it's because I'm the one who offered."

"Meyagh?"

In the face of such an insightful question, the young man froze and sucked in his lip and shrunk a bit. He then slowly answered, "Yumi said she wants to surprise me… so there's a bit of gray area there on who'll be covering the cost…" He went on guiltily, "Hopefully it's something cheap… around the price of fifteen hundred yen… because that's all I'll have after today…"

"Angh, meh-mer."

The young man narrowed his eyes with a hint of irritation, "Well, what the hell do you know. You're a cat," and swiped one hand into the air dismissively, "I don't even know why I'm talking to you right now. You don't actually understand me, I'm just assigning your meows some words from my subconscious." He turned to walk away, "You don't get an opinion."

Raising her rear and giving it an eager shake, Chomubach pounced after the young man, "RAE-YAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!" and sunk her claws into the back of his neck, producing a yelp of terror followed by a defiant war cry. A battle of epic proportions, one which would determine the fate of cats' civil rights in that very apartment, had been initiated.

Minutes later, the two were sitting across from one another on the table. The young man was placing the last bandage onto himself as Chomubach continued to lick down her ruffled hair. After a moment of thought, the boy murmured, "You know, I think we got a bit too hurtful and heated. I'm sorry."

"Hiiicccccc," came a victorious but sassy hiss.

"Well, if you're going to be a jerk about it…" muttered the young man as he stood up and gave a wave, "I'll be back in a few hours. You'll be fed and, if you behave, I won't spoil the movie for you."

"Ngh," grumbled Chomubach, "mer…"

Opening the front door, the young man started to say, "Don't give me grief over it. I'll send Miyabi your love-," before turning and finding Jirō's unexpressive face a few centimeters from his right outside the exit.

Neither of the two said anything. The young man, fighting every instinct within his body to give ground and jump away, kept absolute control over himself and maintained his breath to be slow and unalarmed. Jirō had a mirrored look and was exerting a similar amount of control over himself, though it was the opposite of the boy's as the shinobi was trying to keep himself from going on a bloody attack. Even Chomubach, who was so loud before, knew to keep silent and shied away from the drama that was sure to come.

Finally deciding to break the silence, the young man said in a level but strained voice, "Hello."

Jirō made a sound with his throat and uttered, "You'd greet me so casually? After everything up to this point?"

Unable to gauge his unreadable face, the young man debated whether or not he should be aggressive or defensive. He knew that he was facing the violent father of one of his girlfriends and that he would likely beat the boy black and blue, or worse, if the situation wasn't approached cautiously. So, deciding to meet in the middle of his internal conflict, the young man placed himself on the field of verbal battle by responding, "I suppose it would be appropriate since the situation has changed so much," but held neither an accusatory tone nor a hint of guilt.

"A lot has happened since we first met," murmured Jirō in an almost quizzical tone.

Feeling as though he were being baited to say something, the young man wondered if the shinobi was trying to get him to confess to Miyabi's relationship. Instinctually, he knew it was a bad idea. Yet, if he were to deny it and be caught in a lie, the results would just as bad. So, in hopes of maintaining his integrity, he would keep his response deliberate and straight to the point, "Shinobi and infiltrators have battled both dignitaries and Yōma… Oda and I have formed a sort of alliance against Tsao…"

"And you've started an interesting relationship with my daughter," remarked Jirō.

Refusing to be cornered, the young man kept his expression under control and nodded, "Indeed, I have."

"Could you describe this relationship?"

Looking into his yellow eyes, the young man knew that he'd been placed in check. But he knew that Jirō must have already confirmed it for himself and that denial would be the lesser option at that point. So, keeping his voice as unassuming as humanly possible, the young man explained frankly, "I can. Currently, I'm dating your daughter and another girl from Hebijo Academy-," and was met with a sudden fist colliding into his cheek. Having been unable to brace for the strike, he was thrown as far back as the dining area, stumbling back a few steps before tripping backwards into the table.

Before the young man could fully pick himself up, Jirō was already on him and throwing him back down onto the table's surface. With his shoulder's locked down, the only thing the boy could do was look up and suppress the fright that he felt. So, putting on a spiteful glare, he watched as Jirō stated, "You've got a lot of arrogance if you think you can dare insult her and I in such a way…"

"Ah," grumbled the young man before he huffed defiantly. A resistant part of him decided that he didn't care if his next words were going to be incredibly stupid. In that moment, he just wanted the shinobi to know how lowly he was regarded by a meager boy. Thus, he quickly spat, "Well, I haven't told you the whole of it."

"Oh," grunted Jirō, "then go ahead and tell me."

The young man started, "There's also a girl from Hanzō Acad-," before the table was flipped over with him on top of it. He landed onto the back of his neck and groaned loudly in the face of the sudden violence. Yet, when he remembered the beating that he took in his old apartment, the young man couldn't help but be thankful and let out a humored breath of air.

There was a knock against the wall followed by Sato's voice, "Hey, what're you doing!? I can hear you from the other end of my apartment!"

Not bothering to call for help, for fear that he would incite Jirō to go on a more relentless attack, the young man grumbled about the girl under his breath. He heard the shinobi mouth away, "I know all about it. There's also a girl from Gessen and a renegade?"

"Oh, you've been biding your time with this?" murmured the young man heatedly as he struggled to see a way out of the situation.

Rounding the toppled table and chairs, Jirō stood over the boy raised his foot over his head, "Yes and it tempts me to crush your forehead in."

"Do it then," goaded the young man.

Without any hesitation, Jirō proceeded to plant his foot against the boy's head and pressed it down until a low groan was emitted. The older man than began to prattle, "If you think I'm not going to kill you after being dared, you've got another thing coming."

Sucking back the pain of feeling his head crushed against the ground, the young man thumped his fist loudly against the floor a few times and listened as Sato knocked against the wall again, "Hey, are you alright!?"

Not verbally acknowledging his neighbor, the boy continued to pound against the floor, looked up at Jirō, and commented, "Believe me, I'm familiar with how much of a hothead you are… I know you'll get violent" before spitting, "Even still, I'm not going to cower or grovel before you…"

Pressing his foot just a bit more, the older man didn't remove his harsh gaze, "You're too petty to have such an expectation…"

The young man forced out a laugh, "Tch," and put on a scornful smile, "pettiness plays a part. No doubt about it…" before pushing his head against Jiro's foot. He then grunted, "But, in all honesty," and suddenly shouted, "it's more that I know I've already won against you!"

There was a brief pause, as though some unfathomable words were just uttered, before the shinobi growled, "Have you won…!?" and raised his foot into the air. Just as he was about to stomp his foot down and crush the boy's skull, Jirō paused and thought to himself for a moment. Then, as a malicious grin spread across his face, he said hatefully, "Alright… I'll indulge this line of thought," and asked as he rested his foot to the floor, "How've you won?"

"That's obvious," grunted the young man as he pulled himself up. After rubbing at the swelling bruise on his cheek, he stated, "You're just attacking me-, No, I'm convinced you want to kill me at this point…" Though he knew it was a weak thread of logic to go on, he continued to taunt the older shinobi, "That tells me you know there's nothing to argue. I chose to date your daughter and four other women… and they all chose to date me with the same knowledge. They're even the ones who jointly suggested it." The young man took a breath and locked his eyes onto his opponent's face, "You don't like that and you don't have to… but we both know that you have no say in the matter…" Forcing on a fake smile of triumph, the boy said with a hint of finality, "Ergo, no matter what you do here, I'll have no regrets since I did nothing wrong… You have no point to argue for and I've won, plain and simple."

Jirō held his silence for a couple seconds before snorting, "You're quick with your words and are able to bounce onto one defense or the other rather elegantly…" and shook his head, "but I honestly didn't expect you to take the 'I'm a pacifist and above your violence' approach." He then raised his foot into the air tauntingly and asked, "Give me a proper explanation this time. I know you have enough smarts to at least be a bit original."

Though his lips tightened in response to the looming threat of a fatal stomp, the young man sucked in some air through his nose and exhaled. After another moment, he commented, "See, I think you misunderstood…" and locked onto Jirō's eyes, "I don't hold myself above you because I try to live a pacifistic lifestyle…" A more natural and demeaning grin spread back across his face, "I think I'm better than you because I have something beyond mindless rage in my actions." Even with the shinobi's foot readied to punt him out the window, the young man stood up and jutted his head toward Jirō, "I love those girls and I'll defend my relationship always but what are you doing here!?"

Feeling his black hair stand up in rage, the older man looked the boy in the eye and uttered, "You'd better stop in your tracks while you're still breathing, child."

"Call me a child if you will," fired back the young man, "I'm at least able to act with some rational thought in my action."

Jirō's hand immediately went to the boy's throat and gave a threatening squeeze, "Another word is all it will take to make me do it…"

The young man could only try and wheeze back, "Your daughter-," before the grip around his throat viciously tightened. He couldn't even get a cough out as Jirō proceeded to wrestle him down to the floor.

All the while, the shinobi was taunting, "Well, here's the result of your arrogance! You're nothing but talk when someone who has a fist to speak with shows up!" As the boy in his grip tried to pull himself free in vain, the man responded by thrashing him up and down and repeatedly smacking the back of his head to the floor, "Words mean nothing if you have nothing to back them up…! So, what're you going to do!? Will you being better than me save you here!? If you're so much better, why will I still be walking while you're being fed to dogs!?" Just as the color was beginning to drain from the young man's skin, Jirō released his grip for a few seconds and allowed him to cough. But, just as the boy was about to get in some much-needed air, the shinobi pulled him up from the ground and threw him down again with a hand squeezing back around his throat, "Come on… I'll go easy on you. Break free."

As much as the young man wanted to curse Jirō in spite, all of his focus was on trying to survive in that moment. Thus, he wrenched his body around and did everything he could to get free of the shinobi, angling his head down to try and bite a finger while kicking his feet into the air at the man's head. Yet, in the end, he was still at Jirō's mercy and could only hope he'd be released before it came time to die.

Just as the young man's irises began to roll up to the top of his head, the older man released the grip on his neck again, "For all that talking you did… For all of your spiteful words…" and hovered his head down, "You're one of the most pathetic creatures I've ever seen." Then, while the boy was still coughing and gasping for breath, Jirō stood up and began to walk away toward the apartment door, "Never see my daughter again. You're not worthy of her."

Almost as though he were seeking some kind of punishment, the young man wheezed out audibly, "…No…!" and did his utmost to pick himself up between coughs.

Ignoring some distant thumps that were rapidly vibrating the building, Jirō turned back to his target of his hate, silently questioned, "More to preach?" and sighed tiredly, "You're tenacious, that can't be denied." With a clap of his hands, he turned his shoulders to face the young man again and asked, "What else is there to say?" He rolled one hand off to the side, "Perhaps you'll say that I have no say in deciding what's right and wrong for my daughter?" before clicking his tongue, "Alas, I punch harder than you… so I have all the say I need." He gave a similar gesture with his other hand, "Or, no, maybe you'll try to say that I need to let my daughter decide for herself?" and spat, "As old as she is, she's still a child to me if she behaves as immaturely as those other girls."

After listening to Jirō as the distant thumps got closer and closer, the young man only straightened himself to say, "I only want to tell you that you're nothing more than a worthless brute…" and continued to speak as the shinobi stomped toward him, "You have no control over your daughter…! Get over yourself…!" Though he was punched with all of the force that Jirō could muster, the young man felt a lot less pain as he was literally blown into the air.

Then, as the young man spiraled over the couch and flipped along with a side table, producing a loud thud, the knob on the front door was violent jiggling before it resounded a click. There was a brief moment of silence before it was slammed open and Oda charged straight at Jirō, "DAMN YOU…!"

At first, with the way he raised his fists and maneuvered to the side, it seemed as though Hebijo's principal and most powerful shinobi was going to stand a chance. But, as the one arm he raised tried to block Oda's fist, he was reminded of the fact that the larger man's punches carried all of the force of a bullet train. Jirō's arm was bent back awkwardly by the force of the strike while his body was thrown off its feet and into the wall. Before he could try and get away, another fist clocked him on top of the head at an unmatchable speed and slammed him flat into the ground.

"C'MON!" roared Oda as he grabbed Jirō by the ankle, swung him up into the ceiling, and slammed him back down to the floor again, "C'MON!" Before there was any chance at recovery, the smaller shinobi felt two large hands grip him by the torso and lift him into the air. "THIS IS HOW YOU TALK, RIGHT!?" came a threatening boom from Oda's throat as he pitched Jirō straight for the bathroom door and watched as his body broke through the upper half of it.

The principal lifted himself and dizzily sputtered, "This… doesn't concern-," but was cut off when the larger shinobi retrieved a chair and aimed for him. With barely a fraction of a second to spare, it sailed just over Jirō's head and splintered into the bathroom wall.

"I told you… I know I did…" hissed Oda as he was about to stomp toward the target of his rage, "Once we allied with that boy, I told you and everyone else that he was not to be touched!" Unable to hold himself for a moment, he took a few aggressive steps, "NOT A HAIR ON HIS HEAD WAS TO BE BENT OUT OF SHAPE!" before refocusing to find the young man. Upon spotting the boy picking himself up from the floor, he approached warily, "Are you alright? How bad did he get you?"

"He didn't exactly play nice…" remarked the young man as he fully stood up.

When Oda saw the purple bruise spread across the boy's cheek and the crimson marks of fingers across his necks, the older shinobi took a hard breath and stated, "We need to treat-," before suddenly asking, "You haven't moved the medical kit, have you?"

"I didn't even realize there was a medical kit," remarked the young man.

"Then it's unmoved," said Oda as he turned and made straight for the bedroom, locking his eyes onto Jirō as he passed by to make sure there were no violent temptations. Once inside the bedroom, he used one hand to lift the bed frame and found several boxes lying in wait, none of which were marked as medical supplies. Figuring that he must have recycled an old container to do the job, he proceeded to lift the lids of all the different boxes and began to scour for the needed supplies.

Just then, the slightly ajar window was slid open and Miyabi dashed inside, fully transformed and ready for combat. Upon sighting Oda, she cried, "He's alright!? Sato texted everyone that she'd heard fighting!"

Seeing how frantic the woman was, Oda raised a hand to ease her, "He's… better than I expected him to be," before gesturing to the living room, "You go check on him. I need to get a first aid kit for the bruises." But just before she could act on his orders, he raised his free hand to her and said, "Ah… And, just so you know and aren't caught off guard, your father is the one who… attacked him."

Miyabi's face remained unmoved for a second before it slipped into a deep anger. Her eyes narrowed and her brow fell, her lips which were once parted in alarm became a firm and unbreakable line, and her breaths were much longer and heated. Once she regained control of herself, she stomped out of the bedroom and stepped into the main area of the apartment. She saw the overturned furniture first and, before she could speculate what had all happened, spotted the young man sitting on the couch while rubbing his face. He looked over and met her eyes before awkwardly scratching his face.

Just as Miyabi was about to go and approach him, her father's voice rang out, "What're you doing here?" and whirled her body around to find him walking out of the bathroom with a very slight limp.

Sucking in a breath through her nose, the woman took a few aggressive steps toward Jirō and reached for the katana she had on her back. Just as she unveiled a bit of the blade, she blinked and paused in the middle of one of her steps. Miyabi's expression reflected nothing but contempt for the man before her and there was no sign of her features softening as she continued to rethink herself over and over again. Then, with her lips curling into an infuriated frown, she whipped herself back around and made a beeline straight for the young man.

Thrown off by the girl's lack of confrontation, Jirō called after her, "Oi! Get back here! Now!"

Miyabi gave no acknowledgement that she'd heard him and quickly sat beside the young man, "Are you alright?" and slowly raised a hand to his cheek, "How bad is it?"

"I want you away from him!" roared Jirō.

Wishing to somehow lighten the mood for the woman despite the circumstances, the boy pressed his lips together when her fingers made contact with his face and uttered with a semi-forced smile, "Oh, you know… I've gotten worse back when we first met." With an actual laugh, half from the fact that they were actively ignoring Miyabi's father and half from the memory, he added, "I can see where you get your punches from… though you add just a bit more style to them."

The principal continued to prattle on, "You! Boy! Shut it-," before Oda stormed out of the bedroom and at the man. Before any defense could be raised, he rotated his shoulders back and proceeded to deliver a hard elbow into Jirō's side and sent him down to the floor.

In the meantime, Miyabi was steadily shaking before she moved her hand from the young man's cheek and gripped the top of his head. She then gently shook it back and forth with every syllable she said, "Don't remind of the fact that I punched you," before ruffling his hair, "Even as a joke."

"Sorry," murmured the young man in a level tone, "I was trying to keep cheery."

With a smile that was a bit sadder than intended, Miyabi stated frankly, "There's no lightening this kind of mood."

The young man made a noise, "Ah…" before raising up his hand to rest on Miyabi's, "Then let me just say that I'm thankful you're here."

"Oh, that's sweet," commented Oda before he sat down with a box of first aid items at his side, "but I think you should zip it so we can keep your face from getting any uglier."

The young man narrowed his eyes for a moment before shrugging, "You know, that insult would've hurt my feelings if it weren't coming from a gorilla."

"Oh, hush," muttered Oda as he raised a large bandage, "Here, let me put this on."

Raising their hands, Miyabi and the young man simultaneously questioned, "Isn't ice supposed to come first?"

Oda paused in the middle of his action and stared into space. After blinking a few times, he offered the bandage to Miyabi, "Hold onto this," and made straight for the freezer. Along the way, he spotted Jirō standing fully upright and glaring daggers right at the young man. Feeling further enraged by how unrepentant the shinobi was being, Oda began to stomp his way for another quick strike.

The only thing that could have stopped him came in the form of Miyabi calling over, "Leave him be for now." Oda turned back to look at her for a moment but then nodded, figuring that it wasn't appropriate to go any further while her father wasn't actively attacking anymore.

Jirō, figuring that he still had some sway over his daughter, started to say, "Now… I need you to listen… and listen closely."

In a voice devoid of both love and hate, Miyabi fired back at him after a shake of her head, "I don't rightly care about what you have to say anymore."

Her father started to interject, "I need you to listen-," before he was interrupted by the woman suddenly standing away from the young man.

"I'm not going to," said Miyabi in a frighteningly collected voice, "because, up to this point, I've offered you everything that I'm willing to offer." She extended a flattened palm, "I've done everything I could for you. When Dōgen was threatening your position, I went against my own principles and did whatever he needed me to do." She took a step forward and threw her hand to her side, "When you took the position as principal, I accepted the fact that you had to be just as cold with me as you were with any other shinobi at Hebijo… not that you were one for warmth in the first place."

Jirō tried to argue, "This boy can't-," but was cut off again.

"I don't want to hear about you have to say…!" hissed Miyabi as she took another step forward. Her fists were resting at her side and shaking ever so slightly. She began to say, "He has done so much in the time he's been here. From correcting me of distortion…" before cutting herself off to say instead, "From saving who I am as a person… along with everyone else… to standing up against a Yōma at impossible odds… to taking beating after beating…" With her eyes remaining hard and unrelenting, Miyabi continued, "He's not strong, he's not entirely selfless… there are faults that I didn't see myself enduring a month ago," before yelling with everything she'd been holding in for years, "BUT HE'S DONE SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU EVER HAVE IN OVER TWENTY YEARS!"

Jirō made a sound with his throat and remained silent with a stoic face.

As Oda came back with an icepack and offered it to the young man, Miyabi shakily yelled, "For years, you were just the… just a man living in the same house as me while Mom gave everything I ever needed…! Then, when she died, you only took the opportunity to teach me how to fight! You never helped me to grieve, you never helped me to grow…!" Miyabi stomped her foot down, "Even when I was in a coma at the hospital for three years after the first academy was burned to the ground… You visited me three times! Once a year!" and smacked herself in the chest, "In case you don't know how some comas work, I was aware! I was left alone in a hospital with Imu taking care of me every day! And where were you then!? Where were you when I woke up!?"

Diverting his look toward the young man, Jirō was about to hiss something before Oda stepped over and blocked his view.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" cried Miyabi as her eyes finally began to water with rage. Needing to take a moment to calm down, she took a step back and breathed deeply. She then murmured, "When I saw you for the first time… you only offered me new orders to rebuild the Hebijo Elite and nothing more. There were no congratulations on waking up, no asking after me, no sign of being concerned… not even a symbolic gesture like saying 'rest up, we'll need you soon' or anything…" Taking another breath, Miyabi raised her head as a tear slid down her cheek, "But, even after everything, I forgave you for that."

Brushing aside the cold pack Oda was pressing to his cheek, the young man kept his gaze on Miyabi and slowly stood up.

"Honestly," said Miyabi as she looked Jirō in the eye again, "I could forgive you after what you did at the old apartment… Even if you'd beaten someone I love down, I thought that I could forgive you with time…" before her gaze and voice turned harsh again, "But I can see that you're nothing but a lost cause after what you've done today… with how unapologetic you are." She took a few more hardy steps until she was within striking distance of her father, "Even when I made a choice of what kind of relationship that I wanted to be in… you decided to try and act on my behalf." She balled a fist, "Not out of concern and not because you thought I was being manipulated, I'd bet…" and yelled, "YOU CAME HERE BECAUSE I WASN'T UNDER YOUR THUMB ANY MORE! BECAUSE YOU WERE ASHAMED! NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS!"

Jirō looked Miyabi in the eye, his gaze completely unsympathetic as he said, "Are you going to listen…?"

"No," said Miyabi as she allowed her fists to come undone. She took a heavy breath and said, "I just want you to know that from this day onward… you're only a principal to me and nothing else."

Upon hearing that, Jirō's eyes narrowed and softened in a way that was barely noticeable. He slowly sucked in a breath and hissed, "Excuse me… but what did you just say?"

"Thank you for your unwanted time here today, Principal Jirō," said Miyabi with a faint crack to her voice, "but you are no longer welcome… and I will see you during our drills on tomorrow." Just after saying the words which promised to sever her connection to one of the two people who brought about her birth, the woman began to shake uncontrollably. She hardened her gaze after a few blinks and bit down her teeth to steady herself, yet her arms and legs could not hold onto themselves.

Then the young man approached from behind and slowly clasped a hand of reassurance onto her elbow. Miyabi flinched away at first and maintained her gaze on Jirō, who remained completely silent with an unreadable expression, before she took a step back. Once her elbow met the young man's hand again, he offered a few gentle and reassuring rubs. It did nothing to alleviate the hurt that was flowing through her but it did offer a much more warmer feeling that comforted her enough to remain strong. In a few seconds' time, her legs ceased their shaking and she found resolute strength in her arms again.

After a few seconds of taking in the comfort that was being offered to her, Miyabi turned and noticed that Jirō was staring at the young man and breathing heavily. Feeling angered that the man still had the gall to believe he had a place to feel anger, Miyabi faced him for a second and tilted her head back in a challenging way. She then proceeded to whip herself around, raised the young man's head up with one hand while cupping his cheek with the other, and proceeded to plant a long kiss onto his lips. It completely lacked affection and was born out of a raging spite within Miyabi, yet neither of the two would argue against it feeling nice enough. In the meantime, Jirō continued to stare and groaned under his breath.

Once she was done with what became an extensive kiss, Miyabi popped her head away from the young man and clutched one of his hands as she asked, "Where is your icepack and bandage?" Without much to say, the boy started to step away to retrieve both items but stopped when he realized that the shinobi had no intention of releasing him. Thus, he used his one free hand to point back to where he was previously seated and. Miyabi proceeded to take the lead and marched straight back to the couch and swiped up the icepack. She gently held it to the young man's cheek, "Keep it here for a while," and then retrieved the large bandage.

After a moment, the boy averted his gaze to a still silent Jirō and was about to question what they were going to do next. But, cutting off any line of dialogue he'd hoped to offer, Miyabi proceeded to bend herself down and adjusted one arm behind his legs. Just as she released her other hand and wrapped it around his back, the woman proceeded to heave the boy up and held him up like a bride. Suddenly feeling less like a pillar of support for Miyabi and more like a trophy to her defiance, the young man sputtered for a few seconds and asked, "Is-, hold up. Is this necessary?"

"Just give me this for now," muttered the woman as she proceeded to march toward the apartment door. She found Chomubach in the corner of her eye and found the cat cowering in a corner away from all the loud noise. Miyabi, after fully recognizing the cat and remembering the past mentions of her in their 'date transparency texts' from the past couple of nights, felt a smile slip onto her face. No longer holding back on whatever whims came to mind, she adjusted the arm she had around the young man's abdomen and patted his stomach. Before any question could be asked, Chomubach leaped up and balled herself up atop the boy with a pleased but confused expression.

Finally finding some words, Jirō quietly called after her, "Will you quit being a child for a moment and talk to me?"

Miyabi pressed her lips together for a quick moment of thought before deciding that she really, really had no desire to even be near to Jirō. Instead, she turned toward Oda and asked, "Could you make sure he doesn't flip the place over and get him out?" When the larger shinobi gave an understanding nod and made a shooing motion with his hand, Miyabi faced the door and walked with a triumphant wiggle of her shoulders. The young man, not wanting to feel like a glorified sack of potatoes, reached out one of his arms to open the front door but was immediately chided, "I can do it. Just keep that ice on your cheek." Using the hand underneath the boy's legs, Miyabi swung open the door and stepped back to catch it with the end of her toe. Feeling like she'd won a costly but decisive battle in a great war, she stepped out and hooked the door with her foot to swing it closed after her.

Left alone to their own devices, Oda and Jirō stood in silence. While the gorilla-ish shinobi offered no sympathy at all to the man, he still had one very prevalent question on his mind. Thus, as a faraway expression began to slowly trickle over Jirō's face, he asked, "Tell me, what exactly was your plan here?" After a few seconds of silence, Oda took a few more steps forward and stated, "You came and beat the hell out of someone that your daughter loved. Granted, it's a strange arrangement, but she made her choice. Throw in an already rocky relationship between you two…" but cut himself off to shake his head and say, "I hope you're not terribly surprised," as he stared mercilessly.

Jirō made a sound with his throat and uttered, "To be frank, I didn't think at all." He paused for a brief moment and then continued, "I knew the boy was our ally, just as you said… and I knew that he wasn't forcing anyone to do anything." After a few quiet seconds of thought, he stepped toward the door before resigning himself to defeat. With a bleakness that Oda had never heard before, the man finished by saying "All I know is that I wanted to tear the boy apart when I learned he was dating my daughter and four other women… as though she weren't enough to keep him sated…"

"Don't act like this was protectiveness," grumbled the larger shinobi.

Jirō turned and faced Oda curiously, "What would you call it then…?"

"Control and your own self-centered pride, plain and simple," came the brutal answer.

For the first time, Jirō's eyes softened and he let out a long exhale. He clicked his tongue and then solemnly nodded, knowing that he wasn't some misunderstood saint who was too susceptible to his emotions. Leaving the man to wallow in self-pity, Oda made his way toward the bedroom window in anticipation of the other girls arriving shortly. After all, they were a part of the same group chat that Sato had used to warn Miyabi and they would certainly want answers. But, for the moment, those answers could not come from either the young man nor Miyabi. As far as Oda was concerned, those two had to take some time for each other after what would be an emotionally draining day.


	57. Chapter 57: Relation and Ceasefire

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 57: Relation and Ceasefire

"I just got a text from Ryōbi," said Miyabi as she reached down her hand and patted at the young man's head, "The apartment is clean and Jirō is gone."

There was a brief sound of acknowledgement from the young man before he nuzzled closer and responded, "Yeah, I can feel my phone blowing up in my pocket. Did everyone show up?"

"Not everyone could get into the area quick enough."

"Ah, understandable."

At that moment, the two were relaxing on a bench outside of a nearby train station. Miyabi was still transformed and sitting upright with her back straight while the young man's head was propped onto her lap and pulled close to her stomach with Chomubach resting on his chest. The three were visibly exhausted by all that their afternoon had thrown at them earlier but there was still a slightly triumphant air that was beating back any feelings of sadness.

Knowing that it would be best to respond to his vibrating phone sooner than later, the young man lazily reached down to his pocket and pulled it out to send responses to everyone who'd texted him. As he did so, he briefly turned up to Miyabi, "Question."

"Go ahead," came an answer as she was sending out another response on her own phone.

The young man blinked before gesturing to their position and to the surrounding crowd, "Is it just me or does no one seem to care that we're hogging an entire bench?"

"Ah," came the quiet response before Miyabi explained, "I'm still transformed and invisible to the untrained eye. Since you're in contact with me, that applies to you as well."

"Handy," remarked the young man as he faintly recalled a similar instance when Sato was brought into an alleyway for Murakumo's correction. He then questioningly asked, "So, we're just a bench to the people around us? What's stopping them from just deciding to sit here?"

Miyabi continued casually as she sent out another response, "It's some kind of science-thing that I, myself, don't completely understand. In short, shinobi apparently secrete a pheromone that averts people from their current position when transformed to avoid accidental collisions."

Just as she finished talking, a lovey-dovey couple was walking nearby and pointed to the bench, "Wanna take a seat? My feet are killing me."

The other person thought about the arrangement, noting how well shined the metal was on both sides and how the wooden seat had certainly been recently polished by station personnel, "I dunno, that bench seems a little… dirty… doesn't it?"

"Oh, totally. Never mind what I said. C'mon, there should be another nearby."

As the two walked away, the young man and Miyabi remained silent before the former nodded his head, "Again, I will say that is a very handy thing for right now." Miyabi made a sound and patted his head again before launching back into responding to everyone who was reaching out to her. Just as the boy moved to do the same, he faltered for a second and pressed his lips together. He then pocketed his phone and moved to lift himself into a seated position but was stopped when Miyabi firmly pressed a hand down onto him to keep him laid against her. There was an awkward groan from the young man before he murmured, "You know, I'm feeling a bit overpampered here… I'm in the lap of a beautiful woman who may be in need of her own comfort."

He was cut off when Miyabi caressed a hand down his cheek and gently scratched a nail at the side of his lip and next to the bandage on his cheek, "Just let me do this for now. It's therapeutic."

"Therapeutic…?" repeated the young man in confusion before he tilted his head into her, "Really?"

"I'm not sure if it's the right word," came a slower response from Miyabi as she rested down her phone, "But, whatever it is, I'm happy to do this right now. Don't worry too much."

The boy said nothing and nodded his head. For a while, he fell to temptation and allowed Miyabi's hand to gently show him affection with small caresses and assuring pats. But, knowing the situation that they'd left behind not half an hour before, he knew there was no staying silent for long. So, just as the woman scratched the back of his head and sent a pleasing chill down his spine, the young man asked frankly, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Miyabi's movements stopped for a brief second before she continued, "What else is there to talk about? What's done is done and we can all move on from it."

The young man slightly rolled himself up to face her, "Well, sure we're free to do that… but there's probably some powerful emotion building up in the background too." He slowly raised a palm to her, "Now, granted, everyone may have a different reaction to this kind of thing in the end…" before letting it fall and keeping his eyes locked onto hers, "…but I know from experience that disowning family-, blood relatives, I should say, isn't easy."

"Mm…" came an unsure sound from Miyabi's throat before she pocketed her phone and reached over to clasp one of the boy's hands into hers, "I… suppose the only thing I'd like to know was how it felt back then for you." As she rubbed her thumb into his, she stated, "I'm conflicted… but it's not the kind of doubt I was expecting…" She waved her free hand around in confusion through the air, "It's… How do I word it…? Basically, I'm doubtful over why I'm feeling so proud and…" After a few seconds, she shrugged, "I don't really know everything that's bubbling right now… but I don't feel very sad."

The young man parted his lips for a second as he thought back onto his own experience when he finally cut ties with the entirety of his family, save for his grandfather. A few seconds passed as everything flashed through his eyes before he said, "Well, that's… somewhat similar to how I felt back then…" He moved to sit up for the discussion but was gently pushed down again, which he surrendered to much easier than the last time, before he continued, "For a few seconds after finally saying it, I felt… ecstatic-, no, absolutely victorious." The young man proceeded to lay a heavier head onto Miyabi, "but… there was also a sense of loss. The kind of thing where you say to yourself… 'Hey, they were shitty people… but, whether I like it or not, they were family until I cut that bond with them…' and…" A few seconds passed before he finished by saying, "I suppose, even if I was better off without them, I still kind of missed having the ability to say that I had a large family that had my back… even if they really and truly didn't in the end."

"How soon after did those feelings hit you?" asked Miyabi as she gave a gentle squeeze of her hand against his.

The young man face lifted a bit as it refocused onto why he was explaining such things in the first place. After a breath, he answered with a hint of pity for himself, "Quickly after the conversation was done-, no, just before it ended." Keeping himself from falling into a somber hole of emotion, he continued without much expression, "There was a small part of me toward the end that was hoping that my mother and father would say or do something to try and convince me to come back. But, after the strange mix of begging, rebuking, and the usual stubbornness, I didn't get anything more than silence…"

"Well," started Miyabi as she released the young man's hand and rested hers onto his shoulder, "I suppose there's the difference between us," before she bent herself over to rest her forehead to his. After a few seconds of holding the position silently, with both of them getting lost for a few seconds in the bliss of a connection, the woman said with a hint of finality, "You held out a thread of hope for your family… but I knew that Jirō wouldn't change from the beginning." When she pulled away and continued to pat at his head, she continued with a proud roll of her shoulders, "In fact, I'd say that I never had a true father-figure to mourn… Only a teacher."

Unsure of how to respond to their contrast, the young man reached up and caressed the back of his fingers to Miyabi's cheek, "Well, if you need someone to talk to at all through this… or for anything else that you mentioned back there… I'm open for the calling anytime you need it."

"Likewise to you," said Miyabi before she smirked and raised a finger heartily, "…Or, if either of us are looking for group therapy, we could reach out to anyone in Homura's group."

The young man made a sound of curiosity, "Oh? They're in our boat too?"

"They have been for a long time," said Miyabi before she tilted her head, "Didn't you see anything when you went hopping into Homura's head?"

Just as the boy was about to mouth off on instinct about the school he saw in the girl's memories, he clasped a hand over his mouth and stayed silent for a few seconds before murmuring, "I'm afraid that's confidential information between a doctor and a patient. No exceptions unless permission is given by the latter."

Miyabi prodded a finger to his nose, "Well, I'll just assume you're out of the loop then."

"Per usual," answered the young man in a humorously nasally voice.

"Still," said Miyabi as she released him and leaned over, "If you, yourself, have any issues on the matter, feel free to talk to them. I know I'll be fine in due time."

"I'll keep it in mind," answered the boy as he pulled out his phone and narrowed his eyes. Under his breath, he muttered, "Oh, Lord of Heaven…" and proceeded to tap his finger away.

Miyabi tilted her head, "Is everything alright?" before she reached down and retrieved her own phone. A few seconds after, she adopted a similar expression too.

The young man's voice rang up, "You've got a bunch of messages from Yumi too?"

"Yup… By the wording, she's pretty worried. You'd better call her."

Meanwhile, in the boy's apartment, Yumi's voice could be heard turning shrill as she answered her phone, bringing about the attention of the shinobi who came to the apartment ahead of everyone else. For a few seconds, Imu tried to understand all of the words that she was blabbering into the phone before giving up with a sigh of resignation. Rather, she continued to fall back into a state of self-pity as she envisioned the young man and Miyabi's day.

Certainly, she felt extremely sympathetic to the boy in that moment. As jealous as she was for his position in Miyabi's life, she did not wish him the kind of violent harm that the overturned furniture and the lingering presence of Jirō implied. The position of the table and its chairs implied well enough that there was some amount of suffering involved. Plus, if Oda's description rang true, the young man was also very likely strangled for a period of time. No, after everything Imu had seen, resentful jealousy was one of the further things from her mind at that moment. It was just the fact that Miyabi was with someone who wasn't her that hurt at the moment.

"You need to quit feeling bad for yourself," came the voice of Katsuragi from behind.

Imu quickly straightened her back and whipped her head around in alarm, "What're you talking about?"

"Your face says it all," commented the blonde before she gestured to everyone else in the room. While Yumi was still babbling worriedly into her phone and inquiring after the young man and Miyabi, several of the other shinobi who could make it were casting awkward looks to Imu. Standing near Oda, Ryōbi and Ryōna had unsurprised expressions and let out small sighs that were a strange mix of sympathetic and embarrassed for the girl. In the kitchen area, in the middle of a phone call to assure Asuka that everything was alright, Homura was staring with pressed lips before sighing and turning away at the first sign of eye contact with Imu. From the few other shinobi in the room, similar looks were traded out.

Unwilling to admit to anything she'd deem embarrassing, Imu sucked in her lips and shook as she waited to take her next breath. After a few seconds of steaming, she uttered out, "Truly, I don't know-," before she was cut off.

"You have feelings for Miyabi," stated Katsuragi with a showy shrug of her shoulders, "No use denying it since it's as plain as the sun in the sky."

Unable to deny it any longer, Imu shrunk her head down and grinded her teeth together for a second. She then hissed, "…Go harass someone like you usually do…! This is not something I need right now…!"

"I'm already harassing you," commented Katsuragi.

"Well, stop and find someone else."

"That's not how harassment works."

Imu threw up her arms and more loudly growled, "Well, go and be useful-, go text everyone the situation is clear."

Katsuragi pressed her face closer, "Already did that," before clasping a hand onto the spectacled girl's shoulder, "We have all the time in the world right now… just us two…"

Imu was suddenly less angry and a lot more worried for her physical wellbeing, "I feel like I'm in danger of being assaulted."

"Those are good instincts," came a warm retort before the hand released its grip and gave a friendly pat, "though I have no such intent today…" and added inaudibly, "…yet…"

"Oh," grumbled Imu as she realized she was being jerked around, "then could you skip to the point of why you approached me?"

"I just wanted to tell you to take some kind of action," said Katsuragi with a thumbs up, "No one likes a sore loser who didn't even try."

Feeling exasperated by the suggestion, Imu groaned and lowered her head into a hand. A few seconds after, she pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "In case you didn't know, Miyabi is already in a relationship."

"A group relationship," Katsuragi noted with a raised finger.

"A harem…" came a pitiful utter.

"Bad view of it," stated Katsuragi before she raised a palm, "though I don't blame you for seeing it that way." She then said, "But, even if it's not entirely that way now, they're grouped up because they believe in a kind of… free love…? Is that the term-, how do you describe polyamory-, I dunno…" After shaking her head back and forth a few times, Katsuragi continued, "They have a polyamory thing going… which means they believe in multiple intimate relationships in multiple people, right?"

Turning her thoughts to the young man, Imu grunted and noted, "Well, he has that view at least…"

There was a gleam in Katsuragi's eye, "And Miyabi started the relationship knowing that, right?"

Imu didn't catch what was being implied, "Yes… that is established…"

"So~," murmured the blonde with a mental drumroll in mind, "she has to have some kind of acceptance of that view too. Which means, if you make yourself known and she accepts your feelings, you could be part of the relationship too."

Imu stared blankly for a second. A part of her almost instinctively jumped to the idea with a happy cry before it was slammed down and crushed with a sledgehammer by the more realistic side of her. Turning her head low for a second, Imu parted her lips to say something before there came a shake of the head and a murmur, "Whether I like it or don't, that's not how Miyabi is programmed mentally." Before Katsuragi could interject, she raised a finger and said, "I've known her since we were children and every thought she's ever had about this kind of thing, she's shared with me… And she will only have that kind of intimacy for one person." She sucked in a breath through her nose and remarked, "Even if she's made exceptions to some principles she held on matters of romance, she's already found that person and she's determined to make it work."

Katsuragi remained quiet for a second before lifting up an arm and clapping the girl's shoulder resolutely, "Well, for your own sake then, maybe you should still let her know." Just as Imu moved to object, she pressed her face closer and said, "Hey, I wasn't done. Shut up a bit before you spout any other dreary words," before taking a cooling breath. Then Katsuragi stated, "Look, if you're still hopeful of something happening between you two, then I can only tell you that taking some kind of action is the only way forward." She raised a hand, "Sure, it would mean sharing Miyabi with someone else… but if he not only bares it with Asuka and Homura but also encourages it, he'll do the same for you."

On the other side of the room, Homura loudly sneezed and muttered as Imu pondered the thought for a moment. She then tilted her glasses upwards and stated, "Regardless of whether he'd encourage it or not, it all depends on Miyabi… and I don't see her wanting two people."

"Then you need to decide for yourself whether you can suck down your feelings," retorted Katsuragi without a hint of backing down. When the other girl fell silent and offered no response, she took a step forward, "It might be too early to ask this… but do you see yourself getting over Miyabi? Or, if nothing else, do you see the feelings you have for her driving a wedge between you two?" For a brief moment, Katsuragi stepped away before rounding back, "If you start to distance yourself, she'll be left wondering why her best friend is suddenly separating from her. For all the history you guys have, I believe that would hurt a whole lot more than a rejection that could be worked through…"

Imu faced was pulled downward as she thought to herself for a second. She scratched her cheek, then her neck, and then the back of her head before letting out a confused and frustrated groan. She then started to say with a frown, "You know, I didn't figure you'd ever act like a… wise older sister-," but her expression quickly froze.

Katsuragi, unaware of what Imu had noticed, haughtily tilted her chin up into the air, "Yup, yup… Big sister Kat is who I am. I'm also pretty awesome…" before she caught onto the silence and stared at the girl in confusion. She then followed her gaze and jumped upon finding that everyone else in the room was staring at them.

Ryōbi and Ryōna were taking slow and small steps to the two girls, completely unsure of what to say about what was visibly a volatile matter. Homura was scratching at her cheek, wondering if she was supposed to say something since she was related to the matter at hand while Yumi was inching toward her with similar confusion. Oda, on the other hand, had retreated from the room entirely and acted like he heard nothing while talking with a company on the phone to get the shattered bathroom door replaced. As far as he was concerned, the relationships of everyone involved was their own business. If he could help them and keep them safe, he certainly would, but the internal affairs between the young man and the girls was completely off-limits.

Katsuragi, seeking to smooth the situation over, began to wave her hands around in a way that was not unlike a mystical shaman, "You all~ did not hear an-y-thing~…" before bobbing her shoulders, "Capeesh?"

"I'm out!" cried Imu as she zipped to the living area's window and flung it open. Before anyone could say anything, she jumped out and proceeded to descend from the building in record time.

The room fell silent with no one taking the initiative to say anything. Awkward glances were exchanged and a silent pact to not unnecessarily share what was said had been formed. Then, seeking to break the silence, Yumi murmured, "Ah… We should be good to go…" before raising up her phone to show that she'd called the young man and Miyabi, "They're still going out so… No need to wait up…"

There was not a single disagreement and everyone took the excuse to leave. The only one who stayed was Oda as he continued to do a bit of cleaning through the apartment.

Around half an hour later, the young man and Miyabi were making their way to a ticket vendor outside of a theater. While it could be said that both were in high spirits, the boy was feeling slightly out of his element. A few nonsensical people would say it was because he was on a date, which he would refute by saying he was catching on after his experiences with Asuka, Homura, and Murasaki. In fact, he even felt comfortable with small public displays of affection. He held no embarrassment for his relationship and would be happy to show it off at any time. The problem was that the young man was currently trying to balance out walking with a sassy cat stuffed down his shirt and being clung onto by a woman who took her sex appeal to an extreme. When they first went for a jog, Miyabi dressing up in a tight sports bra and spats gave him the impression that she knew how to dress when she wanted to be attractive. In going out that day, he got the impression that her dress options were actually either extremely casual or completely arousing nukes.

Holding onto the young man with an arm wrapped over his shoulder after she had transformed out of her shinobi form, Miyabi was wearing a black t-shirt that curved up enough to put her midriff on display. In addition to that and just how well it fitted her physique, she was wearing a similarly dark skirt that ran halfway down her thighs with some thigh-high socks pulled up to snap just past her kneecap. In addition to all of Miyabi's other features, driving the young man almost crazy was the bands of said socks that were slightly pushing into her skin in a way that permeated attractiveness. He didn't know if she was doing it on purpose or not but it marked the second time, provided their group karaoke outing wasn't counted, that he was left speechless by her fashion.

Meanwhile, in Miyabi's mind, she was commending herself for her very deliberately chosen wardrobe for that day. She learned a much-needed experience after her first bout in trying to impress the young man: revealing clothes that put her body mostly on display would end up leaving her body fully on display, especially if there was a Ryōna in the general vicinity. Thus, with that new bit of learning, she had taken to wearing otherwise standard clothes that had a few effective features, according to the internet. So, with a silent thanks to all the exercise that toned her stomach and to the thigh fat that was being pushed in by her socks, she merrily continued on her way with her arm around the young man.

But, as always, a problem reared its ugly head when Chomubach had started to get antsy while they were just approaching the ticket vendor. As the young man produced his wallet and prepared to pull out the money that would be needed, the cat proceeded to knead her paws into his stomach affectionately. The boy's face tightened up as the tickling sensations began to assault him and he had to bite his teeth down to not let out a bubbling chuckle. Then he heard the dreaded words, "Next in line," and had to put on his poker face.

Fearing the worst outcome, Miyabi's once cheery face quickly became much more forced with a smile that said she was praying to every god for everything to go well. As they approached the counter, she turned to the young man and asked quietly, "Are… you sure it's a good idea bringing a cat along…? They're not allowed in theaters, you know…"

The boy started, "That's why-, ngh…!" before he was cut off by the cat poking her nose at his chest. He then straightened his jaw with a shake of the head and said through his teeth, "…That's why she's being hidden in the first place…"

"Why the need to bring her at all again…?" came Miyabi's voice as it rose higher in panic, guiding the boy along before they were cut in line.

A hiss came from the young man's throat, "Because she was clinging…! When she clings, she won't let go…! HU-ack…!" but had to silence himself as a cat tongue was scraping against the top of his stomach. He started to shakily say, "…Li-, Like it or don't… we're stuck with her for-," before speaking completely normally to the ticket vendor, "Two tickets to-," and facing Miyabi, "What movie was it?"

The woman's face lit up and adopted an evidently forced expression of relaxation, "Oh, the movie was A Summer on the Prairie."

"Two tickets to-, A Summer on the Prairie? Ah-, Two tickets to A Summer on the Prairie, please?" When a second passed and the cat continued to toy with him beneath his shirt, he begged quietly, "…Please…"

The ticket vendor, an old woman with squinty eyes, tilted her head to the side for a moment before pointing to his chest, "Just to be sure, you're not sneaking in any food or drinks, are you?"

At that point, the young man and Miyabi were confronted with the problem they were expecting to face. Chomubach, while not overweight, was still a fairly grown cat and her figure was easily sticking out when lumped onto the young man's chest. Even worse, Miyabi knew that the boy would not be able to lie effectively enough to get their way in. So, she acted quickly by gripping his shoulder and telling the vendor, "Oh! Ma'am, please…! He has a condition and is sensitive about it…" before facing the boy expectantly. If there was one strength among the young man's failings at deception, it was his ability to roll with whatever he was given.

He did not disappoint when he cradled Chomubach's form with both of his arms, "It's not food or drink ma'am…" before effectively sniffing his nose, as though he were on the verge of tears.

The woman quirked a brow in confusion, "I've never heard of a condition that looks quite like that…" before thinking to herself for a second. She then clicked her fingers, "Is it… what's it called-, that condition where fat grows in one particular area of the body…?"

Miyabi would have been content to agree and move on but the young man decided to up the ante by shaking his head, "If… you must know, it's a cyst that grew beneath a mole… It's supposed to get operated on again soon but… it just keeps coming back. I'm trying a new doctor… but-, ah."

He would have rambled on if it wasn't for the look from Miyabi that blatantly said under her breath, "Shut up. We've already convinced her."

In the meantime, the old woman was simply tutting her mouth and said, "It's a rough experience, I'm sure," before pointing a finger at the boy, "but you shouldn't be tearing up about it since you're out with a lady." She then gestured for the two to pay for their tickets and watched as the young man offered the cash with a blank face. Nodding with approval, the vendor continued, "At least you're getting one thing right in paying for the date," before raising up a hand to cover up her mouth, "though you should know that ladies don't like emotion. Keep straight, stand tall, compliment her, and suck up whatever is ailing you. You especially need to play by those rules since you have a condition like that."

Deciding that he really, really did not like the old lady in front of him, the young man silently took the tickets and change that were offered his way shortly after and allowed himself to be dragged along by Miyabi into the theater. Still irritated by what the vendor had to say and the fact that Chomubach had ceased her squirming immediately after the trial was passed, he danced his head back and forth mockingly, "Don't ladi-dadi-da… ne-de-de-de-de…" before giving a decisive shake of his head, "I'll cry if I wanna cry, hag…"

Miyabi looked to him in confusion, "Is that a hill you'd die on and argue for in public?"

"Not with some crotchety witch, if I can get away," said the young man as he patted at Chomubach in thanks for keeping silent through the encounter. When the woman continued to give him a teasing look that egged him on a bit, he stated frankly, "Hey, I've already said and vented my piece. I promise to not make a scene. Pineapples."

"Well, I'm glad you've cooled-," started Miyabi before she straightened her neck and reeled back her head with raised brows, "Pineapples?"

"Ah," grunted the young man before he embarrassedly scratched at his cheek, "It's a lesser-used saying from some part of the United States, according to my grandfather. In short, it means something along the lines of 'I'm ready to change the subject if you are' or something along those lines…" The boy paused for a second before adding, "Honestly, I think he was just looking for an excuse to randomly blurt the name of a fruit he likes whenever he got frustrated in an argument."

Miyabi blankly stared ahead for a few seconds before murmuring to herself again, "…Pineapples…?"

"I dunno!" cried the young man defensively as he sucked in the corners of his mouth, "It's what he said! Pineapples!"

"…Pineapples…"

Thoroughly ready to drop the whole discussion, the young man shook his head as the pair walked into the main lobby of the theater. He spotted the snack counters ahead and instinctively commented with a pointing finger, "Look, let's get some-," before his throat shriveled up into a husky breath of air. Upon remembering the fact that the only money he had on him was the change he'd received at the counter along with a few extra coins, he immediately cut himself off and scrambled to say, "Our seats-, let's get our seats."

Still breaking away from the discussion on pineapples, Miyabi turned to the young man and went, "Ah, alright." But just as they were about to make their way to the theater, she also spotted the counters and asked, "But won't you be hungry at all? Have you eaten today?"

"I'll be fine," answered the young man, whose stomach suddenly gurgled a second after. Miyabi stared at him before her upper eyelids drooped wearily. In response, the boy averted his gaze and stated, "I'm digesting. I had takeout earlier and it was very spicey and it upset my stomach and a movie about summers and prairies is waiting for us. Let's go."

The woman leaned her head down to him sternly, "You're not just saying that because you're lacking money and are too afraid to say anything, are you…?"

Biting the inside of his cheeks, the young man could only turn to her and stare with his mouth completely sucked in.

Soon after, they were taking their seats in the theater with a few bags of snacks at their sides. After a few seconds of silence between the two, Miyabi craned her head to her date and poked at his shoulder, "You know that you could have just said something right? I wouldn't have minded."

"Mmngh…" grumbled the boy as he shrunk down shamefully, "…I mean, I was the one who suggested the date…"

"And?" asked Miyabi with a flick to the side of his head, which brought out a dissatisfied groan, before she said frankly, "I'm aware of your situation. Plus, more importantly that…" She paused for a second to lift a hand to the underside of the young man's jaw to make him face her, "…dating is a partnership. We'll balance each other out when needed."

Feeling a bit defensive and babied by the hand underneath his chin, the young man pulled away slightly and grumbled, "Still… I offered the date…" Miyabi's rebuttal was a swift and painless karate chop to the top of his head, bringing out a quiet but humored, "Ow."

"Part-ner-ship," said the woman before she reclined into her seat, "Take some time to think on it and I think you'll be more relieved than not."

The young man would have stubbornly continued if it weren't for two things anchoring him back. The first thing was the fact that Miyabi's logic was sound and there wasn't much room to be argued. She understood his situation and, while he would have continued to argue that their particular date was his responsibility, it was common for more serious couples to perform such an act. The second and more pressing thing that kept him from going on was the sight of a face that was too familiar to ignore. Sitting just in front of them with a broad body that looked like it wanted to shrink away and disappear was Takatsukasa Sugiyama.

Upon recognizing someone that wasn't only his peer in school but was also someone who was recently made aware of the existence of shinobi, or their abilities and activity at least, the young man turned to Miyabi with his mouth straight as he pointed to the giant. The woman blinked and turned to the figure in front of them. Her eyes then turned sharp and wide before she muttered, "How long has he been there…?"

The young man whispered back, "He might hear us… We should talk later…"

Of course, Takatsukasa quickly remarked, "Indeed, I can hear you," and proceeded to straighten himself, no longer trying to look inconspicuous. He quickly turned around and held out some cash, "Take this and, please, go away."

Miyabi quickly acted by raising her hands and said, "Look, we aren't here for you. We just want to watch the movie."

"Right…" grumbled Takatsukasa, "…two secretive agent-people walk into a theater and are here to watch a comedy-drama…" He then pointed his finger accusingly, "Don't try to fool me! Aside from it being a bad time to capture and interrogate me, now is a really bad time." Before any retort could be offered, he pressed his intense-looking face toward the young man, "Again… This is a…" and said with great emphasis, "RE-E-E-A-A-A-AL-LY bad time… I'm on a date."

The smaller boy held out a hand, "Well, so are we and-, hold up. Two things have me paused right now." He turned to Miyabi, "This movie is a comedy-drama…? I won't lie, I didn't expect you to make that kind of choice."

Miyabi straightened herself and sputtered, "Well, it wouldn't typically be my first choice… but I wanted to try something new and the internet really recommended it for starting couples."

Sensing the embarrassment in her tone, the young man waved his hands back and forth, "No judgments, no judgments. It was just unexpected." He then turned his attention to Takatsukasa, "Though, more importantly, you have a date too?"

"Yes," grunted the taller boy before he shook the hand, which was still gripping some cash, "Get out of here."

"We're not going to do anything or interfere!" shot back the young man before he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned up his head and found one of the theater attendants, a kind-looking boy with soft features.

Before the young man could apologize for his volume, the attendant calmly put a finger over his lips. Then his face very suddenly turned aggressive with eyes that practical glowed a bloody red and he roared, "SHADDUP!" As the shock of being yelled at set in for the three teenagers, the soft features returned to his expression and he waved politely before excusing himself.

Takatsukasa was the first one to recover and promptly grumbled, "Well, I'd best be going…"

"Sugiyama," came a feminine voice from the end of the row. Upon hearing his first name so sweetly called upon, the giant of a boy froze and lowered his chin down. Then, making the young man do a doubletake, Miss Osatani, the boys' homeroom teacher, was casually strolling down to the empty seat beside Takatsukasa. She started to say with some enthusiasm etched into her often stern voice, "Sorry for the wait. There was a line to the… bathroom…" before it also died.

Suddenly, it'd become a four-way standoff. Miyabi was staring confusedly between the two students and their teacher, the young man was still trying to process the newfound information, Takatsukasa was facing forward and trying to act like there was nothing wrong with the world, and Osatani looked as though her entire career had turned into a thread that was about to be cut in half by a scandal, mostly because it was a very real threat. Then, without any prompting, Chomubach produced her head from the top of the young man's shirt and shook herself after having woken up from her extensive nap. She then innocently let out a, "Mer."

Osatani immediately turned away and said, "Well, what a coincidence finding two of my students here. Well, time for me to go. Enjoy the movie."

The young man immediately raised up a hand, "We're not blind and deaf, ma'am."

Immediately, the older woman jumped onto her seat, kowtowed, and clasped her hands to plead with a shaking head, "I beg you. Do not tell anyone about this."

"It's okay, Tanaka," fired Takatsukasa valiantly as he thumped his chest as a knight of old would, "I have something to hang over their heads. They can't blackmail us!" A soda can was suddenly chucked from the side of the theater and it beaned the large boy on the side of the head. When he turned back over, the same theater attendant from before was glaring daggers as he disappeared around a corner. Staring silently for a moment, Takatsukasa then threw his arms into the air, "What… I can't get angry when we're about to get blackmailed…" before pointing to the young man, "but he can have a cat sticking out of his shirt…?"

Chomubach answered with a showy and smug, "Me-er~."

Miyabi, wanting to see the situation come to an end, aggressively pointed a finger to Takatsukasa, "Nobody is going to blackmail you!" Right on cue, a bag of chips was fired like a missile from the opposite end of the theater. In one grand movement, the woman snatched out of the air, ripped them open, and stared at the offender. Upon finding the same kind-faced attendant giving them all a demonic look from afar, she grabbed a chip from the bag and took an overdramatic bite from out of it before locking her eyes back onto her opponent. The attendant stared for a moment before nodding with a proud smile, saluting, and disappearing as a pedestrian walked by.

"Seriously," grumbled the young man, "which of the Olympians decided to come down to the world of mortals for the sake of screwing with us today…?"

Ignoring the attendant after her victory, Miyabi began to speak to Takatsukasa and Osatani, "We're just here to watch-," before another bag of chips flew at her. Not expecting it that time, the woman was unable to dodge and took the snacks right into the side of her head. She whirled her head around and found that attendant had already disappeared again. Letting out a furious huff from her nose, she heatedly hissed to the couple in front of her, "We're watching the movie too. Nothing more. Carry on," and sat next to the young man, who looked as though he was sitting next to a ticking time bomb with how wide in fright his eyes were.

Takatsukasa and Osatani exchanged looks with one another before the former commented, "Well… we might just need to leave the theater anyway…"

"Then do so," grumbled Miyabi with crossed arms, "We," before throwing one around the young man's neck, "will be watching this movie. Your business is yours and I don't think either of us really care." She turned down to the boy locked in her elbow, "Right?"

Having never felt himself in the crosshairs of Miyabi's rage since before they became friends, the young man straightened himself and murmured, "Yup. We're just here for the movie."

Figuring that they were in the clear, Osatani looked to Takatsukasa, "Well… if they're just watching the movie…"

The larger boy's eyes practically fell with shock, "You can't be serious."

Osatani shrugged, "Well, it's an old movie that can't be seen in theaters too often." She then straightened herself, "Besides, didn't you say you also had information on them? They can't rat you out without us ratting them out. We'll be fine."

Not bothering to comment that his and Miyabi's secret came with the backing of the government, the young man simply raised a finger and stated, "She's right you know. We should all just watch the movie…" before worriedly turning over to his date, whose arms he was still locked in, "…without hurting anyone."

At first, Miyabi looked offended, "What, are you saying I'd start a fight-," before she noticed just how tightly she was hanging onto the young man. Her face fell and she released him, "Oh… sorry…"

As the couple in front of them warily took their seats, the young man commented, "No problem. Truth be told, minus the intensity of your grip, I really didn't mind."

Just as the movie was beginning to start, with the attendant from before peacefully watching over it all with a smile, Miyabi forced on a smile in an attempt to ignore the couple in front of them and tilted her head, "Oh?" before throwing her arm back around the young man.

Feeling as though he were being partially hugged with the arm on his neck, the boy let out a merry sigh and murmured, "Not at all…"

"You two are making me sick," came Takatsukasa's spiteful comment from ahead of them.

Miyabi's voice hissed violently, "Don't start a fight that you can't finish."

Backing her up, Osatani gave a gentle thwap to her date's shoulder, "Sugi, don't be mean…" before giving a pleased shake of her shoulders, "Honestly, I think it's sweet."

"I wholeheartedly disagree," came the larger boy's grumbly voice, "and don't call me Sugi in front of them…"

"Well," said Osatani as she sat up straight and confidently, "if hugging is so disgusting to you," before she covered her mouth and leaned toward him, "just what was your impression of a couple nights ago?"

Immediately, the young man sat back into his seat and leaned onto the arm to the woman beside him to mumble, "Well… not to spoil the mood of this movie but I don't think I'll be getting much out of it at this point…" Miyabi, red in the face by the older woman's implications, simply nodded and stared off into space as she dwelled on the line of thoughts that followed after.

As it would turn out, the four of them would eventually be able to immerse themselves into the movie without acknowledging each other, though it did require about twenty minutes of mentally suppressing the thought of Osatani and Takatsukasa's sexual activities to do so. After that, the movie about a young boy and girl reluctantly meeting and living on a farm because of some expositive circumstances followed after. They bickered, they fought, they fell in love, there was a misunderstanding, they fought some more, they confessed their love in a big rainstorm, and they lived happily ever after on the farm. It wasn't special but it did get some laughs out of the young man, Miyabi, and Osatani. Takatsukasa maintained a stone-like face but he could be seen smirking or snickering on occasion. When it was all done, both groups marched to the opposite exits of the theater and did their utmost to avoid each other for the rest of the day.

Miyabi quickly questioned the young man once they were out of earshot from the other couple, "So… what's your impression of your teacher and classmate dating…?"

"Instinctively? Uncomfortable," came his quick remark followed by a shiver. Before any other remark could come his way, he added, "Yet, I do know that Takatsukasa is pretty much a grown-ass man." With a dismissive shrug, the young man stated, "Besides, I'm in a relationship with five women… so I can't really judge relationships by how weird or unusual they are." He then turned to Miyabi, "What about your thoughts?"

"About the same as yours," said the woman as she rubbed her chin for a second, "I'd say the only difference is that I don't view what we have to be as weird… We may be in a six-way relationship but at least we're all around the same age group…" Then, after taking her own age into account, Miyabi added quietly, "Well, roughly…" In trying to get her mind back on track, she started to say, "Anyways, regardless of us, I know I was conflicted when your teacher said she had se-eh-x…" but cut herself off as sudden intrusive lines of thought started to eat at her.

"I know what you mean there," said the young man, "For now, I'm just going to try and not think about it. That's a subject I'm keeping away with a five-meter stick." The boy popped on a smile and said, "Well, let me the conversation to something more positive and less… that. I've noticed that you've been less flustered with me today…" Upon remembering all of the times where she would jump with a flustered expression at the sight of him and how she'd been very forward in doting on him that particular day, he added, "I'd even say you were pretty bold. So… hey, good on ya." Yet, when the only noise they had going from there was the sound of everyone around them, their conversation fell to silence and Miyabi's face could be seen visibly staring off into space. The young man took notice and asked her as they left the theater behind, "Are you alright?"

Miyabi jumped and faced him to quickly say, "Fine!" and waited for a few seconds to breath and more calmly reply, "I'm fine, truly."

The young man stared for a moment before raising a hand, "I'm not the best at reading in-between the lines… but I don't think saying you're fine actually means your fine."

"No, really," said Miyabi as she raised both of her palms to into the air, "I'm doing okay…"

An idea popped into the young man's head and he stared off with straight lips. He then said to her, "Are you… thinking about Jirō or-," but was cut off.

"No, believe me when I say that I'm not," retorted Miyabi with an expression of sincere honesty. She patted the boy's shoulder and continued, "I'll be fine because, like I said earlier, it's something that's a bit easier for me to work past. Don't worry about Jirō anymore."

"Ah," mumbled the young man before his eyes turned away for a few seconds. He then faced her agin, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what're you thinking about then?"

Miyabi's eyes went wide and she stared at the boy for a few seconds. She then sucked a long breath into her nose and huskily said, "You don't want to know…"

The young man pressed his face closer, "If it's something bothering you-," before he was interrupted again.

"I'll talk to you about it eventually, trust me on that…" babbled Miyabi as she shrunk her head down, "…but I cannot-, I repeat. I cannot talk about it right now."

Staring blankly and confusedly, the young man tilted his head to the side and turned down to Chomubach. In that moment, the cat was comfortably rubbing her back into the boy's chest while still stuffed into his shirt. She then craned her head up to the underside of his jaw and gave a long rub with the top of her head. In the end, the young man shrugged to Miyabi, "Well, like we agreed earlier: anytime you need someone to talk to, I'm there," before he began to pleasantly rub his knuckles into Chomubach's head.

Letting out a sigh of relief at being let off the hook, Miyabi turned her head away for a moment so that she could vent a hot breath as her face turned red. While the young man was distractedly petting a steadily more demanding cat in his shirt, the woman rose up her hands and cupped her cheeks as she thought about two issues that spun her head into circles.

The first thing that had popped into her head shortly after thinking about Osatani's remark… Frankly, Miyabi was dwelling on the prospect of sex in her relationship and when it would be either expected or appropriate for her and the young man to commit such an act. She had little to no knowledge beyond the basics in the matter but she did know that it was common enough for teenagers and young adults to take part in it. Suddenly, just as Miyabi was beginning to cool down, the image of her and the young man making a bunch of groaning sounds as they were wildly and nakedly tackling each other onto a bed popped into her mind. As quickly as she gained her composure, steam had begun to vent from Miyabi's nose and it showed no sign of stopping.

Turning over to see Miyabi quaking, the young man asked, "Are you sure you're alright? Whatever it is, I won't judge you for it."

"Hush…" grunted Miyabi as she raised both of her hands to cover her face.

Shortly after her train of thought regarding the prospect of sex with the young man ended, the second subject that she was dreading intrusively popped back into her mind. It did little to embarrass her but it did become a sudden cause for stress.

The young man and Miyabi were a part of a group relationship. When the time for sexual activity would begin for them, how would it be arranged and what were they all as a team going to do about it? Would they be unanimous in handling it and whatever ideas came forward… or would everyone be fighting an impossible battle with one another? Miyabi didn't know and, as embarrassing as it was to think about something she wasn't experienced in, she knew that it would be coming up in the future and that it would be best to prepare earlier than later…


	58. Chapter 58: Coaxing and Temptation

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 58: Coaxing and Temptation

**May 1 – "One must be wary of the fact that an act of seduction could accidentally bridge into the severest kind of discomfort."**

Miyabi didn't get much sleep at all through the night nor did she focus very well through her spars that day. Almost everyone else in the Hebijo elite supposed that it had something to do with her father, who oversaw all of the drills that morning and afternoon as per usual. Yet, even when the spiteful man was sending glares her way, Miyabi had scarcely taken notice since she'd already mentally set him aside. To her, he was Jirō, the principal and leading figure of the academy who happened to have blood relation to her. There was nothing more and only a slight amount of discontent feelings, though those weren't so bothersome. Instead, her ailment was one much simpler and less dramatic. Causing her lack of sleep and stuttered sparring techniques was the fact that she was stuck on a question about her relationship: how would a sex life work with her particular arrangement?

Aggressively rubbing her hands through her hair and mumbling anxious gibberish under her breath, Miyabi couldn't even fully contemplate the question. To first find a solution to it, she knew it would be best to ask everyone else who was involved, especially the one who would likely be at the center of attention. But, whenever Miyabi reached to her phone to speak with the young man, she would completely shutdown and break out into even more scrambled murmurs than before. No matter how much she'd rile herself up and no matter how much she'd acknowledge the need for it to be done, the woman would always regress into a state akin to how she was with the boy before. For all the progress she showed in being calm and confident with him the prior day, she'd only become more red in the face than she ever had.

Interrupting her line of thought, Murasaki stuck her face out in front of Miyabi's in the elite's breakroom, "You're sick today, right?"

Blinking confusedly, the woman let out a yelp and collected herself. She reclined back onto the chair she was sitting on and defensively crossed her arms, "No, not at all… Perfectly fine, actually. Just mentally occupied."

"You know," called Ryōbi from the other side of the room as she collected a can of juice from a minifridge, "at first, I thought this was about your father."

"Jirō," corrected Miyabi.

The twin-tailed girl continued unabated with a slow nod, "But you've been like this since last night…" before pointing an accusing finger, "…and I recognize that shade of red."

Miyabi tilted her head to the side for a moment as she repeated, "Shade of red…" before her hands reached up to her heated face. Realizing that she must have been flushed after all of her thoughts through the day, she muttered, "Oh-," before another wide-eyed realization hit her, "Wait, you recognize it!?"

Ryōbi narrowed her eyes in a way that said she knew much more than she was ever supposed to, "I've seen that same shade on Ryōna's cheeks."

Knowing that her pride and standing as a reputable leader was at stake, Miyabi straightened herself, "Everyone's body reacts to things differently. I'm just a bit warm today… Maybe I have a cold."

Murasaki came in with a quiet, "You said you were perfectly fine thirty seconds ago."

The woman's head shrunk and her gaze was averted away, "I was lying."

"Why would you lie?"

"I… didn't want to burden you with what I know to be a very serious illness." As if to illustrate her point, Miyabi ducked her mouth into an elbow and proceeded to cough in a very convincingly serious manner.

Ryōbi uttered under her breath, "You went from perfectly fine to a cold and now you sound like death… Make up your mind…"

"Miyabi…" uttered Murasaki as her eyes narrowed dangerously. Then, after sniffing lightly and recoiling in what seemed to be shock, the girl shook her head and stated, "I can smell it on you plainly…"

The woman stared blankly before scrunching her entire body atop the couch, "What can you smell…?"

Murasaki answered plainly, "Enough lust to drown out Ryōna's masochistic tendencies."

Ryōbi let out a quick shriek, "Hellfire on ice!" before she wrapped her arms around herself defensively, "Keep away! I don't think we can handle that much, pervert!"

At the same time, Miyabi had gripped the collar of Murasaki's uniform and proceeded to shake her back and forth, "NO! Don't you lie! You know that's not true, liar! You're exaggerating to a degree that's impossible! There's no way it could ever be that high because nothing can be that high! Apologize for your lies!"

When she was done being shook around, Murasaki only looked up with unblinking eyes, "Search yourself, Miyabi… you know it to be true…" before prodding her own nose, "This doesn't lie…"

A loud scream full of shame rocked its way through the academy, "NO!"

Where she was skipping innocently in her search for something to do, Ryōna paused midstep and said to herself, "I feel insulted for some reason…" before moaning and hugging her shoulders, "…and it feels wonderful~!"

Back in the common room of the elites, Miyabi was hyperventilating to herself while murmuring under her breath, "I'm not a pervert. I'm not a pervert. I'm not pervert." At one point, she looked to Ryōbi for confirmation, "I'm not a pervert, right?"

There was no mercy in the first-year's words, "Well, if you're red in the face like the way you are, have a greater stockpile of lust that dwarfs even Ryōbi, and you feel the need to ask the question in the first place… Yeah, you're probably a pervert."

Miyabi sniffed her nose in resignation before curling up into a fetal position on the couch. Sitting next to her and not quite meeting her eye, Murasaki said quietly as she awkwardly patted the woman's hair, "We… should probably talk with everyone else soon… Who knows what you'll do if you're not handled…?"

Miyabi looked up offendedly, "What do you mean by that…?"

The purple-haired girl remained quiet for a second before turning her head further away, "When you were faced with temptation at the Millennium Festival, you were pretty indulgent… And, again, you do have a fairly powerful drive of lust right now…" She finally turned and met the woman's eyes, "How do we know if you can restrain yourself?"

Realizing that Murasaki was insinuating a potential sexual assault on the young man, Miyabi straightened her head into the air and cried in a shrill voice, "You think I would force myself on him!?" When she was met with silence and caught a shake of Ryōbi's head in the corner of her eye, she yelled in an even louder voice, "Do the both of you actually think I would do such a thing!?"

Ryōbi looked to her uneasily, "Well, Ryōna has enough lust as it is… And if yours is apparently higher…"

Murasaki had a similar expression, "I mean, it's not like you're at Haruka's level yet… but…"

Miyabi stomped onto her feet, "I cannot believe either of you!" before she wrenched a hand down to her pocket and ripped out her phone, "Fine, if you're so sure about it, I'll text everyone else and we'll hold an emergency meeting today!"

"Tomorrow," said Murasaki with a finger in the air.

Miyabi jutted up her head aggressively, "Why tomorrow?"

As an ominous air began to fill the room, Murasaki lowered her head for a moment before answering slowly but frankly, "Because today is Yumi's date."

"Oh," said Miyabi as she shivered from the cold that was suddenly filling the room, "Ah… tomorrow it is then."

"Indeed," said Murasaki, who hadn't blinked at all since she corrected her leader.

There was a bit of silence before Ryōbi questioned in an exasperated tone, "Alright, seriously… what's up with you all of a sudden. You look like a foreboding child in a horror movie right now."

Raising her chin as theatrically as she could, Murasaki whispered with only a slow blink beforehand, "…Yumi decided that her date is taking place at Gessen Academy…"

Lightning flashed outside the windows and thunder immediately followed. Deciding that she'd had enough of the thriller movie atmosphere, Ryōbi approached Murasaki and thwapped her hard on the shoulder, "Stop it."

Murasaki shrunk away a bit and murmured, "Sorry," before she began to retreat out of the room, leaving the two other women to be confused about why she was so ominous. Ultimately, she wouldn't tell them right away since she knew it wouldn't do any good at the immediate moment, especially with Miyabi in such a fragile state of mind due to her stench of perversion… But eating away at the back of Murasaki's mind was the fact that Yumi had enough lust to par with the woman about a week before… Who was to say that she wouldn't develop onto the same level that Miyabi had grown to or, even worse, what if she already had?

Lightning flashed over Gessen Academy before another roar of thunder rumbled through the area. Staring blankly ahead as he marched to the same secretive side door that he'd been instructed to use, the young man was commenting to himself on how long it had been since he;d witnessed a proper thunderstorm. There was nothing wrong with extensive periods of sunshine, of course, but there was something soothing to be found in rain. Between the dim gray of the clouds and the satisfying sounds of water getting splashed up by traffic, he was pleased by the cozy atmosphere that seemed to come down to the city… aside from the occasional sudden roar of thunder, which would always surprise him and make him flinch in the slightest way.

But, as he opened the side door and closed his umbrella, his focus was diverted from the storm and placed onto a smartly dressed Minori on the other end of the entrance hall. She gave a curt bow and enthusiastically said in a voice that so desperately wanted to sound reserved, "Good day to you, sir!" before gesturing to a sliding door that lead into the shinobi complex of the building, "Your appointment is this way~."

The young man didn't have any expectations for his date with Yumi, mostly because of the fact that he'd been kept in the dark whenever it came to what she wanted to do. Even still, he found it difficult to keep his face straight and barely managed to ask in frank voice, "Minori, what're you doing?"

The girl used both of her hands to point at herself, "That's – MISS – Receptionist to you."

The young man blinked before he continued with a barely stifled smile, "Miss Receptionist, what're you doing?"

"Being a receptionist," answered Minori.

"And what duty are you acting on now?"

"Guiding a valued customer to his appointment."

"And what does my appointment entail?"

After silently enduring the standoff's quiet for a few seconds, Minori adopted a sinister glare before frowning and stating, "Mister Valued Customer… I do believe that you're asking too many questions."

Finally figuring that whatever the girl was up to was a part of Yumi's plan, the young man reeled his head back slightly and stated, "I apologize."

Minori immediately put a smile back onto her face and cheerfully quipped, "Your appointment is right this way, sir~" before thunder roared from the outside, putting a look of fright on the girl's face as she dove for the floor, "HIT THE DECK!"

Even when the rumbling was over, she stayed on the floor and shook in anticipation of the next earthshaking quake. The young man, after recovering from his own surprise by the sudden noise, walked over to Minori and offered a hand, "Are you alright…?"

The girl jumped and clung onto his elbow and stated with a nervous shake to her jaw, "Sorry, sir. It won't happen again. Right this way." When the thunder more gently roared again, her grip on the young man's arm tightened and she said with a more desperate wheeze, "…This way…"

Before he knew it, the boy was being guided through the halls of Gessen Academy while thunder continued to rock the building. At first, he was content and was indulgent to whatever plan he was being surprised by. But, as the lights of the hallway began to noticeably dimmed, he suddenly grew much more hesitant, "Hold on, why is it getting darker in here?"

"You're imagining it," stated Minori as she combated against her instinct to hide under some covers in her bedroom from the storm outside.

"No, I'm not," said the young man, "What's going on?"

Unable to both lie and hold her own against the thunder, Minori covered a hand over her mouth and whispered quietly, "Romantic atmosphere," before another round of thunder came and rumbled. The hand that was still gripping the young man's elbow tightened as she shrunk down a bit and whispered, "Unfortunately, the storm today was not anticipated…" With a shake of her head, she continued, "…It's been warm and dry all through April… but then we're hit with this on the first day of May…? No fair…"

Noticing how afraid Minori was getting, the young man commented with some slight optimism, "Well, if nothing else, it won't hurt you."

Minori turned a face lacking any amusement up to him, "Yeah, Katsuragi won't hurt anyone either. That doesn't mean she won't scare us when she jumps out."

Unable to argue, the young man uttered, "Very fair. Aside from the fact that the thunder lacks any urge to molest us. Still, fair point."

By that time, the lights in the hallway had completely dimmed. Fortunately, as a result of several midnight hide-and-seek games, Minori was still perfectly maneuvering through the darkness and the young man was smoothly guided along. Whenever the thunder would come and go, the girl would freeze up but would quickly be assured that everything was alright by a few words from the boy. They would then continue and the cycle would repeat a few times through the hallway's twists and turns before they came upon a large sliding door.

Minori gestured to it happily and said, "Our residential specialist will see you now," before bowing, "Thank you so much for-," and screamed as a loud roar of thunder interrupted her, "HU-WAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"

The young man extended a hand to the girl's shoulder to give her a few pats and was about to ask after her, especially since none of her screams at that point had sounded so gruesome. But another door within the same hallway opened up and Yozakura quickly stepped out while wearing a blue robe that was, intentionally or not, very revealing for both her legs and cleavage. She wrapped an arm around Minori, "It's okay, it's okay," and turned to the young man, "Please, head inside. Murakumo will be waiting for you," before walking away with her sister as she spoke comforting words.

The boy said nothing as he was too busy trying to figure out what was going on. When he raced through his mind, he started to put an idea together before the door he was guided to was slid open and Murakumo's mask briefly popped out, "Come in for your facial, please."

Upon hearing that, the first word that the young man uttered from his mouth was, "Spa…?" before shrugging and obeying the girl's order. Much to his dismay, he found that Murakumo was also wearing a revealing robe that was not unlike Yozakura's. He was about to question all the sneakiness and why such a spa day was organized, though he was quickly interrupted by the masked girl grabbing his hand and guiding him to a reclining chair. In a slight panic, he asked quietly, "What're we doing?"

"A facial," said Murakumo in a low voice.

"I asked the wrong question, sorry." The boy cleared his throat and continued, "Why are we doing all of this?"

Murakumo paused for a brief moment before the thunder rumbled and she turned around, "Do you want a scripted or forward answer?"

The young man thought for a moment before shrugging, "Both would be nice for comparison's sake."

Sighing loudly, Murakumo sat the boy into the reclining chair before stating, "Scripted answer." She then bowed and, after needing to readjust her mask, cheerfully announced, "Today is the day of days for comfort. Here you shall be soothed and subject to all manner of bodily care techniques to make you feel better than you have in a long time…" The girl paused before letting her shoulders fall, "Or something similar. I glazed over the script if I'm being honest."

Somewhere unseen, a string of curses was being uttered under Yumi's breath.

The young man nodded his head in understanding, "Alright, I'm getting a spa day," before rolling his hand, "What's the forward answer?"

Murakumo held nothing back as she raised a hand to cover where her mouth would be if the mask wasn't in the way, "Yumi's making a move on you." There was a loud crack of thunder.

After blinking, the young man narrowed his eyes, "Why would she need to make a move? We're already in a relationship."

Murakumo leaned closer as she could sense an aura from Yumi nearby, ordering her to shut up. Still, the girl pressed on, "You don't understand. She wants to woo you."

Either out of denial or due to an inability to believe it, the young man still did not completely understand, "I'm already wooed. She's a lady-love."

Murakumo sucked in the corner of her cheeks before reaching over and pinching the boy's, "Are you being dense on purpose?" When the young man was about to respond, she extended another hand forward and proceeded to merciless twist his face around, "Are you trying to be deliberately annoying!? If so, this is going to be the next couple of minutes!"

As his cheeks screamed from the pinching, he could only respond with groans, "No' a' all! No' a' all! Ah, 'op! Owgh-owgh, 'ea'e 'op!"

Realizing that she could actually be inflicting pain in that moment, Murakumo released her hold on the young man and earnestly said, "Sorry. I was too rough." As the boy rubbed his face, she leaned forward and stated, "Though, to make you understand what I'm saying, think carefully and without restraint. Yumi wants to be intimate with you. Put those words together."

Still holding his face and giving the occasional rub, the young man faced Murakumo and stared at her confusedly for a few seconds. Then, as two and two finally came together, his lips tightened and his eyes squinted as the thunder had a much gentler roll. A few seconds more and his eyelids soon shot apart from one another and he was staring intensely as words were slowly uttered from his mouth, "That… makes this a very… complicated situation." He turned to the door, "If that's the case, I'd better talk to her."

Murakumo raised a hand and clenched his shoulder gently but also aggressively, "I'm happy to have helped you. I prefer being honest than dancing around the truth or anything similarly stressful."

The young man turned to her, "Oh, sorry. Thank you. This was greatly appreciated-," and quickly realized that he was caught in an iron grip.

When quaked in her hold, she responded by saying, "I was happy to be honest," before she craned her head closer, "though that doesn't mean I won't be fulfilling my sisterly obligation in giving you a facial."

Putting the string of words together, the young man retorted, "I don't think that's actually a natural sisterly obligation."

"I regard it as one."

"But you don't have to."

"I want to."

"Well… damn."

After being forcefully sat into the reclining chair and having most of his body covered by a smock, the young man commented, "I'm pretty sure this qualifies as kidnapping or unlawful imprisonment."

"You're getting a free facial and other spa treatments," stated Murakumo as she grabbed a bottle of moisturizer and splashed some onto her hand, "Some people need to pay thousands upon thousands for this kind of thing. I'd sit back and enjoy it."

Looking at the glob in one of the girl's hands before she proceeded to smack it against the other as thunder rumbled the building again, the young man commented, "I really do think it'd be important for me to speak to Yumi right about now."

"At least indulge us," said Murakumo as she thoroughly rubbed her hands together, "She already did us a whole bunch of favors and we had to do a whole lot of research and drills to perfect our treatments." She kneeled down slightly, "For the sake of us not having wasted all of this time, please just go with it."

"That's a shame," stated the young man, "I'd still like to speak with Yumi. I'll pay the favor of your guys' time back another day."

Murakumo stared for a few seconds before lowering her head, "You can be such a dickhead."

"Indeed, I am a dickhead."

In the face of his confirmation, the girl could only sigh with exasperation. She then clapped her hands together, "You'll be able to speak with Yumi in due time. Please, I am going to beg you… Sit down and just work with us."

About to offer another vehement refusal, the young man paused in the middle of his first syllable before taking a moment to think about it. Then, figuring that he wasn't personally bothered by spa procedures and that he would eventually be able to speak with Yumi if he went with it, he nodded his head, "Alright, alright," before resting back against the chair with a sour expression.

Murakumo pleasantly clapped her hands together, "Awesome," before she raised up her hands and steadily drifted them toward the boy's face, "To be honest, I'm a bit more excited to try this than I should be."

When her twiddling fingers were a few inches from his face, the young man asked, "Wait. Question, question. Why do I get the feeling that this isn't normal?"

Murakumo proceeded to smack her hands into his face before blindly rubbing away at him and saying, "Well, if I'm being honest, this isn't how spas typically do it at all." It was only seconds before the young man began to yell out for help, though his cries went ignored, "However, we don't have the budget to buy all of the necessary items so we had to improvise and just get a bunch of moisturizers." Unaware of the fact that her fingers were completely roughing up the boy's nose, cheeks, and temples, she went on to happily explain, "Don't worry. The product we got is one that Shiki recommended pretty heavily. She uses this kind of thing all the time, apparently-, wait."

Murakumo stopped for a second and the young man's head dizzily wobbled back and forth as he muttered, "…The product isn't the problem…"

The girl continued with a finger nervously raised into the air, "Just so you know, Shiki will be recording your treatment with her to post it online."

Raising his head with an expression of alarm, the young man questioned, "Hengh? Why?"

Murakumo shrugged, "I dunno. Why does anyone post anything online?" She tapped a finger to the top of her mask and raised her head a bit, "Though… I do recall her saying something along the lines of… what was-, Oh. For the views. That's what she said." Not liking the sound of that, the young man stared blankly and was about to comment as much. But before a word of his could get out, Murakumo raised her fingers to his face again and proceeded to unintentionally murder him. As she did so, her words came out happily, "Don't worry to much about Shiki. She gets photos and videos of us all at some point." She flapped one hand dismissively, "Besides, you'll have Yozakura's body treatment before that." She then stopped and posed with her hands on both hips, "Well, your improvised moisturizer facial is done. How do you feel?"

There was no response and Murakumo looked down with an expression of annoyance. It was then that she realized that the young man was knocked out and down for the count. Completely breaking down into panic, she reached down and wildly shook him back and forth, "Hey! Hey, hey! I am so sorry! Please, wake up!" before resting him back against the chair and chittering her teeth," Oh no~… Yumi is gonna kill me…"

"…Woe is you…" mumbled the young man as he reached a hand up to his face and prodded the nose, "…Does everything look okay…? Do I look like a hideous, ugly beast now…?"

Letting out a breath of relief, Murakumo commented, "No, no. You always have," before patting him on the back and saying, "I'm glad that you're not dead… or unconscious. Either would be bad for our health." She then raised a mirror and held it up, "In all seriousness, you look fine."

Looking at himself and taking in the shine of the moisturizer, the young man blinked wearily before looking up at her, "…Don't expect a tip or compliment from me…"

"No need to be shy for your masculinity's sake," said Murakumo with a laugh, "You can be honest with how much you loved it."

The young man didn't blink, "I'm not being shy. That was genuinely painful," before raising a hand to his nose and giving it a pull. After a few seconds and a pained expression on his face, a loud crack echoed through the room and he let out a sigh of relief.

Murakumo stared down before prodding her fingers together, "Improvements will be made for next time…"

As much as he wanted to say that there wasn't going to be a next time, the boy huffed a breath in the face of her ashamed display and said, "I'll… look forward to it…"

At that point, Minori busted through the wood of the sliding door and blew a whistle that hung around her neck, "We're getting behind schedule! Come on, Yozakura's-," before a violent screech of thunder completely shut her down and reduced her to balling up on the floor.

While Murakumo was lifting up one hand to her face to question the door's needless destruction, the young man was already used to that sort of structural damage and stood up to approach Minori, "Are you alright?"

The girl recovered and shot a hand up to the boy's shoulder to hoist herself back up. She then said, "Oh, I'm fine," and waved to Murakumo, "Anyways, I'll see you later! Tell Sato I said hi!"

The masked girl dropped the subject of the door and turned to the young man as Minori dragged him away, "Want me to send Sato your regards too?"

"No," came the firm answer.

As he was dragged around the corner, Murakumo shrugged and marched out to the hall so that she could wash her hands in the bathroom. Under her breath, she said, "…A different day then…"

In the meantime, Minori was popping open another door in the hallway and proceeded to grab the young man by the back of his collar to hoist him into the air, "I found him!" Before any questions could be raised about her intentions, she stretched down her arm and wrapped it around his stomach. She then lifted him into the air and spun him around a few times before tossing him into the room, to which he let out a frightened yell.

Fortunately, instead of crashing into a wall or any furniture, the young man was caught by the arms of Yozakura, who performed a magnificent spin in doing so. After confirming that he was safe, she looked to Minori in the doorway and said, "Thank you very much. It shouldn't be long before Shiki will be needed. Please make sure that she is prepared with the… item." The girl saluted in response and proceeded to shut the door.

The young man, finally recovering after having been thrown, raised up a finger and murmured to Yozakura in a quiet voice, "If you don't mind me asking… Murakumo said something about a body treatment and I was wondering what that entailed…"

Yozakura stared at him for a moment before smiling innocently, "Oh, just an improvised thing Yumi and I cooked up…" before whispering, "…though, if I'm being honest, I decided to throw in a few… ingredients… that I've always wanted to try at a spa for myself." A foreboding thunder rocked the building and told the world that something was very wrong.

Before she could continue, the young man stared at her intensely, "Are these things that you have practiced or are you just going to throw them in there for the hell of it?"

"Neither," said Yozakura straightly, "I haven't practiced it but I'm throwing it in there because I think you would genuinely enjoy it."

Tightening his face in discomfort, the young man spun a hand around to urge a few more words, "Alright, I'll indulge this idea… tell me about it."

Yozakura smiled and pull out a couple of smooth rocks from her robe's pocket, "It involves heating these up-," before she was immediately cut off.

"Vetoed until further practice and caution is exercised," stated the young man with no room for argument. When the girl tried to retort against him, he made an X with his arms, "End of discussion."

Making a whiny sound with her throat as her face fell, Yozakura murmured, "…But the videos made them look so cozy…" but then saw that the boy's mind was not one that could be changed in that moment.

So, she instead swiveled her body around and began to carry him away toward a wooden tub stationed at the center of the room. The young man arced up his head to try and see what was inside but was thwarted by a towel floating on the surface of whatever was inside. He looked to Yozakura and asked in low voice, "So… what does this treatment involve…?"

The girl's eyes narrowed and she faced away from him as she tried to summon an answer that would, at the very least, sound reasonable. But she was well aware of how much lunacy was planned into their day and that there was no dodging whatever was to come. After taking a moment to brace for a physical rebellion, Yozakura told the young man quietly, "It's a tub that is completely filled with moisturizer."

He stared at her without any visible expression before pushing his head closer to her, "What?"

Using the hand that was holding up the boy's upper body and pointed, "That entire tub is filled with moisturizer. One hundred and fifty liters of moisturizer, which costed most of our budget."

The young man stared for a moment longer and then asked, "Is it watered down or is that-," but was cut off.

"It's pure moisturizer. Nothing short of the gooiest moisturizer that any of us had ever felt. It is also Yumi's favorite moisturizer."

Unable to negate the girl's frighteningly frank tone, the young man reeled his head back with widening eyes as he asked, "Could you stop saying moisturizer…?"

Yozakura's eyes flashed devilishly as she turned the anticipation of some kind of escape attempt into something much more fun, "But there is a tub of moisturizer right there. Why would I stop saying moisturizer?"

The young man couldn't hold back anymore and began to flail his arms, "Why would anyone keep saying moisturizer in the first place!? Also, why in the hell would you fill a tub of it in the first place!? Don't you know how nonsensical that is?"

"Believe me," said Yozakura as she put on an innocent smile and kept a firm hold on him, "everyone knew. Even Yumi."

As the girl proceeded closer toward the tub and was about to drop the young man in, he cried out, "Why would any of you do it in the first place then!?"

"Well, if you must know," came an overly sweet voice from Yozakura, "Yumi was okay with it because she has a dastardly plot in mind." She then raised her chin proudly as she started to say, "As for the rest of us," before giving a toothy smile, "we just found it too absurd and hilarious to say no when we had her permission," and dropping the young man.

Yet, in the split-second that he had to act before he plummeted down to the still-covered tub, the young man latched his arms onto Yozakura's shoulders and time briefly froze as he said in an unnecessarily slow and deep voice, "Then we shall fall into death together…"

There was a joint scream between the two of them followed by a loud splash that made Minori jump as she waited just outside the door in the hallway. She shivered for a moment and held herself before commenting quietly, "…Spas are scary…" and being interrupted by another screech of thunder, which brought another yell out from her. Unwilling to be alone in the dark hallway by herself, she slammed open the door and cannonballed toward the two other people in the room, "MAKE WAY! IT'S COMING FOR ME!"

Several yells and groans followed.

In the minute that followed after the grand splash Minori caused, the three teenagers sulked in the tub without saying a word. Their expressions were of defeat and their auras were despondent. Eventually, after soaking for what felt like an eternity in the moisturizer tub, the young man commented, "This… feels… so wrong… Like, it feels like I'm bathing in the pool of sleeping slugs…"

Yozakura lifted her head and drearily mumbled, "You know, I don't think that this much moisturizer is good for the skin…"

"You'll get no sympathy from me," said the young man, "considering the fact that you were going to drop me in here by my lonesome…"

Yozakura's shoulders slumped, "I can't deny that this is probably some kind of divine retribution…"

"Your honesty is appreciated…"

At that moment, Minori cheerfully quipped, "This isn't so bad," before another bout of thunder rocked the building and she screamed and dunked her head underneath the surface of moisturizer.

Yozakura straightened herself and yelled, "Hey! Get out from under there before you drown!" She raised one arm from her side and threw it after Minori to try and fish the girl out. As she did so, against mighty resistance, she turned to the young man and pointed with her other hand toward the hallway, "Oh… You could probably make your way to Shiki right about now. She'll have a towel."

The boy stared, "And what does her treatment entail that it would require a towel…?"

"A haircut," came Yozakura's frustrated voice before she took in the doubtful expression on the young man's face and said, "Look, I'm sorry for almost dumping you into a tub full of moisturizer to suffer by your lonesome. Truly, I am." She placed a hand onto her heart and briefly released Minori to raise the other into the air, "I acknowledge that this is my wrong and, though I found the idea hilarious, I know that it would have been excessively mean to you," before going back after her sister and finished by saying, "And, I'd be a liar if I said there was… only a haircut in mind for you. But there is a haircut and it will be done by her, who is practically a professional. So, please, just go to her in the next room over while I get my sister out of here."

The young man remained quiet for a few second before pointing two fingers at his eyes and then to Yozakura, "I'll be wary of your tactics in the future." But, sensing the faintly sincere regret that the girl had, he then added as he got out of the tub, "Your apology is accepted too, just so you know."

"Appreciated."

With that, the young man exited the room and awkwardly wobbled his way toward the next room while trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of goopy moisturizer running down his body. At one point, he realized that he was still dressed in his casual clothes and that his phone was still in his pocket. He reached down to pull it out while muttering, "…Oh, this better not be fried or I will be so~ pissed…"

Just as he turned it on and let out a breath of relief to find it completely unaffected, Shiki slid open the door to the room she was in and cried in a voice that sounded very disingenuous, "My, my! What a predicament! You're drenched and look so sad… but, worst of all, look at your hair!"

Caught off guard by how stiff the girl was speaking, the young man let his eyelids droop before he asked, "Dare I ask what you're doing?"

Shiki covered her mouth to whisper, "I'm sticking to the script that Yumi gave me. Also, behave. You're going to be on a livestream." She stepped out of the room, wearing the same revealing robe that Murakumo and Yozakura were wearing, and knabbed the boy's wrist with her hand before dragging him away. Once inside, she released him, made a peace sign to a large camera on the other side of the room, and spun with her arms held up to keep him stationary, "If you have any personal items or electronic devices, now would be the time to surrender them," before holding out her hands.

Ready to go on the offensive, the young man growled, "And what are you planning here?"

"…You totally need to calm down…" Shiki whispered as tilted her head away from the camera, "We know that you must be getting a bit annoyed but you'll need to trust me when I say that you will be wonderful if everything goes according to Yumi's plan."

"I have several things to talk to her about right now," said the young man as he adopted a glare, "and pardon me if I'm not too eager to enjoy something that's beginning to feel a lot like a hazing ritual…" Getting a bit more carried away than he should have, he pointed his finger, "Now, genuine haircut or no, I'm not really in the mood to put up with further antics. Least of all when these antics are going to be put on camera!"

Shrinking a bit in the face of his rising volume, Shiki stood on shaky knees as she tried to force a confident smile back on to retort. After pulling himself back and taking in what he perceived to be fright, the young man felt a bit guilty. His main frustration of having been dunked into a tub, presumably, had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Yumi's scheming and Yozakura's actions. So, with a discontent breath, he grumbled a poor excuse of an apology and extended his phone and wallet to her, "You said to surrender any personal items I had…?"

Shiki jumped back into a positive attitude far too quickly, "Why, yes! I most certainly did. Thank you for complying and do not move at all." When she retreated back a few steps to rest the items onto a side table and approached a metal bucket in the corner, the young man felt immediate regret. When Shiki bent down and said, "Now, let's get that moisturizer off of you," with haughty glee, the young man could only close his eyes in resignation. Shortly after, a watery shadow loomed just over him and he spread out his arms in acceptance of his coming fate.

About fifteen seconds later, the young man was drenched with a miserable frown. Shiki approached him with a clap on the back, "Ya-ha~y! All clean and good for a haircut!" before she feigned surprise, "Oh, but these clothes of yours won't do. They're too wet," and swaggered over to a table in the back of the room. Throwing some jazz hands to the camera as she walked, she gave herself a spin and hunched over to bring out a small chest hidden beneath the table. Shiki opened it and a glow emanated from within, making her smile insidiously. After running a hand over it to take in its lulling softness, she then pulled out the treasure and revealed it to be a large white robe, "Ta-da~" before strutting back to the young man.

The young man tilted his head in confusion as he was putting all of the pieces together. He then asked lightly, "Has this all just been an overly elaborate plot to get me into a robe?"

Shiki smiled showily, "Oh-ho, Yu-and-mi is a genius."

Not wanting to disrespect a woman he loved but also not wanting to take the ridiculous happenings in stride, he commented under his breath, "Was it too much to think that she could just ask me to wear it…?"

A horrifying shadow washed over Shiki's gaze as she handed over the robe, "Oh, she knew it couldn't be that simple." She flipped a hand, "See, the issue was keeping you in the robe for an extended period of time," before gesturing to the young man's wet clothes, "and those will, kind of, need to be cleaned and ran through a drier. It should offer you two plenty of time to…" and clearing her throat suggestively, "…get busy…"

The young man blinked as his grip on the robe tightened and he looked off into space with dotted eyes, "And I am now frightened for my wellbeing…"

"Oh, don't worry," murmured Shiki with a dismissive flip of her hand before she made way to the door, "Anyways, I'll let you get dressed and then we can give you a haircut." Before any questions or objections could be raised, she lightly slid the door open and sneaked through. There were a few seconds worth of silence before an, "Oh!" filled the air and she closed the door.

The young man sucked in his cheeks and almost bit down to see if he was dreaming. With no uncertainty, he knew that Yumi was setting the scenario to be as seductive as possible. The pieces were all there, between the way the lights in the building were dimmed and all of the girls were dressed in robes that were almost too arousing to keep quiet about. Since he was to be put into a robe himself and Murakumo had blatantly spoken Yumi's final intentions, it would be no secret about what was to come after.

The young man dropped the robe and was about to determinedly make his way out the door to confront the girl. A part of him was angry about all of the unnecessary twists and turns she was putting him through, but he also wanted to tell her that he'd be more than happy and excited by a standard invitation… At least, he would be if he felt ready for that kind of intimacy. In truth, the young man was more frightened by the thought of intercourse with Yumi than anything else at that moment. Perhaps it was partially the fact that he lacked any experience in the matter but it was mostly because the other girls likely weren't aware of her actions.

Content to gently reject Yumi's advances as he wondered how everyone else involved would react, the young man rested his hand on the door handle before something occurred to him: he was still drenching wet. He turned around to look at the robe on the floor. It looked to be long enough to just hang above his knees and it didn't look like it would reveal his front too much… and it was soft.

Sighing with guilt, the young man turned away from the door and moved to get changed. He told himself that it was stupid and that he was only going to be encouraging Yumi's antics… but he was like a cat that hated the feeling of fur weighted down by water… In addition to that, there was no replacing the suffering that he felt when he wiggled his toes in wet socks. No, he knew he'd be playing into Yumi's hand… but the socks were the breaking point for him.

Of course, before the young man could get changed, there was something that had to be done before anything else. He moved to the camera and proceeded to turn it around while adopting a glare. By the lack of a computer or any other device, Shiki wasn't livestreaming at all and was only recording the encounter. He didn't know who specifically wanted the video of him getting dressed, whether it was also a part of Yumi's plan or an improvisation set up by someone else, but he wouldn't let them have their way. The young man sucked in humored breath as he proceeded to dress down, thinking that it was fortunate that Shiki was at least blatant and shameless about the matter enough that he could simply turn the camera away.

The blonde was about to knock on the door to check on the boy before it slid open and the newly robed young man stepped out as confidently as he could with a loud and commanding stomp. Unfortunately, he wasn't all that commanding as the robe in question, while not revealing, hugged his figure very tightly and made it hard to move. Throwing in the fact that he didn't have spare underwear to keep himself covered underneath and he was very weary of accidentally exposing himself in some way.

The young man turned to Shiki with the harshest eye he could offer, which was a bit toned down by a nervous twitch, "I'll be skipping the haircut and meeting with Yumi…" before marching down the hallway as confidently as he could, hoping for the best in finding the girl's room rather than asking for any help.

Looking after him with wide eyes, the blonde did not expect the robe to suit him as well as it did. She turned into the room and found, much to her expectations, that the young man had turned the camera away. With a sigh, Shiki shrugged and waited until the boy was fully out of earshot. She knew of his hearing abilities would take no chances of allowing him to hear her utter, "…Hoo… I can see what Yumi likes…"

Much to her dismay, she turned and found that Murakumo was staring at her without any sign of saying anything. As Yozakura and Minori continued to wrestle one another in the toppled over tub within the other room, the two held their silence before the masked girl tilted her head, "So… Any luck with," before raising her fingers to make air quotes, "sating your curiosity?"

Shiki sucked in an embarrassed breath before turning away, "Well, not so much… He turned the camera away…"

"Here's a less complicated solution," said Murakumo as she began to walk away, "just get onto a computer. He's not going to be physically different than any other boy."

Shiki's face went red and she yelled after her sister, "I want to make sure that Yumi will be well-tended to!"

Murakumo was not at all convinced as she yelled back, "Of course, of course."

In the meantime, the young man was following the literal road signs throughout the hallway while ignoring a girl's shrieks from behind him. He came across one sign at a corner of an intersection that said, "Turn right," with a cute drawing of Yumi making a kissy face. He came across another that read, "Keep straight and don't stop," and obeyed while trying to ignore some photos on the wall that looked like an awkward photoshoot of the girl. In some pictures, she looked very soft and genuine while looking uncomfortable and contorted in others, which led the young man to believe that whoever was taking the pictures, most likely Shiki, had gotten far too into their role as photographer. Finally, he came across a door with flashing lights all around its frame. Outside was a paper sign taped to the wall by its bottom and top that read, "Our room," with a drawing of Yumi winking. Upon pulling away the tape at the bottom, he found that there was a more official sign that read, "Yumi's Room."

Pausing for a second to think, the young man finally asked himself, "Where the hell are the teachers of Gessen…? Is this kind of thing just allowed to happen…?" After pondering the question for a little too long, he shook his head and encouraged himself, "Talk to her, reject her, do something normal for the rest of the day, talk about it as a group a different time…" After a few seconds, he added, "And get therapy for myself… there's been a severe lack of days without some kind of cartoonish nonsense involved…"

The young man slid open the door and found that the bedroom before him was completely dark. He found a switch to the side and flipped it on while calling, "Yumi, are you here?" When the room brightened, he found the room to be as normal as it could be expected. The colors from the bed to the carpet on the floor meshed with a beautiful mix of patterns that were white and blue in color. There was a table for calligraphy and a vanity with some makeup off to the side, including a bottle of the moisturizer that the young man had come to detest. Overall, it looked like the kind of room that he would expect the girl to have. It lacked only its sole occupant.

After taking a few steps inside, the young man warily called again, "Yumi? Are you in here?" and dared to add in, "Quite frankly, this scenario is a bit disconcerting."

Then he heard the door shut behind him and he whipped his head around, although he was too slow to make visual contact and the lights were quickly turned off again. It was very suddenly pitch black and the only audible sound was the young man's breath… though the heavy breathing of another could be heard. The boy reached down to where his pocket would be so that he could use his phone for light before realizing that he was, in fact, still dressed in a robe. Very suddenly wishing that he'd just bit down and wore the wet socks, the young man raised his voice a bit and said, "Alright, Yumi… this isn't funny. Stop it."

He took a step backward and felt himself bump into something soft before a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and a chin rested onto his shoulder. He turned and, even in the complete darkness of the room, his eyes adjusted well enough to see the shape of Yumi's face as she murmured, "Here I am…" Just as the young man was about to ask her what she was doing, she pushed her face into his went on an aggressive assault against his mouth. First, it was a kiss like any other. There lips were pressing together and not much else was happening. Then he felt her tongue go in and a new sensation ran through his head and spine.

Whether it was his trust that the girl had no malicious intention or the fact that he was weaker to temptation than he would have hoped, the young man briefly indulged the affection that was thrown at him. He mimicked what Yumi was doing and played with his tongue against hers as he tried to turn his body around to embrace her, though she kept her hold on him. Fortunately, so as not to deny him the attention that a hug would bring, Yumi pressed herself more into his back and let her hands dance around his chest soothingly.

When they were finally out of breath, Yumi popped away from him, gave a brief peck to his cheek, and said, "I'm sorry if everything from earlier was convoluted and… you know, too much…"

The young man wanted to take the opportunity to pull away and give the rejection that he'd been planning to give. The smart and, in general, right thing to do was to hold off on whatever Yumi was planning so that everyone in the relationship was in the know… Yet, when he was held in the arms of a girl he very much so loved and could feel the warm aura of being wanted from her every action, he could only shakily say, "I'd prefer if you were more direct… especially since I almost lost my phone in that tub…"

Yumi rubbed the side of her head to his, "I thought about that but it just seems so embarrassing…" and offered another peck to his cheek before nuzzling her nose into it, "There would be no atmosphere, no surprise, no anticipation-, nothing at all." By that point, the girl was rocking her hips back and forth into the back of young man, "This may have been the wrong way to go about it but… I tried-, Oh!" Before anything else could be said, Yumi pulled away and said, "Hold on a second," as she stepped into the darkness. There were a few bumps and creaks before she said merrily, "Here it is," and the soft fire of a candle suddenly began to warmly illuminate her.

Yumi was dressed in what seemed to be the kimono she had just after the young man's first encounter with Oda. It was the same sky-blue and it had the same beautiful pattern of flowers blossoming from snowflakes. Truly, as it was in its original form, it would steal the young man's breath away. But there were a few noticeable alterations that did more than blow him away. Most noticeably, Yumi's shoulders were bare and her cleavage was much more prevalent and looked as though a single bump or adjustment of the kimono would resulting in her being exposed. Beyond that, there was also the fact that its bottom was rolled up to greater reveal her thighs, almost to the point that there was no need to try and cover anything at all. Overall, it was plain and obvious what Yumi's intentions were and the young man had frozen himself on the spot in fear of what his temptations would bid him to do.

But, just as the boy was taking a long breath to resolve himself back to his original goal of putting a stop to everything, the shinobi put on a forced smile of confidence and offered him the candle in her hand as she murmured, "You'll want to hold this…" Being the puppet that he was made into for that moment, the young man obliged and watched as Yumi took a few breaths for herself. She swayed one way and the other, as though she were debating if she were ready or not, before a firm and warm smile spread across her face. She then undid the tie at the front of her kimono and spread out her arms to let it slip off of her.

Acting quickly before they could go over the horizon of no return, the young man blew out the candle and jumped forward to grab ahold of both ends of the girl's kimono to keep her covered. An image of her, him, and everyone else was painted into the front of his mind and he knew that taking further action or allowing anything more to continue would ruin what they had going. All of their talk of being open and communicating with one another would be for naught and, never mind the issues of trust that would affect the situation with everyone else's distortion, the bonds between all of the girls would be tossed into the air and would likely land in a more strained place than before.

As all of that ran through his mind and he kept ahold of the girl's kimono, the young man spoke to Yumi in a husky voice, "I… want to be clear with you… I love you. In the end, I'm happy to have come here today and I'm happy to see any side of you that I see."

In response, Yumi wrapped her extended arms around him while her face remained unsure. She uttered quietly, "I love you too…" before her voice cracked excitedly and she smiled, "And… if you're nervous about anything, I'll just say that I do want this…" but was forced to stop and press her lips together when she could faintly see the young man shaking his head in the dark.

"I want this too…" said the boy, "Truly, right now, it is taking more self-control than I'm willing to admit…" before he emboldened himself and spoke as a stone would, "But there are other people involved with us and we'll need to discuss this kind of… arrangement with them. We need to discuss that boundary and work with them because we're all a… team…"

Yumi shrunk her head down for a moment. She'd been mentally preparing herself for that day since the idea of a date night came up, she'd done everything she could to keep it silent and unexpected, and she'd done everything she could to be as desirable as possible. In a way, Yumi knew that she succeeded. By the sound of the young man's voice, it was plain and obvious that he wanted to go further with her. The ways his eyes fed her an undivided attention throughout their exchange was more than enough evidence to that. Yet, there was still the one thing that she neglected to take into earnest consideration: how everyone else would fare if the two had coupled together.

In truth, Yumi thought about it briefly before dismissing it, mostly for the sake of her own convenience. In her mind, she believed that she and the young man were in an individual relationship among several others and they were free to take things to the next level if they so pleased. To the young man, it was not a series of individual relationships though. It was one single web between different people. In fact, Yumi knew that from the beginning too but it wasn't until she was finally constrained by it did it fully settle in.

Understanding wholeheartedly, Yumi reached down and began to retie her kimono as she said in a heavy voice, "I understand…" After a few seconds, she pulled away from the boy and approached the light switch. When the room was lit again, she turned and said to him, "I… got carried away today and I'm sorry for putting you in this position…"

"And I'm sorry to let you go through all this effort," responded the young man before he stepped after her, "Minus the tub of moisturizer and Murakumo's attempt to break my face, it was one hell of a day."

Yumi's head drooped a bit as she forced on a smile and nodded along to what her lover was saying. Then, just when it seemed as though she was going to fall into a slump, a thought of recovery slipped into her head and she closed her fists giddily. Before she could be questioned, the shinobi asked while nearly jumping back and forth on her feet, "Can I ask for a consolidation prize, at least? Two, actually?"

The young man recoiled from the sudden turn in her mood but bobbed his head, "Yeah, I'm all ears."

"One…" came Yumi's voice immediately after with a raised finger. She remained silent for a moment, hanging on the words and wondering if she'd actually be capable of naming her desires. But some heavy breathing and a shake of her body managed to make her say, "When it does come time for us and everyone else, can I be first?"

As the sound of electronic zapping filled the air, the side of the young man's head popped and he slightly leaned forward. Truly, despite her prior actions of seduction, he would not be able to predict how bold Yumi could be at times. Even still, he managed to answer breathlessly, "It'd be best if we sorted out the details with everyone else before making any promises…"

Yumi blinked disappointedly before muttering, "…Fair enough…" but then did another jump as she raised a second finger, "Two," and smiled before taking a few alarming steps toward the boy. As he silently tried to guess what she was up to, the girl extended her arms to him and asked, "Could you kiss me?"

Once a second of silence passed, the boy made a sound of approval and nodded his head, "Well, of course-," but was cut off.

"For a couple of hours? Straight?"

Exhaling and praying for an easy out to the situation that he was getting tied into, the young man protested with a raised palm, "Well, considering our state of dress… I don't think that would be… appropriate."

Sucking in her cheeks, the girl patted at his shoulders and nudged her head at him, "I thought we'd be doing what I wanted for this date…"

Puffing out his cheeks as he tried to think of a further excuse, there were several stammers, "I know that, it's just… Intense kissing like what we were doing before usually progresses…"

Yumi slipped closer, "And if we keep ahold of ourselves, then there's nothing wrong, right?"

Not enjoying the prospect of an endurance test, especially with how close he came to losing it earlier, the young man was extremely reluctant to accept. But, while seeing Yumi's cutely reddening face and remembering the warmth of her hold on him, temptation came back and nipped him once again. Before a conscious decision was made, he found himself leaning forward and pressing his lips into Yumi's. They held for a second and it seemed as though they would be going onto the same path as earlier.

Then Yumi's phone went off and vibrated loudly against the vanity. Her eyes shot open and she practically groaned with how her plan had, once again, been thrown off. She stomped over, wondering who was texting her on what was supposed to be her day for dating, and read the notification on the front of her phone. Her hard eyes scanned the screen as the young man took a deep breath to regain his composure before her expression softened. Yumi then turned herself around and said, "Ah… question."

"Answer," replied the boy.

"Miyabi is going on about an emergency meeting for tomorrow."

At first, the young man began to jokingly reply, "That's not a question," before narrowing his eyes, "Wait, what?"

Without any indication of how worried she was, Yumi turned her phone over to him and explained quickly, "She wants to hold a meeting to discuss… in her words… boundaries on… stuff of a sexual nature."

The young man read over the text and blinked slowly and repeatedly while maintaining his silence. He then turned his gaze right into Yumi's eyes, "This situation is… progressing… though I am much more scared than I was before."

"Mhm."

Turning his body around and about, the boy clapped his hands together awkwardly after giving the girl her phone back and made a few sounds before asking, "Well, to salvage this date, what do you say to…" and ran through every single stress relieving activity that he could think of. Unfortunately, he ended off by asking, "Would you like to play a boardgame…? If you have a deck of cards, I can show you some magic tricks my grandfather taught me."

It was fortunate that Yumi was just as desperate for a distraction, "I'll take the card tricks," before she moved toward her closet, "I have a deck somewhere over here…"

The rest of the day went agonizingly slow. The stress of the coming meeting loomed over the two's heads and neither really dared to raise the subject at all, if only because the mood was already ruined and they didn't want to risk it any more. Of course, there was an upside to all of the things that went wrong. Yumi was fairly impressed by some of the card tricks the young man pulled out and was even tutored on how to do a couple of her own. It didn't erase the fact that they were very much so trying to mentally separate themselves from reality for a while but it was still a decent way to end what was a date that crashed and burned.

Still, there are worst things in life and neither of the two would complain.


	59. Chapter 59: Desires and Division

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 59: Desires and Division

**May 2 – "Compromise is wonderful. Just be sure that your means of working things out is not akin to a bureaucracy unless, of course, you live for that kind of life."**

Getting up from her spot on the bed, Chomubach let out a long yawn and stood onto her paws. After giving herself a shake, she trotted over to the side and leaped down to the floor. She took in a breath of fresh and rainy air from the slightly cracked window before wondering where her roommate, the young man, was when he'd usually be giving her a petting by about that time. Figuring that it was about time to eat, her heavy and lazy legs carried her to the door and she found a surprising sight.

As it would turn out, the young man had gathered at the round dining table with some of the women that Chomubach had met. She recognized Murasaki, who looked like she was caught between wanting to shrink away whilst hitting someone with a stick at the same time, and she found Miyabi, who was giving a wide-eyed look to the girl sitting next to her. Chomubach didn't recognized her whose icy blue eyes were dancing around ever so slightly as she sat straight and the was curious enough to investigate. Along the way, the cat also noticed that there was also two other women on the other end of the table with the young man in-between. They were two brunettes who seemed to be on guard for motivations that could have either been protective or jealous.

Suddenly catching onto the more standoffish atmosphere, the cat decided that any food that might have been left out for her in such a scenario wouldn't be worth the drama she'd see. Instead, she hobbled back into the bedroom and toward the window to her alternate source of nourishment. In Chomubach's mind, whatever happened would happen and she could just walk by and use her presence to cheer up whoever wasn't feeling so happy after the fact.

In the meantime, two cans of beans had been spilled out for everyone by that point. One, Miyabi had explained the purpose of the meeting that day with Murasaki giving some insight. By the end of explaining her feelings, the room only had an awkward air and no one asked detailed questions regarding the lust that the latter girl could smell.

What really caught the attention of everyone and brought about the standoff was the explanation that both Yumi and the young man offered up regarding their date the night before. From the way her sisters were dressed and the fact that he gave into a long and not all that innocent kiss. After hearing all of that, everyone else was gazing between the two participants with mixed expressions. Miyabi was staring at Yumi's unashamed form, wondering how she could be so bold in her actions while the older woman was still prodding at the subject. Asuka, Homura, and Murasaki were much less amused. While the former two were all but clinging to the young man while throwing him narrowed stares, Murasaki was taking a heavy breath and lamenting the fact that life never seemed to slow down in its antics.

Then Miyabi brought herself to ask a much-needed question of clarification in a voice that wanted to be hard and aggressive, "…And all you two did was kiss before doing some card tricks…?" She narrowed her eyes to the end, "Nothing more?"

The young man quickly emphasized, "Nothing more." Homura turned her head toward him doubtfully but his eyes faced her head-on and did not blink, "We kissed, I let it go on more than I should have, but I stopped it before it went too far."

Homura blinked and tilted her head with a frown, "Well… I don't think you're lying but…" before shrugging and scrunching up her face, "…Card tricks…?"

Sighing and scratching the side of his head, the young man stated, "Well, what else are people who almost got steamy supposed to do? We had to kill time and we killed the hell out of it."

Yumi raised her hand and said, "Ah, regarding what you just said before Homura questioned our time killing… I don't feel comfortable with you taking blame for what I did."

In response, the young man turned to her and stated, "But I did still play a part in letting it happen. I could have stopped you sooner. I could have not gotten into a tight-fitting robe. I could have skipped all of the moisturizer-, Heavens, do I hate that word now…" He stopped and shuddered before finishing, "What I'm saying is that I played a willing part."

Feeling bad that she dragged him through the situation in the first place, Yumi sucked in her cheeks and took a breath. Then, as a second wind seemed to run through her, she straightened herself and faced everyone, "Well, I'll own up for working behind everyone's back. I understand that what I did was wrong and I want you all to know that I'm sorry." She bowed her head forward, almost unintentionally knocking it into the table as she did so, before looking at them again, "I hope you'll forgive me."

There was an exchange of glances. Miyabi, Murasaki, and Homura looked to one another and wondered why the girl was so quickly backing down. As wonderfully nice as Yumi was, her stubbornness on matters that she deemed just were usually very hard to shake and, knowing the girl, she wouldn't have acted in such a way on such a serious matter unless she believed herself to be in the right. However, Asuka didn't dwell too much on it and immediately began to say, "I'm happy to say that you're forgiven."

Yumi immediately spoke in a lightning fast speed, "With that, I'd now like to ask for all of you to permit sexual interactions." Her face was red but the lowered brows and her tight-lipped mouth said well enough that she was wholeheartedly serious.

Everyone else lagged behind for a moment. Their brains first had to replay what the girl had said so quickly before actually having to take the time to process the actual words. Then Miyabi's jaw went slack as she guided her face closer and closer to Yumi. At first, the girl held firm and didn't move. But, as the Hebijo shinobi very nearly bumped into her, she hopped her chair away by a few paces. Finally, after looking like she wanted to say a thousand things as her teeth began to grind, Miyabi stood up and knocked her backwards before pointing a finger down toward Yumi, "STOP WORKING AHEAD OF THE REST OF US!"

The girl jumped in her seat, "Wagh!?" and blinked, "What're you talking about!?"

"I'm still getting over the gushy phase!" stated Miyabi with an angry clap to her chest, "I'm still doing my best to not let my head overheat at the thought of physical contact!" She let her arm fall down and placed both hands onto her hips, "I've actually been improving pretty well, if I'm allowed my say." After a brief pause, she suddenly launched her face down to Yumi, "But then you stroll in here and you're all like…!" and straightened herself to speak in a tone of overexaggerated politeness, "Eh-hem, by the way, while we're on this subject, you should know that I tried to initiate sex. Can I go through with it next time? Toodles," before slamming her fist down onto the table, "I only wanted to confront the idea with this meeting but you're already charging up ahead!"

Yumi was actively craning her body away from Miyabi at that point and was saying sheepishly, "I mean… I'm not terribly ashamed of what I tried to do… but I hope I didn't come off as condescending…"

Regardless, the rant continued, "Oh, another thing! Why are you being so confident when I'm the oldest and most stone-faced one here!?" The woman held the side of her head by the hair and shook herself around, "I know that three years isn't a difference but I've always been the calm and collected one in the past, right!? I've been called a hunk with how cool I am!" Miyabi pointed to Asuka, "You said it once too! It was my demeanor, my fighting, and all that stuff! But now I'm running last place when compared to everyone else!" She then swiveled her hand toward Murasaki, "Even you! I can't believe that you, of all people, are more relaxed than I am while doing this romance stuff!"

Yumi said under her breath off to the side, "…I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have said anything at all…" before speaking across the table to the young man in the middle of the continuing rant, "Is there something I should be saying to calm her down?"

There was no pause before the boy asked, "Do you have a tranquilizer?"

"No."

"Then let her continue. She'll catch herself in due time."

Miyabi was continuing her yelling, "Even Asuka and Homura-, Asuka, who is as naïve as she is cute, and Homura, who couldn't even directly speak about her feelings before shutting down, are making their romance work out in stride!" At one point, she very nearly slammed her head into the table as she rhythmically pounded her fist into it, "But – I – am – still – in – last – place – back – here!" She gripped the ends of the surface and shook it a bit with a growl before pointing at Yumi, "So, you asking if you can initiate sex on your own is too much! TOO MUCH!" With quivering arms, Miyabi raised her hands and flexed her fingers a few times, "You're already far enough ahead as it is…! Stop leaving us in the dust-," before she finally caught onto how much of a tantrum her rant had become. Her face suddenly straightened and she said in a low voice, "Wait, I've gone overboard…" After staring and taking in everyone's surprised looks, Miyabi mumbled, "I'm sorry," before reaching back to retrieve her toppled chair and sat back down.

For a few seconds, everything was silent. No one really knew how to continue after the grand show that'd just been put on. Yumi took a moment to consider all that was said, shrugged innocently, and turned toward Miyabi to say, "Well, I respect your feelings on the matter…" with a sympathetic tone of voice. She then faced everyone else and asked, "Would you all grant me permission to initiate a sexual relationship?"

Miyabi let out a wheeze that was as sharp as the crescendo of a train whistle. At the same time, Homura tilted her head and flapped a hand, "How would you specifically want that to work?"

Asuka and Murasaki jumped in surprise while the young man couldn't believe that the idea was being entertained after only about a week of dating. Still, Yumi asked innocently, "Specifically… as in the arrangement… or are you asking for the details of what would be done…?"

With a raised hand, Homura shook her head, "Arrangements now," before flashing a devilish smile to the boy next to her, "Details later."

"I am now uncomfortable," stated the young man as he eyed the smile warily.

Having had the time to think about what would be ideal for her, Yumi explained forwardly, "Well, I believe that it should be," before pointing to the young man and herself, "he and I in dim bedroom, which is where we would get intimate." Still suffering a bit of disbelief that someone was petitioning a group of people to have sex with him, the young man heaved a breath and shrunk a tad. In the meantime, after trying to think of what else she wanted, Yumi then shrugged, "I really can't think of what else to put in that scenario… so that's it."

An expression of irritation was put onto Homura's face, "Oh, that's it?" before flatly saying, "Denied."

Yumi's expression fell and, looking like a mother cat who'd just had her newborn kittens taken away, yowled, "Why not!?"

"One," said the tanned shinobi with a raised finger before pointing to the young man, "knowing how far you'd probably go, you'd smother him to death by accident. The boy is new to this thing and his innocence must be taken into account."

More than offended, the young man straightened himself and said with narrowed eyes, "I should note that sex isn't a foreign concept to me. While I'm a virgin and a bit anxious by the thought of it, I'm far from innocent."

Since she was in the middle of her rebuttal, Homura ignored him for the time being, "So, with that being said, you'll definitely need a supervisor."

There was an immediate and joint, "What?" from everyone around the table.

Though some heat began to rush towards her cheeks, Homura continued shamelessly, "I mean, it's already natural. We're dating as a group and, thus, we should also be having sex as a group too. We'll be each other's firsts and it'll be as romantic as it can get."

At that point, the young man was reduced to aimless stuttering while Yumi cried, "What!? No, I don't think that's right at all. Group sex can't be romantic, it's just a mindless orgy at that point." After gaining some control of herself, she counted her fingers as she asked her listed questions, "Where's the embrace? Where's the love? Where's connection?" She thwapped one hand into another, "I'll tell you where," before swiping an arm through the air, "They'll be in the next house over because a one-on-one experience is much better."

"Oh?" murmured Homura before pointedly asking, "How would you know?"

Yumi sucked in the corners of her cheeks before sharply retorting, "Just imagine both scenarios!" She soft and gently turned to one side of herself to narrate, "He holds you close and you take turns resting in the crooks of each other's necks. The movement is all slow and gentle with a loving intensity rising over time." She then raised her hands into the air, as though she were ascending to heaven, "The names of both people involved are cried into the air and they cuddle for what seems to be the longest time after the act is done…" before raising a finger off to the side, "…before going to clean themselves up. According to some websites I've studied, that's extremely important. Both for the bedding and for some health reasons."

Miyabi's face was as bright as a tomato, though she managed to retain herself enough to nod along, "Yes… I can see how that might be ideal…"

Yumi threw up her hands, "I know!" before she held a finger, "Now imagine the other scenario." She turned to the other side of herself and started to make a bunch of animalistic noises that straightened the hair on everyone's heads out of fright. In the middle of a few growls and groan sounds, she hissed, "Oh, c'mere! Me next!" The animal noises came back with more aggression before she narrated, "Wriggling bodies and a whole lot of squishy sounds!" There came another choir of noises, "Oh~, I'm done and bit hungry. While you guys finish up, does anyone want a sandwich?" Finally, after making a few gnawing motions with her mouth, Yumi asked, "Where's the romance in that?"

Asuka and Murasaki both looked to be completely shocked into silence, with the latter having an expression of absolute mortification with how much her eyes were bulging. At the same time, the young man tried to make humor of it by uttering, "Well, there's an… image… ah…" before failing and slumping over himself, "I thought I'd braced for this discussion and I was horribly wrong."

In the meantime, Homura gave her hands a clap and stated, "Well, your one-on-one scenario does sound ideal, don't get me wrong, but you're neglecting some things…" She gestured to everyone all around her, "First, we're still in a group relationship," and continued in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "Not only that, we're all virgins here. Imagine how the rest of us would feel to know that our first times weren't truly exchanged," before wiggling a brow at the young man, who was still steadily shrinking into his chair. To prevent any possible retort, Homura then added in a quiet voice, "By the way… I'm not sure which porno you watched to get your group sex scenario in mind… but wipe that from your memory. Now."

Yumi stared with sharp eyes for a second, looking as though she were about to bring forth another argument. Then her face fell and she sighed with a shudder, "…Truth be told, I don't think I can wipe it from my mind…"

Homura stood up and rounded the table to pat the girl on the shoulder, "There, there… I've seen some messed up things during my studies too…" before stating, "But, you'll adapt and find the romance in it too, I'm sure." She raised a finger and said with a cheeky smile, "Actually, if I'm to take your narrative approach, our actual scenario will be a lot like," before letting out what sounded to be a painful squeal, "AAAAGGGGHHH~…! I can't take any more of this… I'll take a break. Please, move onto the next person while I catch my breath…" She then let out a horrifying cry, "No~…! Another round…? I don't think I can take it… but… okay… Only if it's you and Asuka-," before cutting herself off and covering her mouth. The shorter brunette stared blankly and blinked repeatedly while Murasaki slammed her head into the table in a mix of frustration and projected embarrassment. Homura finished by waving her hand and whispering, "I got too into it. I apologize…"

Finally straightening himself in his chair, the young man said, "Well… I can appreciate your idea…"

Surprised by the support and eager to get the attention off herself, Homura stammered, "Why, yes. For you, it would be the dream scenario. Five beautiful women, one guy, one bed. What could go wrong?"

"Barring any accidents," murmured the young man before saying in a frank tone, "One thing, though it is extremely crucial. So much so that I actually need to oppose your idea."

There was a brief lag before everyone gasped at the idea of the lone male at their table not advocating for group sex. Yumi looked a bit relieved, though she retained the same curious look that everyone else had. After finally catching her words, Homura yelled with a crack to her voice, "But, isn't that the male fantasy!? Five pairs of breasts to play with, surrounded on all sides, and rocking each other into the night!?" Though everyone gave her an off-put glance for the use of her words, they all nodded in agreement.

The young man, feeling the pressure come down on him, scratched at his cheek for a moment, "I won't deny, that does sound like a dream scenario…" before smacking the table and putting up a confident front of defiance, "…but you'd still be wrong." Seeking to bolster his resistance with humor, he shamelessly explained, "First off, the male fantasy involves a bunch of synchronized guys in sparkly disco suits and roller-skates, a wide dance floor with flashing lights and a crystal ball, and an upbeat song in the background."

Asuka blinked at him before murmuring, "…That was awfully specific…"

"It's the – male – fantasy," said the young man with a knowing inflection to his voice before dropping his shoulders and raising a finger, "…though I'm mostly just describing a funny video I saw this morning… which, to be fair, had a lot of males expressing their support for such a fantasy in the comments."

Letting out a groan that he would choose such a time to make a joke, Homura proceeded to flap her hand around and asked, "Alright, you don't dream of women crawling over you. Point taken," before leaning onto the table, "but what was that problem you mentioned before? Why wouldn't group sex work?"

The young man stated frankly, "I don't think I'd have the stamina for such a thing."

Immediately, Homura laughed while everyone struggled to catch his meaning, "Oh, come on!"

Without any humor present on his face, the young man asked, "Do you know how male anatomy works?" He craned his head forward as tried to ignore the awkwardness of the subject, "Specifically, do you know how a penis works?" Asuka and Murasaki let out a joint yelp before they covered their mouths and looked away with reddening faces. The young man was alarmed at first, "What!? What-," before his eyes also found that everyone but Yumi was no longer making eye contact with him. Putting two and two together, he gave an exasperated glare to them all and grumbled, "Are you-, really, guys? We're talking about group sex and contemplating it but me saying penis is too much?"

Asuka straightened herself and clapped her hands together, "No, no… I mean, yes… No…" before her eyes closed guiltily, "The word was unexpected. Forgive me."

Waving a hand, the young man murmured, "No, no… it's fine," before straightening himself, "Still, the lot of you are going to get a quick education." Before he could face any risk of interruption, he stated frankly, "As sexual education may or may not have taught you, a penis will finish sex at any time the body decrees. It cannot be dictated by either the man or the woman."

Homura was on the verge of laughing at how shivery everyone but Yumi was in the face of the discussion. In the meantime, the Gessen shinobi was rolling her hand around with interest, "I'm following. Please, continue."

"Please…" croaked Murasaki as she sank back against her chair, "…don't…"

"Now, Homura is suggesting group sex," explained the young man with a raised finger, "Specifically, she is suggesting sex between one male and five females. Now, none of us know my stamina nor endurance."

A lightbulb flashed over Asuka's head and she opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out for a second and she tried again as everyone's attention fell on her. She tried a third time to no avail before she finally waved for Homura to come over. When she arrived, the girl whispered something into her ear, and lowered her head shamefully. In the meantime, the tanned girl asked nonchalantly, "Asuka wants to know if you could just touch yourself and find out how long you'd last that way."

"I'd first say that there are no stupid questions and that she can ask freely next time," said the young man, "Maybe not entirely without some lighthearted judgment, depending on the question, but this one was fair game." While Asuka lightened up a tad, the young man then answered, "As for what you asked, masturbation and sex are two different things. Someone who could go hours with the former or latter could last seconds in the other."

"Alright," said Homura with her maintained smile before pointing to him, "but you can get it back up after a short breather, right?"

"Oh-ho, if the world were a big porno then that would be true," remarked the young man in a challenging tone before he pointed right back at her, "but are you aware how painful that is in real life?"

Everyone straightened up and uttered under their breaths with visible confusion, "Painful?"

Miyabi then craned her head back a tad and murmured, "Wait, wait… how do you know…? Unless… are you more experienced in this than you let on!?"

Before any seeds of doubt could be planted, the young man shook his head, "No…" before lowering it, "…but I've had access to the internet and I had my phase of interest," before snapping it back up, "Regardless, no. I'm still a virgin." He then straightened up and explained, "Still, even as a virgin, I can tell you that the first climax is pleasurable. The second? It's also a bit pleasurable, though not as much as the first. The third…? Okay, starting to lose feeling down there. According to the internet, the fourth is where it gets painful. The fifth will be even more painful… So on and so forth…"

Still trying to balance out the details of the subject, not much was said from anyone else until Homura finally nodded her head knowingly, "Alright, that puts things to perspective. Especially since… ah… I mean-, especially since… hm…"

The young man tilted his head and tried to finish the sentence, "Especially since women… can orgasm as much as they want…?"

"What?" Homura recoiled, "No, it's not-, Well, I mean some women could, sure, but… No, I imagine we'd get… sore after a while too."

"Alrighty," commented the young man before he cleared his throat, "So, then you see why I'd be… extremely, extremely hesitant with the group idea?"

"Yes~…" started Homura before thumping a hand on the table, "but, dammit, I'm still going to advocate for it."

Yumi jumped in surprise, "What-, why? You just heard that it would be painful for him."

"It has the potential to be painful for him," retorted Homura with a snap of her finger, "In truth, we don't know whether or not he'd be able to endure us without experimenting for ourselves." She then faced the young man, "Now, pardon me for feeling this way, but I'd rather we all experiment together rather than play favorites or draw at random."

"I don't play favorites," came an immediate reply from the boy before he raised an elbow onto the table and leaned on it, "though… I can see how being random wouldn't be so favorable either…"

"Should we call it a vote?" asked Asuka with a raised finger.

There was a flash of discomfort across everyone else's faces before Miyabi raised a hand and said, "Don't you think that… this should be a unanimous decision? This is pretty important."

"Sure," nodded Asuka before gesturing at the table, "but it sounds like we've heard everything that needs to be heard and understand one another. Now, a compromise would have to be in order, of course, but we should at least start to lay some kind of… foundation-, is that the right word?" The brunette pondered it for a moment before shrugging, "Yeah, we should start by laying a foundation with what the majority want and then work to suit the minority."

Homura nodded in acceptance to the idea before turning toward Yumi, who paused hesitantly for a moment before she sighed and also nodded. Miyabi and Murasaki both made faces, mostly because they didn't know if it would be an appropriate idea, while the young man was debating it in his head. The way he saw it, to be completely in unison with important decisions was a major part of a relationship. Yet, for all he knew about standard couples, he was never really taught about how such a thing was handled between others in polyamorous relationships or even between his grandfather and grandmothers. So, in the end, he shrugged up his shoulders and went with the easiest option, "As long as we work with each other… I suppose that'd be our best option for the time being."

From there, Homura clasped her hands together, "Okay…" before raising one into the air, "Who is in favor of the group sex?"

There was a brief second before Asuka then raised her hand, trying less to think about the specifics of the activity and focusing more on the fact that she and everyone else would be experiencing something new together… though she still had a hard time picturing them all taking part in the act, especially since it was still a very new thing to her. Then, after realizing that the alternative was a randomized vote over who'd get to go first, Miyabi sluggishly raised her own hand. Murasaki remained undecided for a moment before a new idea popped into the back of her head. Doing her best to keep embarrassment from all of her features, she then raised her hand.

As a look of elation took over Homura's face, she proceeded to do a giddy victory dance in her spot as the young man and Yumi exchanged anxious looks with one another. The former was still worried about his performance in a group scenario and the latter would have preferred something much more intimate between them. Still, she knew that she'd still be a part of it and that there wasn't much more that could be done other than be with him and take part in the relationship she agreed to take part in.

Once her celebration was over, Homura shuffled her shoulders a few times before then asking, "Next question…!" before throwing up a thumb, "Who's up for doing it next weekend!? Saturday night in this very apartment?"

"He-wegh!?" went the young man as his eyes ripped open.

Across the table Asuka was also about to exclaim something before Murasaki extended a hand and grabbed her by the elbow. The brunette was about to continue her protest until some whispers found her ear and she nodded. Then, just as the young man was about to argue against what Homura was suggesting, he looked over to find Murasaki staring at him intensely. She then patted the table to gain his attention and proceeded. She scratched and tapped the table before pausing for two seconds. She then scratched three more times before giving a firm nod. It took the young man a few seconds before he understood that she was using Morse Code. Knowing what was at stake and how anxious the three of them felt, he stuck up a thumb and nodded to her.

Homura, having been too stuck in her fantasizing and chatting with Miyabi and Yumi to notice, then asked everyone, "All in favor of doing it next weekend?" before throwing up her hand eagerly. Yumi, also wanting to proceed with the intimate act she'd planned the night before, also threw up her hand with great resolve. Scrunching up her face for a second, Miyabi needed just a bit more time to decide before finally nodding and rising up her hand. The very thought of progressing so far threw her mind out to the gutter yet, in spite of it, she did want to progress her relationship as much as possible for the sake of being with the young man and in hopes of catching up to everyone else.

Then all eyes fell on the young man, who's expression was very deliberately blank as he had his arms neatly folded into his lap. There was a twitch to his upper eyelids that said he very much so wanted to blink but, at the same time, he was cautious of how the three yea-sayers would react.

Yumi's face fell for a moment in betrayal, remembering how the young man expressed a desire to continue their interaction from the previous night, before she remembered the number of women involved and softened her face. On the other hand, Miyabi's expression was twisting up in embarrassment for fear of having expressed desires that wouldn't be reciprocated. Of the three, Homura was the only one who decided to press on by waving her hand at the young man, "Hey, hey," and speaking sweetly, "I believe you meant to raise your hand," before also taking notice of Asuka and Murasaki's lack of agreement, which made her heart freeze mid-beat.

"No, I say nay. Too soon and my heart isn't prepared," responded the boy in tone devoid of expression. Yet, even still, everyone could sense some kind of panic within.

Homura misinterpreted him, "Oh, next weekend's a no-go?" before lifting a hand, as though she were presenting a prize, "Then what about the weekend after? We can stockpile on energy, maybe make some bonus plans…"

"No," said Murasaki.

"I must refuse," said Asuka.

The young man rapidly shook his head.

Sensing a conspiracy, Homura narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. She then slowly asked, "Well… what about the weekend after-," before she was cut off.

"No."

"I must refuse."

There was another determined shake of the head.

Seeing her plans being uprooted, Homura let out a squeaky sound from her throat before letting out a yell of gibberish. She then charged from her position and knelt next to Asuka with sharp and intense eyes, "Hold on, is there something wrong? You can't mean that you don't want to progress that far…"

The shorter brunette shivered in fear of how her answer would be taken, "It's… not that I don't want to progress that far…" as she began to itch her neck, "It just… seems a bit too soon. I mean, we've only all been dating for about a week." She then gestured to everyone else, "I mean, if all of you want to continue with… some sex… I won't mind."

The young man nodded in agreement and said, "Homura, if you, Miyabi, and Yumi all want to have a good time together, I don't think any of us will mind." He turned his head over toward Murasaki, "You wouldn't object, would you?"

The girl shook her head and tutted her hand elegantly, "No, no. Please, have fun."

While Miyabi and Yumi adopted horrified expressions and avoided one another's gaze at the very idea, a red-faced Homura nodded at Asuka, "I suppose that's understandable…" and covered her mouth with a hand, "…though it wouldn't be the same…" before her eyes narrowed on Murasaki, "And what about you?" The tanned shinobi leaned over the table and grumbled, "I know you're into this whole dating thing. Why don't you wanna take part?"

"I'm content where everything stands now," came a forward answer from Murasaki before she turned away, "I'd rather get some more cuddle time in before we advance that far."

Homura dropped her head into a slump, "Thinking about it now, I shouldn't be surprised that you're not in…" before her eyes finally met the young man, who'd finally blinked after all that time. She sucked in her lips in frustration before making a whiny sound and asking, "How could you, of all people, not want in?" With a grand swing of her arms, she gestured toward Miyabi and Yumi, "You've got two women over there and~," before rounding toward herself, "another right here who'd be happy to make one hell of a day with you." In the back of Homura's mind, she did know one thing that was absolute in the discussion: the young man's word would carry weight. Certainly, if he agreed to the proposition, Asuka and Murasaki would follow after a brief period of thinking. After all, the former already appeared to be wavering when Homura vouched to take part and the latter was in the relationship only for the young man and, surely, neither would want to see their significant others taking part in such an act without them.

"I'm good," said the boy with robotic shake of his head, "it sounds like too much pressure to be the one guy." He gave a thumbs up, "Though feel free to continue. I won't mind being left out."

Homura started her rebuttal, "Hey, as of right now, there are three willing-, no! There are three eager women willing to be with you from evening to morning! Isn't that something boys fantasize-," before she was cut off.

"Need I explain the true male fantasy again?" asked the young man in a straight tone.

Yumi raised a hand from her place at the table, "Do you really not want to have sex?"

Feeling as though he were unintentionally offending the girl, especially after his words from the night before, the young man fell into a defensive posture, "No, no-," before he caught himself. If he fell into a panic then and there, it would potentially lead to him being verbally routed and end with him somehow agreeing to take part. So, after taking a breath and rubbing the top of his head, he said pointedly, "Don't get me wrong, this scenario does sound like a dream and I would, one day, like to go that far." He then held up three fingers, "Unfortunately, several things are making me say no."

Homura gave her hand a roll, "Well, don't wait for us to egg you on. What are they?"

"One," came an overdramatic yell from the young man before he calmly continued, "as I said, it sounds like a pressuring experience. Throw in some worries about how I'd do, stamina wise, and… yup." After shuddering and fixing his gaze, he raised another finger, "Two…" before he waved over to Asuka and Murasaki, "I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that some others would be left out. If we do that without them, there'd definitely be a divide." Realizing how much pressure he could be throwing onto the two girls, he raised his hands and stated, "Not to pressure you guys! If you don't wanna do it, don't do it!" Before he faced Homura again, "Still, my point stands. On principle, we work as a team and avoid any division."

Yumi commented with a frown as her eyes lowered, "Well, that does make sense…" before she took notice of Miyabi twitching. She reached over and poked the woman, "Are you okay?"

"I keep imagining how this scenario would play out in the first place…" muttered Miyabi with a shudder, "It's not a bad image… but it is far too much for me to handle at the moment."

With a tilt of her head, Yumi asked, "Would you even be able to handle the act itself."

Immediately, Miyabi straightened herself and growled, "I'm the topmost shinobi in all of Hebijo. What is this challenge to any other?" She then jutted a thumb into her chest, "If I find myself faltering, I will simply charge through the act!"

In response, Yumi scratched at her cheek and muttered, "I'm not sure I know what you mean when you say you'll charge through…"

In the meantime, Homura continued to question the young man, "And… the third thing?"

With a straight face, he answered with a cheeky smile, "Why, it's the most baseline of all baseline rules," before he pointed at her, "You guys don't have the majority vote."

At first, there was complete silence from Homura. Then she huffed and puffed a few times before growling, "What…?"

"Miyabi, Yumi, and you all voted in favor of next weekend," said the young man before he pointed to himself, Asuka, and Murasaki, "We~, on the other hand, did not."

Homura blinked and stared down to the boy for a few seconds before she rounded her gaze toward Asuka and Murasaki, "Hey. Hey. Would either one of you two consider changing your minds. We might be able to apply the right amount of pressure if we join together."

Immediately, the purple-haired shinobi shook her head and crossed her arms defensively. Yet, Asuka started to rub her chin, "Well… I mean, if you guys all… really, really wanted me to…"

The young man almost kneed the table in shock before he pointed to the girl, "No. Asuka, don't betray yourself for this." He pleadingly raised both of his hands into the air, "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to do this."

"Let her think for herself!" cried Homura.

"I should be telling you that!" retorted the young man.

At the same time, Asuka turned to Murasaki and asked, "I mean, if you agreed to take part… I would certainly consider it. I'd feel bad if you weren't there."

The other girl simply shook her head, "I'm afraid that my mind is made up for the moment. Cuddles first, alternative options sometime after."

With a nod, Asuka said, "Gotcha," before standing up and announcing, "I would prefer to cuddle and think about the idea for a while."

Before anyone could continue after her, a voice came from the young man's bedroom, "I suppose that'd be the safer option for the moment."

Everyone in the room let out a joint yell, "WHAGH!" before they turned and found Jasmine waiting at the doorway with a haughty grin. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were lifted in such a way that said she was either very happy or very entertained.

Before any questions could be asked about where she came from, the young man exclaimed with annoyance, "Why the hell is my window the entrance for all of you!?" After taking a second to calm down, he turned to the girls, "Though, I should actually be kind of thankful today… you guys did use the door this time…"

As he finished speaking, Jasmine let out a laugh and stated, "Well, to answer your question, going through the window means I can intrude and listen in on your conversations… and, oh, this one was a bit more fun." She then pointed to the bathroom, "By the way, I'm happy that a door of yours was replaced a little faster this time around."

Feeling his eyes narrow with suspicion as a dirty feeling ran through his body, the young man slightly hugged himself as he repeated, "…intrude and listen in… doors…" before asking in a low voice, "Hold on, how many times have you come and made entertainment of my residence?"

"Just this once," answered Jasmine before she pointed to everyone, "though let's get back to what you guys were discussing here." She then asked with a gleam to her eye, "So, you're saying that a majority vote holds some sway over you?"

Remembering the discussion that he was having before, the young man tightened his lips before speaking frankly, "Yeah, I'd guess. I'd still take the feelings of whoever wasn't taking part into consideration the most… but a lot of people advocating for something that I, admittedly, do want in some way does have weight." Then he caught himself and slammed a palm into the table as he barked, "Wait, why am I explaining myself to you…!?"

Jasmine let out a pleased hum before she decided to do her part in stirring up some drama. In her mind, she was raising a test to the relationship that would potentially come out much stronger and more pleasing for everyone within. She thought about the worst-case scenario a bit and how much she was intruding before shrugging and deciding to meet herself midway. So, with a wink, Jasmine turned to Homura and said, "By the sound of it, you just need one vote."

The silent message didn't click at first as the girl whined, "But Asuka and Murasaki aren't going to switch over…"

Jasmine retorted, "Again, and listen closely… you just need one vote."

"I don't like how ominous you're being with those words," muttered the young man.

"Oh, you will at some point," laughed the woman before she grinned evilly, "Trust me, I'm doing you a favor."

Needing to take a second to remove his sour face, the young man grumbled, "Is there a reason you came here or are you just here to interject your thoughts on a private matter?"

The woman's eyes widened briefly before they fell a bit. Taking on a more serious expression, Jasmine said, "I thought I'd update you all on the current situation with the dignitaries and infiltrators," before she announced, "There hasn't been much going on with the latter, aside from a few arrests the police have made at a few safehouses. Nobody has died but the dignitaries' silence has been… suspicious. Especially after all the drama they've been the cause of lately."

Happy to jump onto a new subject, Miyabi straightened herself and replied frankly, "Well, everyone's still trying to catch their breaths, so that could be for the better," before adding with a small pump of her fist, "though we're ready for another fight if need be."

"Speak for yourself…" murmured Murasaki before she shivered and hunched over, "…I'm enjoying these lazy days too much to go into another battle…"

Taking notice of the older woman's silence on the other group, the young man asked with a tilted brow, "Is there any news on the infiltrators?"

Jasmine sucked in a breath and her bottom lip for a moment before deciding to answer accordingly. She faced the young man and stated, "You should know that one of your brothers was arrested the other day."

"Haruo," grumbled the young man in a nonchalant way, as if he knew beforehand, as his eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms worriedly and asked, "Did… did he get bailed out or did Tsao use force?"

"Tsao showed up at the station," answered Jasmine as everyone wondered how familiar the scenario was to the boy, "but nobody was killed, fortunately." She held up a hand, "He talked with the chief, who was warned about the man after making a phone call, and it was decided that trying to hold Haruo wouldn't be worth the fatalities. They got away before any reinforcements could arrive." The woman finished by saying lamentingly, "As a result, they'll be dispatching more shinobi into the city and they won't be friendly with anyone sharing those two's last names."

"Oh~… joy," grunted the young man, "Haruo screws up, Tsao backs him, shinobi come in, and my good time talking about an awkward subject is ruined…" before he slumped his face into the table. He groaned and grumbled a few times before lifting himself back up, though he kept his mouth shut.

Asuka placed a hand onto his shoulder and gave a few affectionate squeezes, to which he gave some appreciative nods. Afterwards, she looked to Jasmine, "So… will there be a change in plans or…?"

"Oda is confident that the shinobi won't pick up our trail," answered the woman, "though he said we should keep out of their way as much as possible. So there won't be any missions or violent extracurricular activities for a while."

"That's a given," stated the young man before he stretched himself out and gathered his mind. Once he closed his eyes and thought everything through, he shrugged and mumbled, "Well, nothing else to be done," before speaking more levelly, "but continue with what I was doing before."

Homura looked to him with some interest, "Do you mean you'll be getting back to correcting distortions or… do you want to revisit the discussion on sex?"

The young man snorted before waving a hand, "The first one," before saying with a pointed finger, "though we will need to come back to our discussion another day." He took a breath and thought for a second. Then after dismissing a couple of thoughts he had, his voice came back out, "No, I've taken a week to relax and its time to get myself back on track. I'll send a text out tonight and see if anyone wants to give tomorrow a try for a correction before I go back to school on Monday."

"Sounds like a good plan," said Jasmine before she turned back toward the bedroom, "Will everyone be staying for now or should I head out on my own?"

The girls glanced at the young man and held up their faces, wondering if they would be allowed to stay after the discussion they had. In response, he held a straight face and pointed toward the TV in the living room, "Anyone want to watch some crappy monster movies? I found a stash in the closet." Rejoicing at the invitation and at the fact that they were still working as a group, there was a nod of unison as everyone began to sit up from the table and make their way to the couch. The young man also threw in as he stood up, "There's a lot of microwaveable noodles in the fridge if anyone's hungry." Yet, before he could take any steps and see off Jasmine, Homura approached and gripped his shoulder both gently and determinedly. He paused for a second to see what she would do before he said to her, "I love you. I disagreed with you on some points today but I still-," and was promptly cut off.

Homura threw her head into the young man's and stole a long kiss before pulling away, which brought out a few anxious looks from Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi before they shrugged with acceptance of it and went back to what they were doing. The tanned shinobi held him for a moment before stating, "Our discussion today is not over… and, here's a newsflash, I'm going to win."

Blinking a few times, the young man tilted his head, "What did Jasmine imply to you? I'm a bit lost on that one."

"Only a winning strategy," answered Homura before she gave a more genuine smile and said, "Oh… and I love you too."

Once Jasmine saw herself out of the apartment, fully believing that she'd done the boy a favor, the day continued and ended on a boring but also relaxing note. The young man and the girls watched some horridly made monster movies and had a good time nitpicking all of the major and minor flaws that could be made. Soon after, Chomubach would return with a full stomach and would, just as she predicted, use her presence to further lighten the atmosphere. Though the discussion on sex had just begun, the air of contentment would not be broken for the rest of the day. In the meantime, the steadily maddening world continued to turn around and around.


	60. Chapter 60: Plotting and Sharing

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 60: Plotting and Sharing

**May 3 – "Like most things in the universe, the strength of our connections will either contract, stagnate, or expand. May we strive for the latter."**

Sitting within a familiar butler café, Homura was leaning onto a table with her fingers dancing against one another as she boldly proclaimed, "Ladies, yesterday was a mere delay." She then balled a fist and thumped it into her other hand, "But this week will afford us several opportunities to take matters into our own-," before she was calmly tapped on the shoulder and looked to her side to find a short old lady beside her.

"I've allowed you delinquents back in here because you had money and apologized," grumbled Lady Victoria before she pointed at her own eyes, "but I'm watching for any and all aggressive or inappropriate behaviors. Don't test me."

Unclenching her fist and throwing up both hands in surrender, Homura quickly murmured, "Sorry… Sorry… You'll have no issues with us…" The elder didn't look terribly convinced but, after remembering that money was money, she huffed and turned around on her heels to raise some tyranny in the kitchen. Once the woman was out of sight, Homura turned back to everyone else at the table and quietly declared, "This week will afford us many opportunities to take matters into our own hands. Then, soon enough, we will claim our reward in one single bed."

Staring back at her with blank eyes, Yumi sat motionlessly for a few seconds before looking over to Miyabi, who was still quaking at the very thought of what Homura was implying. With a sigh, the younger of the two then raised a hand and questioned, "So, before we continue, do we really need to talk about this here? We're going to get kicked out if the owner hears us."

Homura immediately straightened up with a sound of alarm before stating blatantly, "It's a symbolic spot." Before any argument could be thrown her way, she raised up her palms and gestured to the dining room around them, "Look, look, look. The first time we came here, we were talking-, going to talk about how to proceed with our conflicting feelings." Putting on a smile, she made a swiveling motion with her hands before resting them to the table, "Now~, we're back again in a more advanced place than the last to talk about another conflict of feelings and, in doing so, we're setting ourselves up for victory."

Yumi tilted her head, "We're setting ourselves up for victory by coming to the café that kicked us out?"

"Yes."

Miyabi finally stopped shaking and tiredly asked, "How does that work…?"

Without much of a pause for thought, Homura shrugged and explained frankly, "I really don't know. I saw something similar in one of those movies we were watching last night and I figured that coming here would at least build up some momentum and confidence in us." Once she was done speaking, Yumi and Miyabi simultaneously rested their heads onto the table in frustration and prayed that the food they ordered would make the journey worth it. Seeing their disapproval, Homura quickly said, "Look, regardless of where we talk about this, we need to strategize on how to proceed," before tapping her head, "and, hoo~wee, have I been strategizing."

Being the first to raise up her head, Miyabi leaned her head onto a hand and asked, "What're we strategizing again? You're losing me."

"Why," started Homura as she pointed a finger in one hand and made an O in the other, "to get us from here…" and then paused for dramatic effect for a few seconds too long before promptly inserting her finger into the opening, "…to here…"

Miyabi let out a gush of air that filled up her cheeks before she went on a mental retreat. At the same time, Yumi asked frankly, "Actually, I've been thinking about that too and there's a pretty easy solution to it."

Without missing a beat, Homura pointed a finger at the girl, "Are you going to suggest that we roll it back to one-on-one intercourse?" She then shook her head, "If so, I will refuse until I die."

For a moment, Yumi bit her lip and shook frustratedly before nearly exploding. But after remembering which café they were in, she took a breath and quietly hissed, "What exactly is so wrong with it…!? We're all in the same relationship and if he and I are interested in sharing an intimate moment together then we should be allowed to proceed…! It's not cheating-, in fact, it's no different than a date…!"

Feeling a bit heated over the firm resistance that she was met with, Homura fired back with a nearly silent, "It's entirely different than a date…! There's so much more connection and, plus, whoever takes part in their first times will be sharing an extra special moment." She then crossed her arms over her chest, "No, we've already voted and that's final. If you two want to cozy up after we've all shared each other, that'd be fine. But our first time is the most important thing here."

Feeling her head quiver in frustration, Yumi dwelled upon how horrible an idea it was to consent to a mere vote over extremely intimate and serious matters. It took almost everything in her to not flip the table they were sitting at and scream, "To hell with your election!" but she managed to successfully catch herself and think out her next argument. Once her head was cooled, she then retorted, "You know, doing it as a group isn't going to change anything. Someone is inevitably going to be first and, even if everyone's around to share the moment, that moment will still be special between two people." She then tapped her fingers into the table aggressively, "I'll also mention that we could each be closer to our own special moments if you just allowed for the one-on-one…" before giving a thump with her palm, "You know that it's the group aspect that's intimidating him…!"

Homura narrowed her eyes combatively and readied herself for the steamrolling words she'd practiced to her reflection in the pond that morning. She cracked her knuckles, shuffled her shoulders, and straightened her neck before saying, "That was only one thing hindering him," and raising a finger, "but you neglect the other two…!" Feeling a cocky smile spread across her face, she stated blatantly, "One of those things is the fact that we're not all united on the matter, which would require Asuka and Murasaki to take our side in this…" Her face fell for a second, "Unfortunately, the former is still on the fence and the latter won't be budging unless he's certainly taking part too… Thus, there's a paradox… yada yada…" before taking on a more excited pose, "But do not lose hope…! We are going to sway everyone by taking out the third thing keeping him back. We are going to claim the majority vote!"

"Hush over there!" came a hoarse cry from the kitchen.

"…Apologies!"

Unimpressed with the plan entirely, Yumi asked, "How will that help?"

Lost in her own world and ignoring the question entirely, Homura clasped her hands together, "Now, fret not. I have the plan together and it will be successful, rest assured." She raised a palm, "It will take a measure that you two might deem as a bit extreme, which I'll understand, but it was conveyed to me by Jasmine before she left and I'm sure she wouldn't throw something out with bad intentions." Giddy to finally explain her plan, Homura gave a quiet clap before announcing, "Alright, here's how we'll claim the majority vote."

"How will that help?" asked Yumi again.

The tanned shinobi continued unabated, "Now, it should be noted that there are a few birthdays this week that will be working to our advantage." She raised one finger, "On Tuesday, everyone in Hanzō Academy will likely be celebrating Kiriya's birthday… or they'll be distracted long enough wishing him a happy birthday-, either way, they won't interfere." Homura then paused and raised a finger, "Sidenote, try not to go running around tomorrow. Asuka said she would be coming by to collect some signatures on two cards. One for Kiriya and another for Kafuru."

Miyabi, who'd been listening to the plan with some interest, asked quietly, "Is her birthday coming up too?"

Homura nodded, "Yeah, on the same day."

"Huh… Alright, I'll be open," murmured Miyabi.

"How will that help?"

From there, Homura continued, "It should also be noted that we won't be taking any action on Friday since that is Ayame's birthday too and Ikaruga is currently planning out the party." She gave a shrug, "It won't afford us any opportunities but we may be able to do some smaller things to work on our plan, though let's not go stealing the show."

Miyabi mumbled quietly, "I won't lie, I forgot about her birthday."

"Almost everyone did-, at least, everyone almost forgot about celebrating the birthday with how long she'd been gone," stated Homura before clasping her arms, "Still, even with those things, they'll be working heavily to our advantage. It all may seem like a small distraction from our bigger issue but working with the schedule of those birthdays is the key to our victory."

"How will that help?"

"Now, I'll be working on one aspect of the plan to get ourselves a majority vote," continued Homura as she raised a hand excitedly, "I know what you're thinking and let me just tell you not to worry. I have a candidate in mind that will certainly help us." After a short chuckle, she proudly crossed her arms, "I didn't even need to go with a nuclear option like Haruka."

"How will that help?"

"You two, on the other hand, will be working on the frontlines," said Homura with a more serious expression, "Whether we like it or don't, we'll need to woo our boy toward the idea of doing it as a group. So, whenever he's not planning to work on corrections, you're going to do everything you can to smother him with affection as a duo until he realizes that the dream of eager women waiting to bed him is right around the corner."

Having kept her expression unreadable through most of the plan's explanation, Yumi simply stared and dwelled on the last suggestion before shrugging her shoulders, "Alright, I can do that last part."

"Great!" cried Homura, which earned an ignored yell of frustration from Lady Victoria, before she pulled out her phone, "I will send out the text immediately then."

Yumi and Miyabi blinked with confusion before they looked to one another. The latter then questioned, "Wait, who are you texting?"

Not a few minutes later, Ikaruga had rallied the remainder of the Hanzō Academy Elite and was staring everyone down with a stern expression. She was more than prepared to talk and share her ideas for the coming festivities in the coming week and there was nothing within her that would prevent any words from coming out. Yet, even still, she could not summon up anything to say at the sight of Hibari and Yagyū, who were adorned in massive layers of makeup and wearing colorful clothes that had no rhyme or reason. Hibari, with an especially large amount of lipstick on her face, was dressed in a bright green hood with a purple t-shirt sticking out at the top while wearing what was undeniably a Scottish kilt and wooden sandals. Yagyū was on a different extreme in a blue jacket that went down to the floor with vibrant peacock feathers sticking out and dotted pants that shared the color scheme of a dalmatian with bare feet sticking out from underneath.

Sitting right next to the two in the living room of their residence, Asuka absolutely refused to make eye contact with them in fear that she would have to fish for a compliment on how they looked. She loved the two dearly, without any doubt, and truly believed that they were beautiful but there was too little rhyme or reason to justify any words promoting the clothes that they were wearing. Finally, after Katsuragi finally joined into the meeting from the hallway as her eyes were glued to the phone in her hands, she looked up and saw Hibari and Yagyū's fiasco before immediately puffing her cheeks out with a snort. A cough that sounded far too pleased came out after and the blonde shook a little as she asked, "What're you two wearing…?"

Without any hint of wrongdoing, Hibari tilted her head and answered, "We…" before clearing her throat, "Before the meeting today, Yagyū and I went out to try and meet some boys at a lunchtime mixer."

Having something else to talk about beyond the pair's appearance, Asuka chimed in as merry a tone as she could produce, "Oh~, that explains… some things, certainly. How did the mixer go?"

Immediately, the pink-haired girl hung her head as Yagyū answered, "The doorman wouldn't let us in and told us to take our Halloween costumes elsewhere."

"Oh, what a shame," murmured Asuka as she thought for a second and asked, "So… was there a particular… theme you had for dressing or is that how you two just wanted to go today?"

"They told us to dress vibrantly," said Yagyū as she pinched a peacock feather between her fingers, "and these clothes were marked as 'vibrantly trendy' at the store… so we bought them."

Unable to hold any of her laughs in anymore, Katsuragi started to let out a restrained giggle as she began to advance toward the pair. Though they flinched at the sight of the blonde's grasping hands, she only pulled them into a hug as her laughs got louder and louder. In between breaths, she repeatedly ordered with a wheeze, "…Don't ever change… Don't ever change…"

As her best friend was about to collapse onto the floor, Ikaruga took a long breath before shrugging and deciding to actively ignore the strange choice in wardrobe. Instead, she asked pointedly, "So, you two were at a mixer this afternoon?"

Still locked in the grip of Katsuragi's hug, Hibari pumped a fist and stuck it as high as she could manage into the air as she cried, "Of course! Since Asuka is making great strides in her relationship, we can't have ourselves left behind-," before she gasped and covered her mouth. She then patted at Katsuragi's head and looked to Ikaruga, "Oh no, I just realized that we never invited you two! Did you want to come?"

"I'm fine," answered Ikaruga.

"But, I mean, you're older than us," continued Hibari, "and if you don't find a man soon, it'll mean either an arranged marriage-, you know, because your dad is rich-, Sorry if I'm being presumptuous. It's either that or you'll be left unmarried… That is, if nothing spectacular happens before age twenty-five."

"I'm fine."

"No, no. Ikaruga-," started Hibari before she was immediately cut off.

"Not everyone meets a partner in high school," growled Ikaruga, who'd heard enough about the topic of romance, "I'll get into a relationship when I desire to be in one. Thank you for your concern but let's return our attention to this meeting."

Unfortunately, Hibari didn't budge as she further pressed, "Not everyone meets a partner in high school but only the best relationships start in high school."

"Is that how it works?" asked Asuka off to the side in a quiet voice.

Having heard her, Yagyū looked around Hibari and answered frankly, "Statistically speaking… No, not really."

With a wide-eyed look of betrayal, the pink-haired girl's jaw dropped and she looked to her friend, "How could you say that? Haven't you seen how sweet some of those sweethearts in cartoons and books are while they're in high school?"

"Sweet as they are," murmured Yagyū before she looked away, "the number of high school sweethearts who divorce isn't a lie…"

Thumping her foot to the floor, Ikaruga growled with no room for argument, "Returning our attention to the meeting at hand-," before she was interrupted.

"I mean, sure… those numbers don't lie," retorted Hibari who didn't catch the edge in her senior's voice and continued her conversation with Yagyū, "…but the relationships that do make it just sound so beautiful-, as beautiful as a couple who's been together for the majority of their-, oh…" The girl would have continued but she was swiftly cut off by the malicious glow in Ikaruga's eye. She then raised a palm in apology, "Sorry. I'll stop."

By that point, Katsuragi had finally released her hold on Hibari and Yagyū and was trying to pick herself up from the floor. As humorless as Ikaruga found the situation, there was nothing that brought a greater laugh from the blonde's throat than a lighthearted downfall of genuine innocence. But, after a few more dry and raspy sounds came from her throat, she finally managed to pick herself up and sit on the couch with a blissful smile on her face. Then, with a few blinks of realization and a slackened jaw, Katsuragi patted around for her phone and saw that she dropped it to the floor. She nosedived straight at it, uttered an apology to Ikaruga since the girl was about to finally start speaking, and then crashed back onto the couch.

Knowing that her friend was up to no-good in some way or form, Ikaruga wanted to ask why she was so desperate for the phone. Yet, the meeting had been delayed for too long and started with a clap of our hands, "Alright, let's briefly cover how this week will work. I'll skip Monday for now-, Tuesday, Asuka and Hibari will handle the cake while Katsuragi, Yagyū, and I will be handling decorations in the classroom. Now, Kiriya is particular about his flavors…" and continued on with further details.

In the meantime, Katsuragi was simply staring at the messenger app on her phone and was squinting her eyes in anticipation. She was warned that the young man would be sending a message to everyone in the group and, if Homura's plan were to come to fruition, she had to be the first to respond. In most situations, the mere knowledge that a text was coming would be enough of an advantage for someone to be the first response. But there was one threat to Katsuragi that threatened the plan at its foundation and that lone threat was the speedy typing fingers of Shiki, who was the quickest draw with a phone in the entire wild east. So, as much as she knew it was rude and frustrating to Ikaruga, Katsuragi had to keep her phone out at all times just for the chance to be the first to respond.

Keeping an eye on her friend with a suspicious brow, Ikaruga was continuing her plans, "Now, assuming there's no issue from the postal service, Kafuru will probably receive her card the day after and, provided she's well enough, we may receive a response of some sort. Probably a phone call. If that happens, broach the matter of Renka extremely cautiously. She may be better or she may be worse. We don't know and we need to be careful." Once all of that was said she gestured off to the side, "Now, there's this coming Friday. We'll need to go out of our way on this one to show Ayame that she is both welcome and still a part of the team, even if the government has revoked her status as an elite." Ikaruga then looked to her friend, "Katsuragi, just to be sure, you've been keeping her company for the last couple of days?"

Without removing her eyes from the phone in her hands, Katsuragi nodded her head and answered sincerely, "Yup, yup. We went out for some burgers the other day and I helped clean the shop yesterday-, Oh, I forgot to do so when I got back but she told me to send her love to you all."

"I'll be sure to send her my love later on," said a cheerful Asuka.

Ikaruga was still not at all amused by the thought of being ignored. Still, she continued with her logistical questioning, "And, just to be sure, you didn't spoil the surprise?"

"Of course not, don't be silly," answered Katsuragi with a dismissive wave of her hand, "We talked about the usual stuff. The sales at the school store and my suggestions to raise them, which are often refused, and about the great rack on the occasional person to randomly walk by."

Hibari straightened herself and asked bewilderedly, "You look at the boobs of strangers?"

"Well, we also make comments about their ass."

Ikaruga pinched the bridge of her nose and began to murmur, "Right, right… anyways-," but was cut off.

"Okay, fine," came an overexaggerated feign of surrender from Katsuragi, "we also talked about Asuka's body and how we'd go to town on it."

Standing up and away from the couch, Asuka moved her arms to cover as much of herself as she could while shivering and murmuring, "I'm feeling more violated than I was by your groping…"

"Getting passed sexual harassment," started Ikaruga with a loud voice, "can we get back onto the topic of Ayame's party-," before she was interrupted by a vibration in her pocket. She threw up her hands in frustration, "Criminy, what is it now…?"

"Dibs!" cried Katsuragi as she immediately began to type out her text, "Dibs, dibs, dibs, dibs, and dibs!" before giving one final and victorious tap to her phone. Upon scanning it for a second, she stood up and threw her hands into the air, "Sent! First! I am first!" before she looked to everyone else, "Sorry to break up the meeting but I gotta go get my head clear." She began to runaway but stopped midstep to add, "By that, I mean I'm going to go get corrected. I'm doing fine otherwise," and running away.

After processing what had just happened, Ikaruga looked down to her phone suspiciously and read out the long text that the young man sent, one which couldn't have been read so quickly by Katsuragi of all people. She then looked to everyone else in the room to ask, "How did she know he was asking about a correction?" and was met with a round of shrugs. There was some contemplation about whether or not the girl was to be pursued but, ultimately, there were birthdays to plan and distractions couldn't be afforded for the moment. If nothing else, they'd text the young man later just to make sure that he was safe and sound.

Meanwhile, the boy in question was lounging on his couch and spending his final day away from school in quiet. Beside him, Chomubach was lazily stretched out and purring as his hand scratched her lower back. Occasional, she'd let out a quiet chirp of contentment and would be met by the young man ushering her to silence as he flipped through the job magazine in his lap.

A part of him was still thinking about the overexcited message that Katsuragi sent him in declaring herself first and, quite frankly, he had more than just a hunch that she was up to some sort of deviance. But he was used to the amount of crazy pervading into his life at that point and was already deducting how his encounter with her would go. At some point that day or the next, he figured that Katsuragi would make like everyone else, sneak through his window, jump out at some point, and make him yell in surprise. Considering the pattern that was going so far, he'd bet money on it, though he had none at that point in time.

Sighing as he flipped through another page of his magazine, he looked down to Chomubach and started muttering, "So, once I'm gone for extended periods of time to bring home the bread, you're going to have to start pulling your weight around here."

"Mer?"

Hearing the confused rebuttal, the young man pointed down to her, "Don't you 'myeh' me. I'm expecting you to mop the floors, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, clean your litterbox within the bathroom, and lists of other things."

There was a pause before he received a tilted head and a confused, "Mer?"

"Don't you give me grief," said the young man as he started to scratch the top of Chomubach's head, "If you weren't so cute, I would've been heartless and given you away a long time ago. Wouldn't I have? Yes, I would~." Realizing that the boy was just messing with her Chomubach rested back down and let out a tired purr. Having had his fun away from his job search, the young man finished by saying, "Oh, those good looks of yours will only carry you so far but you're safe around here. Alright, continue being lazy."

"Me-yer~…"

Putting his eyes back onto the magazine in his lap and flipping a page with his free hand, the young man further contemplated a new issue that he was having, one that was thankfully keeping his mind off of everything from the previous day: to be picky in his job search or not to be picky. He knew that he didn't really have much of an option since his funds were dried up and the cheap food that he had in the fridge would only last for so long… But, at the same time, he didn't want to spend every night of the week mopping floors for a pay that could only serve to refresh his food supply. Sure, if he was a miser, he could continue to buy cheap microwaveable foods and save whatever amount of yen he had left. But the young man also didn't want to spend an hour on the toilet every couple of nights. So, of course he wanted to buy more standard ingredients or, at the very least, microwaveable foods that wouldn't kill him from the inside.

Getting a bit frustrated with his options, the young man began to quickly skim the articles and began to voice his thoughts. "Too little pay…" came a disgruntled murmur as he flipped a page, "Way too many hours…" and felt his face tighten up in frustration, "Too much heavy lifting…" Soon after, he closed the magazine and flung it away like a frisbee toward the end of the room and watched it smack against the wall. He grumbled a few incoherent things before looking down to Chomubach, "Do you think my standards are too high? I'm not really being left with many options and I do need money…"

"Miyee."

"I wish I knew what that meant in human tongue so that I could have an answer," uttered the young man as he reclined into the couch.

"I think part-time jobs must suck in general," came the boisterous voice of Katsuragi from behind him.

The boy let out a surprised gasp and felt his limbs scrunch up defensively as he whipped around and faced the girl. But after realizing the fact that he wasn't in any real danger, he quickly calmed down and waved to her, "Oh, hey," as he relaxed back into the couch.

A bit of disappointment flashed over Katsuragi's cheerful expression before she said in a frank tone of voice, "You know, I was expecting a bit more yelling and questioning."

"Working with shinobi is like working with a tornado," retorted the young man as he patted the couch next to him, "You can only make estimated guesses on where they're gonna go and that's about it. There's no stopping or interfering, no guessing of how they're gonna be… only working with whatever happens as best as you can." As the girl came around and sat next to him, he asked, "I'm also going to take a wild guess and say that you found some way to unlock the window in the bedroom?"

"Actually, I just came through the one in here," said Katsuragi with a finger pointed in the air, "My plan was to see if you had a window in the bathroom so that I could scare you while you bathe or something." As the girl continued, the young man grabbed Chomubach and slid away to the other end of the couch, "But then I saw you in here and figured that it would be best to just come on in."

The boy blinked and replied, "Alrighty then."

Not inclined to hold back, Katsuragi stretched her arms up into the air and asked, "Well, let's do this correction thing," before throwing her legs over the arm of the couch and twisting around to look at the young man with an upside-down head, "Do you touch my head while I touch your man-tits or do you touch my head while I grab your ass?"

"I suddenly feel the need for a spectator," uttered the young man as he started to fear for his wellbeing.

"Oh-ho," jeered Katsuragi with a lecherous grin, "So that I can grab your ass and their tit while you grab my head?"

Not honoring the girl's statement with a rebuttal, the young man truly debated the idea of calling someone else in to help. Afterall, even if he got past the prospect of protecting himself from Katsuragi's grabby hands, there was still the matter of keep both of their heads in place as he went through the correction. But the whole process relied on an intimate trust and, while he didn't doubt the bond that he'd developed with the girls in the past month, he didn't want to risk marring that confidence by letting personal details get unveiled like they had during Miyabi's correction long ago. It was luck alone that everyone else didn't have particularly vocal aspects and, since Katsuragi and him were in a controlled environment, he didn't feel the need to take much of a risk. At best, the distortion would be pulled out and the young man would neutralize it. At worst, he'd get his ass kicked and would have to suffer a few more bruises for a couple of days.

Seeing the boy spending so much time in silent thought, Katsuragi sat up and gave her hands a repeated clap until she had the young man's attention. When he looked over, she said a in a voice that was mimicking sadness, "Well… if you want me to save my sexual harassment until after the process… I can try that too…"

Making a quiet sound with his throat, the young man nodded his head, "Yeah, that'd be preferable."

With a grumble under her breath as she reclined into the couch, Katsuragi said, "You know, since this depends on trust, I'd think that you'd be more willing to accommodate my commands."

"Trust can be interpreted as your belief in knowing who I am," said the young man as he recalled some words from his grandfather, "If I were to be a yes-man, praising your very existence and rewarding your every desire, could you really believe that's who I am?"

"Mister Serious…" murmured Katsuragi before raising up her hands and making groping finger movements, "…could you either let me grab you or feed me?" before a long gurgle came from her stomach.

Blinking from the sudden turn, the young man didn't know how to respond at first. Then, rolling with it as he always did, he answered frankly, "I can but you'd have to wait a bit. My inventory is the sort of food that you'd have to wait for to cool down."

"Can I raid your fridge and confirm that you're not holding out on me?"

"Please, go ahead."

"Thank you," said Katsuragi as she hopped onto her feet and began to make way for the dining area before pausing midstep to say, "By the way, I forgot to say this on my way in. Your hair looks long, pretty, and very grabbable. I like it."

As the blonde made her way to the fridge, the young man narrowed his eyes before pinching a lock of hair between his fingers. He considered her words and remembered Shiki's suggestion for a haircut before thinking aloud, "Huh… Maybe I should stop at a barber sometime soon?"

"If you really want to, I'd recommend Shiki or Yomi," came Katsuragi's loud voice, "They're quick, efficient, and they won't charge you-," before it was cut off by a yell of surprise, "What is with all the ramen in here!?"

Releasing his hair and sitting down, the young man called over, "They had a really cheap sale and I bought them in bulk."

"It's-, hold on," came the girl's desperate voice before another cry echoed out, "IT'S ALL RAMEN!"

"Indeed."

There were a few grunts of disapproval before Katsuragi closed the fridge with a package in hand and started to prepare it for the microwave. The young man heard a few beeps and heard the familiar hum before the girl frustratedly stomped her way back over and sat back down onto the couch with her arms crossed. She occasionally looked over, found the young man staring at her, and then turned away. When she was unable to take the silence anymore, she pointed at him, "You," and circle her finger in the air, "turn those beautiful things you call eyes around. They're frustrating me." Feeling more complimented than insulted, the young man obliged with a shrug and wordlessly faced the window to the outside. Shortly after, that silence became too much to bear and Katsuragi then said, "Alright, let's do this correctional thing. The food can cool down in the microwave once its done."

"One second," said the young man as he stood up, "I'm going to go get a few pillows."

As he walked away toward the bedroom, Katsuragi asked after him curiously, "What for?"

"Once I neutralize the distortion," responded the boy as he disappeared for a few seconds, "I'll need to keep our heads in place while I fix everything up." When he reappeared with three pillows bundled in his arms, he said with a hint of cheer, "The way I see it, a pillow under us and a pillow to each side of our head should be enough."

"Let's assume the position then," said Katsuragi as she sprawled herself out suggestively on the couch, giving her breasts a wiggle and lifting up one of her legs so that her skirt slid away from most of her thigh.

"We'll need to go through the initial part of the process first," said the young man, "which will either end in me nearly dying or in nothing at all, if the current pattern holds," before he arranged the pillows onto the floor, "Either way, there probably won't be enough room on the couch once this is all set."

Katsuragi blinked before stating, "You know, I'm trying to do something sexy up here."

"I saw," said the young man as he sat back onto the couch next to her. He gave a clap of his hands and stated freely, "Well, whenever you're ready, I'll be good to start."

With a grumble about the boy's lack of taste, Katsuragi gave herself a shake before sticking a thumb into the air, "I'm game. Fix me up, doc."

Sticking out his hand slow and meticulously in an effort to not alarm the girl with any sudden movements, the young man rested his hand onto Katsuragi's head and was about to pull out all of the distortion for neutralization. He held his posture with a serious face for a few seconds before his eyes briefly opened in surprise. A dissatisfied groan came from his throat along with a few notes of disappointment before he said, "Well… unfortunate as it is, you don't trust me enough."

Katsuragi blinked, "Wha-," before doing a doubletake, "What in the hell does that mean?" She crossed her arms in the air, "No, that's bull. That is bull."

Lowering his arm from her head, the young man said in a deflated manner, "It can't be helped. I mean, we're talking about a pretty extreme level of trust here."

"But I do trust you," fired back Katsuragi as she spaced her hands as far from one another as possible, "I trust you immensely. After everything and all I've seen for myself, there's no reason for me not to trust you."

"We can try again another day," eased the young man with a palm in the air, "I mean, our interactions have mostly been me retreating from your grabs so we may just need to spend a little more time together to talk and such."

"No, we're getting this done today," said Katsuragi with a solid thump of a fist to her knee, "Now, help me brainstorm ideas on why I don't completely trust you."

There was a brief pause before the young man raised a finger, "I don't think this will work."

"Keep your pessimism out!" roared Katsuragi as she stuck her face closer to the young man, "If you don't have ideas, get back to thinking-," before she suddenly paused in place, "Oh… wait…"

Craning away from her ever so slightly, the young man asked with narrowed eyes, "What, did you realize something?"

With a bit of a laugh as she haughtily crossed arms over her chest, Katsuragi looked to the young man, "I just realized that there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while." She then shrugged and gave her hands a little flap, "I'm positive that you answering honestly will certainly result in me trusting you with everything I've got."

The young man blinked before nodding, "Sounds unlikely but I'm willing to try."

"Tits or ass?"

The boy blinked, "Excuse me, what?"

Katsuragi repeated with a clap of her hands with every syllable, "Tits or ass, man? Speak up." She then proceeded to taunt, "Oh, hurry. I'm afraid I'll never be cured if you can't get over your meek-," before she was cut off.

"Both."

The blonde froze before she fixed her gaze onto the young man, not really sure if she'd heard him, who was often more serious than not, correctly, "Could you repeat that with a few more words."

"I do not believe in tits or ass," said the young man in as shameless a manner as he could possibly muster as he showily pumped a fist, "I believe in the yin and yang. Tits and ass." Then, as a bit of redness finally seeped onto his cheeks, he crossed his arms defiantly, "One cannot achieve maximum sex appeal without one or the other."

Spotting a sign of his falter, Katsuragi gave a smug grin before cheekily commenting, "Could you replace the words 'sex appeal' with arousal too?"

"I mean, that's a given."

Katsuragi gave a clap of her hands, "Well, let's move onto the next question."

"Oi!" fired the young man in alarm, "You said one question!"

Katsuragi began to feign a swoon as she threw a hand to her head, "Oh no, the distortion is eating me alive~."

The young man harshly glared before crunching over to let out a long yell of frustration. After swallowing his pride and determining himself to shoot through the questions rapidly, he clapped his hands together and made finger guns, "Alrighty-roo! Fire away!"

"How do you like your tits?" cried Katsuragi with a finger befitting of an ace attorney.

"Tits are tits!" shot back the young man with a fist in the air, "Overall, I'd prefer them large and bouncy but I will accept and love any form!"

Feeling a sense of culture with him, Katsuragi arced herself backward at an impossible angle before sticking her other finger toward him, "How do you like your ass?"

"It is the same as-," started the young man before he coughed out, "tits…" before rejuvenating his momentum and pressing on, "May they come, big or small, so that they may be appreciated!" before muttering off to the side, "Though, it also the same preference… large but also proportionate to the rest of the body."

"What do you think of your girlfriends' bodies?" growled Katsuragi excitedly as she was swaying back and forth in a sumo wrestler's posture.

Not questioning her physical actions, the young man instead recoiled and cried, "Hey, hey! Don't you think we're getting a little too grounded and personal?"

"My distortion~… No, it's killing who I am~…"

"They're goddesses!" roared the young man as he bit his teeth down. He clenched his eyes closed for a moment before he opened them again with sparkles emanating from every corner, "You cannot well and truly describe how beautiful they are with simple terms alone. It is as though God handcrafted them and chose their natural design with extreme care and balance. From their bodies to their outfits to their personalities to every little thing about them!" As tears of joy began to sprout from the corners of his eyes, the young man uttered in a cracked voice, "Truly, I'm a lucky man…"

Seeing how into it he was getting, Katsuragi grinned like a predator descending on its prey as she stuck both of her thumbs into her breasts, "Now, what do you think of my body?"

With all of his momentum killed after that sentence, the young man held up a palm and said, "Alright, now you're pressing it. I was fine gushing about everyone else but it isn't appropriate to go there."

"They'd want you to answer this so that you can cure me," said Katsuragi without her grin falling, "C'mon, c'mon. Be honest."

"I'm not going there…" grumbled the young man.

"My di-stor-tion~…" swooned the blonde again.

"I'm not going there."

Katsuragi fell to the floor, "Oh no~, it's taking me over as we speak…"

"Well, enjoy your new personality."

Like a rodent scrunching up its body in its last moments, the shinobi laid on the floor and said in a wheezy voice, "No, everything that makes me who I am is fading away… I'll never be able to express how joyous I was to be friends with everyone. I'll never be able to tell them that I loved their company… more than I ever loved tits or ass…"

The young man stared down at what would be a pathetic form for most. Yet, despite how shameless it all was, Katsuragi had somehow found a way to visibly seem happy and proud with what she was doing then and there. With his resolve finally collapsing, the young man raised a finger, "I will emphasize that I'm answering this for the slim chance that it will somehow help," before taking a heavy breath and finally answering, "Once I'm past the discomfort of your harassment, you are certainly and without any doubt a beautiful and fun person to be around."

"Go on, go on," fished Katsuragi from the floor, "Flatter me a bit more. I think it's helping."

Reluctant and still searching for a way out of his current situation, the young man clapped a hand to his side and gave a frustrated stomp before continuing, "Your hair is radiant and has all the positive energy of your personality. The blue in your little color scheme of outfits is just a perfect match-, I don't know how to word that. Please don't ask." He clasped his hands together in thought for a brief moment before pressing on, "The fact that you leave the top few buttons open on every shirt you wear is extremely arousing. I've caught a few glimpses of your cleavage in those moments and it took all of my willpower to not show any reaction." He then held his flattened hands in the air, "Whenever you're running around really fast or, shameful as I am to admit it, during our fights, I've caught glimpses under your skirt-," He held up a finger, "Unintentional. I've caught unintentional glimpses up your skirt and I won't go into further detail of how that made me feel because I'm sure you can guess already." Then, resolved to finish what he started, the young man said, "And your face is perfect for someone who is so confident and shameless in her every action. You have a natural smile that many people fail to ever capture with the same cocky and loveable attitude."

Staring up to him from the floor with a smug smirk on her face, Katsuragi was practically beaming from all of positive words he'd used to describe her. While trying to calm a beating heart over his last words in particular, Katsuragi repeatedly curled a finger to him, "Alright, boy-o. Correct this fine-ass body of mine."

Doing his utmost to not react to her words in order to save some face, the young man bit his lips and knelt down next to the girl before resting a hand to her forehead. His eyes opened in brief surprise for a moment before narrowing in complete annoyance, "You have to be kidding… It actually worked."

Closing her eyes and shrugging peacefully, Katsuragi chirped, "Never misjudge the power of knowing one another's preferences for tits and ass." But, as she went to continue, the young man pulled out all of the distortion from her. Her reaction was similar to Murasaki's, albeit with a bit more fidgeting.

At first, the young man feared that Katsuragi was having some sort of seizure with how shaky she was becoming. So, when her body rested to the floor and she looked up to him, he took a second to let out a sigh of relief. Afterwards, he asked the girl as he leaned his hand toward her head, "Alright, I'll neutralize-," before he was cut off by her reaching her hands up to aggressively grab his shoulders. Before he had even the opportunity to resist, the young man was pulled down and enveloped into a tight embrace with Katsuragi digging her chin into his shoulder as she also wrapped her legs around his hips. While the boy's face contorted with visible discomfort, hers was more at peace and only lacked the radiant smile he commended her for moments ago. From there, they didn't move at all.


End file.
